The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
The steel that sleeps the eye
Needs nor tax nor toll
The kings with men might lie
Swollen and halo'd
Her sweetest skin burns
Now I've buried all the gold beneath my hide
Now I'll swallow breath with blood
Of pole and anchor
Of stone and miter
Of god and beast and
Wine and fish and man
The virgin ground stains
Now we've wandered through the polestar's dusty floe
And my crown is breath and blood
Needs nor tax nor toll
The kings with men might lie
Swollen and halo'd
Her sweetest skin burns
Now I've buried all the gold beneath my hide
Now I'll swallow breath with blood
Of pole and anchor
Of stone and miter
Of god and beast and
Wine and fish and man
The virgin ground stains
Now we've wandered through the polestar's dusty floe
And my crown is breath and blood
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In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
my guess a song about war continues from steel that sleeps the eye
"the steel that sleeps the eye needs nor tax nor toll that kings with men might lie swollen and halo'd"
grenade fragments answer to no one and even a general might lie dead just the same as a private first class
"her sweetest skin burns"
rpg fragment in the eye burns. the grenade is a she and the metal steel shrapnel fragments is her skin.
"now i've buried all the gold beneath my hide now i'll swallow breath with blood"
not sure of the gold beneath hide, maybe becomeing hardened to war, swallow breath with blood. internal blood from eye wound going down windpipe (see sober taste of the eye)
"of pole and anchor of stone and mitre of god and beast and wine and piss and bread and fish and man"
humans, earth, and war - not fully developed
"the virgin ground stains"
blood spilled grounds of war
"now we've wandered through the polestar's dusty floe and my crown is breath and blood"
made it through the desert with wounds to take back home. a crown is an achievement gained by living through a war
But i could be way off ; )
This could be a stretch, but I get the feeling that the "now I've buried all the gold beneath my hide" line could be an oblique reference to The Outsiders, more specifically the line "stay gold, Ponyboy" which has become synonymous with youthful naivite. Maybe the song is about losing one's youthful innocence through the horror of a war injury?