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.
Tell me everything that happened
Tell me everything you saw
They had lights inside their eyes
They had lights inside their eyes
Did you see the closing window?
Did you hear the slamming door?
They moved forward and my heart died
They moved forward and my heart died
Please, please tell me what they looked like
Did they seem afraid of you?
They were kids that I once knew
They were kids that I once knew
I can say it but you won't believe me
You say you do but you don't deceive me
It's hard to know they're out there
It's hard to know that you still care
I could say it but you won't believe me
You say you do but you don't deceive me
Dead hearts are everywhere
Dead hearts are everywhere
Did you touch them, did you hold them?
Did they follow you to town?
They make me feel I'm falling down
They make me feel I'm falling down
Was there one you saw too clearly?
Did they seem too real to you?
They were kids that I once knew
They were kids that I once knew.
I can say it but you won't believe me
You say you do but you don't deceive me
It's hard to know they're out there
It's hard to know that you still care
I can say it but you won't believe me
You say you do but you don't deceive me
Dead hearts are everywhere
Dead hearts are everywhere
I can say it but you won't believe me
You say you do but you don't deceive me
It's hard to know they're out there
It's hard to know that you still care
I can say it but you won't believe me
You say you do but you don't deceive me
Dead hearts are everywhere
Dead hearts are everywhere
They were kids that I once knew
They were kids that I once knew
Now they're all dead hearts to you
Now they're all dead hearts to you
They were kids that I once knew
They were kids that I once knew
Now they're all dead hearts to you
Tell me everything you saw
They had lights inside their eyes
They had lights inside their eyes
Did you see the closing window?
Did you hear the slamming door?
They moved forward and my heart died
They moved forward and my heart died
Please, please tell me what they looked like
Did they seem afraid of you?
They were kids that I once knew
They were kids that I once knew
I can say it but you won't believe me
You say you do but you don't deceive me
It's hard to know they're out there
It's hard to know that you still care
I could say it but you won't believe me
You say you do but you don't deceive me
Dead hearts are everywhere
Dead hearts are everywhere
Did you touch them, did you hold them?
Did they follow you to town?
They make me feel I'm falling down
They make me feel I'm falling down
Was there one you saw too clearly?
Did they seem too real to you?
They were kids that I once knew
They were kids that I once knew.
I can say it but you won't believe me
You say you do but you don't deceive me
It's hard to know they're out there
It's hard to know that you still care
I can say it but you won't believe me
You say you do but you don't deceive me
Dead hearts are everywhere
Dead hearts are everywhere
I can say it but you won't believe me
You say you do but you don't deceive me
It's hard to know they're out there
It's hard to know that you still care
I can say it but you won't believe me
You say you do but you don't deceive me
Dead hearts are everywhere
Dead hearts are everywhere
They were kids that I once knew
They were kids that I once knew
Now they're all dead hearts to you
Now they're all dead hearts to you
They were kids that I once knew
They were kids that I once knew
Now they're all dead hearts to you
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
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"
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
I always thought it was about living people with dead hearts, people who used to have dreams but never really got the chance to fulfill them. "Kids that I once knew" makes it all the more painful if you knew these people personally; you knew what they wanted in life and are sad that they didn't get it. "It's hard to know they're out there, It's hard to know that you still care" could mean that you don't really recognize these people anymore ("once knew") and that they've become pretty apathetic; perhaps they've accepted that this is the most their lives will ever amount to. With their hearts dead, maybe they're just waiting for the rest of their selves to die.