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.
One spur in the fire, burning
Now we're clearing the embers away
There are many ways this way
So I tell you like you're meant to
And you're quick to guess my choice
Was it my trembling hand or my voice?
She said you're stirring
Tossing, turning
Just like you were in the night
I am sure your choice is right
I've always been a coward
Been a coward to this day
There are many ways this way
And your fortune taken from you
By men that always say
There are many ways this way
Now we're clearing the embers away
There are many ways this way
So I tell you like you're meant to
And you're quick to guess my choice
Was it my trembling hand or my voice?
She said you're stirring
Tossing, turning
Just like you were in the night
I am sure your choice is right
I've always been a coward
Been a coward to this day
There are many ways this way
And your fortune taken from you
By men that always say
There are many ways this way
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Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
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"
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
I love this song... am I really the first to comment? I guess it's just about someone faced with a really big choice, like life ot death, and the thought of all the consequences that could occur are frightening him; the trembling hands. in the last lines, he doesn't feel wise yet and has some illusion that he can keep on doing what he's been doing: men saying there are many ways if he makes this choice seem like liars...
I think this is about him making a decision to break up with a girl. He does not want to hurt her like other men, who take away her "fortune"- her happiness. The start of the song is him explaining the disastrous relationship, as it "burned' and now someone has to clear the "embers" away- which might symbolise the devastation left over by the "fire" which might denote a fight or a big blow up between the two
In the next stanza we get the impression that he is talking with the girl about how the situation needs to be resolved, and she knows why he has come to her, and is "quick to guess his(my) choice". They both realise the relationship is unhealthy, as she says "I am sure your choice is right" to leave her, but he still feels quite guilty about it and mentions how he has "always been a coward" about breaking up a relationship- possibly because of the hurt he has gone through with them, and times when he has been dumped.
Truly beautiful lyrics, hats off to Jack Steadman <3