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.
that look will take me right to the ground
and I’ll be laughing the whole way down
with thunder beneath us all
i want to feel is your arms
i know i’m leaving but we all
leave no matter what
if time is a mouth to feed
every hour is ice in our fingers’ heat
so give your time to me
if it changes you i will never see
old lovers fall like leaves
but just if you let them
the roofs of the city like an
ocean spread for miles
i swear i saw my whole life
flicker in a window light
you think you know what I’m
thinking but you don’t know
why i need you tonight
you say you feel nothing hoping
nothing’s all i’ll leave behind
if time is a mouth to feed
every hour is ice in our fingers’ heat
so give your time to me
if it changes you i will never see
old lovers fall like leaves
but just if you let them
i hear them beneath your feet
but nothing is endless
and I’ll be laughing the whole way down
with thunder beneath us all
i want to feel is your arms
i know i’m leaving but we all
leave no matter what
if time is a mouth to feed
every hour is ice in our fingers’ heat
so give your time to me
if it changes you i will never see
old lovers fall like leaves
but just if you let them
the roofs of the city like an
ocean spread for miles
i swear i saw my whole life
flicker in a window light
you think you know what I’m
thinking but you don’t know
why i need you tonight
you say you feel nothing hoping
nothing’s all i’ll leave behind
if time is a mouth to feed
every hour is ice in our fingers’ heat
so give your time to me
if it changes you i will never see
old lovers fall like leaves
but just if you let them
i hear them beneath your feet
but nothing is endless
Lyrics submitted by beninicoara
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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.
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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"
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
This song is about a breakup where the speaker still has feelings for their partner but the partner wishes to end the relationship.
"that look will take me right to the ground" - This is the look when you know you are about to have The Talk. Taking to the ground is foreshadowing the imagery later used where old lovers are compared to falling leaves. The speaker is becoming an old lover.
"with thunder beneath us all / i want to feel is your arms" - I take beneath here to mean beneath in the status sense. Thunder, or arguing and anger are below this couple. Without the vitriol to help split them apart the speaker paradoxically wants to be comforted (feel your arms around me) by the very person he's just lost.
"if time is a mouth to feed ... so give your time to me" - We all, by simple nature, are burdened with the passage of time. The speaker is making a plea to the partner to stay in the relationship.
"if it changes you i'll never see" - An observation about spending time with someone. If you see someone every day you do not notice their little changes. Only after not seeing someone for a long period of time, where those little changes have all added up, do you notice they are different.
"old lovers fall like leaves / but just if you let them" - The speaker is attempting to understand the partner's motivations for ending the relationship. The speaker's again pleas. This breakup is a self-fulfilling prophecy that can be reversed if both parties simply get back on board.
"you say you feel nothing hoping / nothing's all i'll leave behind" - A common breakup tactic is to simplify and reduce your ex to something that can be easily dismissed. Call it wishful thinking, faking it till you make it, or the self-fulfilling prophecy concept from before.
going back now a couple lines... "you think you know what i'm / thinking but you don't know / why i need you tonight" - The partner has created a simplified version of the speaker. Here the speaker challenges that simplified version, again attempting to understand the partner's motivations. The speaker is saying the 'me' in your head is not the person standing in front of you right now.
"i hear them beneath your feet / but nothing is endless" - The speaker hears the old lovers (as leaves) crunching beneath the partner's feet. They won't be heard forever, though, because the speaker will eventually get over the breakup and move on.
And cue the happy music.
There's more imagery in the song but I believe they are more relevant to an overall album theme. "the roof of the city", "paris", etc are referencing the notion that songs are like maps to places you've never been. I picked that up reading an interview with the band's writer somewhere.
And there's some stuff I can't reconcile with my interpretation. Why is the speaker laughing the whole way down? Is this a nervous or incredulous laughter?
"i know i'm leaving but we all / leave no matter what" Outside of some wordplay with leave and leaf, I'm not sure why this is where it is in the song. The speaker seems to be talking about mortality. Could this be another plea? As in why break up with me to look for someone else, they will leave too.