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.
1 drifting
2 twisting
3 whiteout
4 blackbird braille
5 Wenceslasaire
6 avalanche
Come on man, you've got 44 to go,
come on man, you've got 44 to go.
Come on man, you've got 44 to go,
come on man, you've got 44 to go.
7 swans-a-melting
8 deamondi-pavlova
9 eiderfalls
10 Santanyeroofdikov
11 stellatundra
12 hunter's dream
13 faloop'njoompoola
14 zebranivem
15 spangladasha
16 albadune
17 hironocrashka
18 hooded-wept
Come on Joe, you've got 32 to go,
come on Joe, you've got 32 to go.
Come on now, you've got 32 to go,
come on now, you've got 32 to go.
Don't you know it's not just the Eskimo.
Let me hear your 50 words for snow.
19 phlegm de neige
20 mountainsob
21 anklebreaker
22 erase-o-dust
23 shnamistoflopp'n
24 terrablizza
25 whirlissimo
26 vanilla swarm
27 icyskidski
28 robber's veil
Come on Joe, just 22 to go,
come on Joe, just 22 to go.
Come on Joe, just you and the Eskimos,
Come on now, just 22 to go.
Come on now, just 22 to go,
Let me hear your 50 words for snow.
29 creaky-creaky
30 psychohail
31 whippoccino
32 shimmerglisten
33 Zhivagodamarbletash
34 sorbetdeluge
35 sleetspoot'n
36 melt-o-blast
37 slipperella
38 boomerangablanca
39 groundberry down
40 meringuerpeaks
41 crème-bouffant
42 peDtaH 'ej chIS qo'
43 deep'nhidden
44 bad for trains
45 shovelcrusted
46 anechoic
47 blown from polar fur
48 vanishing world
49 mistraldespair
50 snow.
2 twisting
3 whiteout
4 blackbird braille
5 Wenceslasaire
6 avalanche
Come on man, you've got 44 to go,
come on man, you've got 44 to go.
Come on man, you've got 44 to go,
come on man, you've got 44 to go.
7 swans-a-melting
8 deamondi-pavlova
9 eiderfalls
10 Santanyeroofdikov
11 stellatundra
12 hunter's dream
13 faloop'njoompoola
14 zebranivem
15 spangladasha
16 albadune
17 hironocrashka
18 hooded-wept
Come on Joe, you've got 32 to go,
come on Joe, you've got 32 to go.
Come on now, you've got 32 to go,
come on now, you've got 32 to go.
Don't you know it's not just the Eskimo.
Let me hear your 50 words for snow.
19 phlegm de neige
20 mountainsob
21 anklebreaker
22 erase-o-dust
23 shnamistoflopp'n
24 terrablizza
25 whirlissimo
26 vanilla swarm
27 icyskidski
28 robber's veil
Come on Joe, just 22 to go,
come on Joe, just 22 to go.
Come on Joe, just you and the Eskimos,
Come on now, just 22 to go.
Come on now, just 22 to go,
Let me hear your 50 words for snow.
29 creaky-creaky
30 psychohail
31 whippoccino
32 shimmerglisten
33 Zhivagodamarbletash
34 sorbetdeluge
35 sleetspoot'n
36 melt-o-blast
37 slipperella
38 boomerangablanca
39 groundberry down
40 meringuerpeaks
41 crème-bouffant
42 peDtaH 'ej chIS qo'
43 deep'nhidden
44 bad for trains
45 shovelcrusted
46 anechoic
47 blown from polar fur
48 vanishing world
49 mistraldespair
50 snow.
Lyrics submitted by stentorian
50 Words for Snow Lyrics as written by Kate Bush
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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My best guess is that this song is about snow.
This I found on LastFm:
"Speaking to American radio station KCRW, Bush said that the idea for this song came from thinking about the myth that the Inuit Eskimos have 50 words for snow. She then decided to make up increasingly fantastical words herself, and recruited actor and writer Stephen Fry to recite the 50 synonyms."
50 Words for Snow is about how fleeting existence is and how the most beautiful things are the those that are lost so quickly, and lost over and over again, in different incarnations, and the tighter you try to hold on, the quicker they are lost again.
Nice try, but I think it's just a silly song about snow.
Another meaning of "snow" is the interference you get on a TV set, when the whole screen turns white and blurry. (As a kid, we used to look at snow on the TV, because if you stare long enough you start to see things ...)
Anyway, I mention this because in 2005 Kate released "Aerial," which also refers to the device you use to get reception on a TV. Her next album, "Director's Cut," showed scissors cutting film in the artwork.
Aerial - Cut - Snow. An inside joke? Maybe Kate watches a lot of TV?
@bingoboy There's credibility to this idea, as remember her mentioning how she wrote Wuthering Heights in her first TV appearances? She mentioned that she caught the movie made in 1939 by the same name
Can't work out if I love or hate this.
Are you kidding?! I LOVE this. Only Kate Bush can get away with songs like this and pull it off amazingly. It's just like Pi on Aerial :D
I'll try to use as many of these as possible this winter! Does anyone remember all that faloop'njoompoola we had in October? Erm yeah all the kids trick-or-treating in the shnamistoflopp'n. You had to get out your psychohail shovels early! But you could still make a creaky-creaky man.
But you have to be careful shoveling all that boomerangablanca: it's all shovelcrusted, for one thing, and if you have an anklebreaker in the anechoic slipperella, it's mistraldespair because no one can hear your mountainsobs. You'll end up deep'nhidden in the vanishing world until after the spring's melto-blast. Sucks to be you.
I'd rather listen to Pheobe sing "Smelly Cat"
I think its great. Its enough knowing that stephen fry does the word really.<br /> <br /> My only little nitpick is that the eskimo don't actually have 50 words for snow.
I think 50 words for snow is about getting older. She's in her early 50's maybe she wrote this song when she hit 50.
Nice! Good one!
Apparently is based on an old myth about vikings having 50 words for snow, which according to her is not true.<br /> <br /> She said is just a silly song, that's it.<br /> And I love it, lol Kate always making us roll the ball.
There's something oddly ambiguous and metaphysical about this song. Like there's so many different words and perceptions for snow that the entire idea of language and words is questioned in a way It's a song of anticipation with its slow build with consistent background percussion and after going through 49 other variations then the sudden pause before saying the final 50th word "Snow"...that word seems like just another variable. What is snow to us? What are WORDS? What is PERCEPTION?
Forgive the baseness of this comment, but it sounds like it would be a great love-making song ;)