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.
Stop! Because I know just what you're doing.
I've encoded all the lines of encryption I've been fed.
Stop! Your fucking superpowers aren't working.
I won't suck you off to get something I want, I'll just give up instead.
So please stop thinking for me.
Start looking out for me.
And just because I'm paranoid
Don't mean that your not after me.
You: Awash in a sea of pretention.
You've got names to drop and bands to cash in on in your hip underground.
Me: Apparently music is none of my business.
Aesthetic disease and enemies in high places to keep me down.
So please stop thinking for me.
Start looking out for me.
And just because I'm paranoid
Don't mean that your not after me.
I was never on the team
So don't try to play ball with me.
DO YOU REALLY THINK I GIVE TWO SHITS WHAT YOU THINK
IS BEST FOR ME AND MY CAREER?
because I don't.
Try to ignore me, but I'll be that scare that won't go away.
Turn down the horns, or you can't be emotional
Scream: YEAH! (NO!) My demeanor's inexplicable
Because the moment you expose your boredom, we become expendable
So I'll defy your scene where every band is interchangeable
Rush to claim ideas bled dry as your own
Understand I'm doing something different because I'm capable
I do it cause I like it, and I like it 'cause you don't.
Shut your mouth about it.
No one wants to hear about it.
If music's an artistic statement
You don't have to speak for it and
I was never on the team
So don't try to play ball with me and
DON'T THINK I GIVE TWO SHITS WHAT YOU THINK
IS BEST FOR ME AND MY CAREER.
BECAUSE I DON'T.
I've encoded all the lines of encryption I've been fed.
Stop! Your fucking superpowers aren't working.
I won't suck you off to get something I want, I'll just give up instead.
So please stop thinking for me.
Start looking out for me.
And just because I'm paranoid
Don't mean that your not after me.
You: Awash in a sea of pretention.
You've got names to drop and bands to cash in on in your hip underground.
Me: Apparently music is none of my business.
Aesthetic disease and enemies in high places to keep me down.
So please stop thinking for me.
Start looking out for me.
And just because I'm paranoid
Don't mean that your not after me.
I was never on the team
So don't try to play ball with me.
DO YOU REALLY THINK I GIVE TWO SHITS WHAT YOU THINK
IS BEST FOR ME AND MY CAREER?
because I don't.
Try to ignore me, but I'll be that scare that won't go away.
Turn down the horns, or you can't be emotional
Scream: YEAH! (NO!) My demeanor's inexplicable
Because the moment you expose your boredom, we become expendable
So I'll defy your scene where every band is interchangeable
Rush to claim ideas bled dry as your own
Understand I'm doing something different because I'm capable
I do it cause I like it, and I like it 'cause you don't.
Shut your mouth about it.
No one wants to hear about it.
If music's an artistic statement
You don't have to speak for it and
I was never on the team
So don't try to play ball with me and
DON'T THINK I GIVE TWO SHITS WHAT YOU THINK
IS BEST FOR ME AND MY CAREER.
BECAUSE I DON'T.
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Although the song was written for Wuthering Heights(a phenomenal book!) it can relate to many subjects other then love. This is my interpretation of this song.
"Give me hope in silence It's easier, it's kinder Tell me not of heartbreak It plagues my soul, it plagues my soul" I think this is saying don't tell me of the troubles in our world. It's better to have silence then to hear the pain and despair of desperate peoples. And on a more personal note...When you constantly hear adults fighting you stop hoping for a happy home-life. You don't even let your self wish that they would love one another. You hope only for silence. That the screaming would stop.
"And bury me beside you I have no hope in solitude" When I see your pain and my lack of ability to relieve it it crushes me. When I see the deaths of millions I loose my desire to live with the pain in the world. I cannot survive when everyone around me is succumbing to the pain.
"And the world will follow To the earth down below" Ultimately we will all end our days in the earth, down below.
"But I came and I was nothing Time will give us nothing" Things are not getting better. We recuperate from one painful time in our lives just to find another trial awaiting us. On both a personal and global level.
"So why did you choose to lean on A man you knew was falling? " But yet..even amidst the pain and suffering we find the strength to trust. To trust that this time it will be different. That the one in whom we place our hope will not let us down although deep down inside we know that they will eventually, like everyone else, fail us. And that is what makes us human. The ability to trust, to have that trust broken, and then trust again.
(Just so you know, this song was written for Andrea Arnold's 2011 film adaptation of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights.)
"Give me hope in silence It's easier, it's kinder"
He doesn't wish for his love to talk about the troubles they're facing; it's just easier to pretend that everything is fine.
"Tell me not of heartbreak It plagues my soul, it plagues my soul"
He just doesn't want to talk of heartbreak because if causes him pain facing the reality of the situation they're in.
"And bury me beside you I have no hope in solitude"
He just wants to be with her; he knows that without her he wouldn't be happy.
"And the world will follow To the earth down below"
I think that this part is basically saying that the world it's self will not matter anymore because it will "follow to the earth down below"; where he's "buried" beside her.
"But I came and I was nothing Time will give us nothing"
I think this part is explaining that he has a low ranking in society, and if she stays with him it won't change his status because he will still be considered "nothing".
"So why did you choose to lean on A man you knew was falling?"
He saying that she is just setting herself up for heartbreak because he isn't worthy of her, and that ultimately they can't be together.
Well, I'm not sure if that's totally right but I feel like I'm on the right track, haha. But besides that, I just love this song - Mumford and Son's are amazing.
Love this song. It's perfect for Wuthering Heights, especially since I'm a fan of both :)
Here's my take on how it relates to the book:
"Give me hope in silence It's easier, it's kinder" ~one of the last scenes with Cathy and Heathcliff, he's holding her on the rocks they used to play on as children, and shut out their problems and the rest of the world, just being children again.
"Tell me not of heartbreak It plagues my soul, it plagues my soul" ~Heathcliff was angry at Cathy when she claimed to be heartbroken about the fact she married Edgar instead.
"And bury me beside you I have no hope in solitude" ~When she dies, he dies inside with her
"And the world will follow To the earth down below" ~He kind of goes insane with her death, even digging up her grave to sleep next to her.
"But I came and I was nothing Time will give us nothing" ~He was an orphaned "moor" boy when he arrived, and as time goes on, the more distant and desperate they become
"So why did you choose to lean on A man you knew was falling?" ~Edgar, the man she married for money and status, let Cathy bully him. Her only match was Heathcliff.
Honestly, this is beautiful <3
In the full version, there is an extra part, which wasn't played in the film. You can find the word "enemy" in it, which is the title of the song:
"Give me hope in silence It's easier, it's kinder Tell me not of heartbreak It plagues my soul, it plagues my soul We will meet back on this road Mothing gain, truth be told But I'm not the enemy It isn't me, it isn't me."