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.
The tree don't care what the little bird sings
We go down with the dew in the morning light
The tree don't know what the little bird brings
We go down with the dew in the morning
And we breathe it in
There is no need to forgive
Breathe it in
There is no need to forgive
The trees will stand like pleading hands
We go down with the dew in the morning light
The trees all stand like pleading hands
We go down with the dew in the morning
And we breathe it in
There is no need to forgive
Breathe it in
There is no need to forgive
The trees will burn with blackened hands
We returned with the light of the evening
The trees will burn, blackened hands
Nowhere to rest, no where to land
And we know who you are
And we know where you live
And we know there's no need to forgive
And we know who you are
And we know where you live
And we know there's no need to forgive
And we know who you are
And we know where you live
And we know there's no need to forgive
And we know who you are
And we know where you live
And we know there's no need to forgive again
We go down with the dew in the morning light
The tree don't know what the little bird brings
We go down with the dew in the morning
And we breathe it in
There is no need to forgive
Breathe it in
There is no need to forgive
The trees will stand like pleading hands
We go down with the dew in the morning light
The trees all stand like pleading hands
We go down with the dew in the morning
And we breathe it in
There is no need to forgive
Breathe it in
There is no need to forgive
The trees will burn with blackened hands
We returned with the light of the evening
The trees will burn, blackened hands
Nowhere to rest, no where to land
And we know who you are
And we know where you live
And we know there's no need to forgive
And we know who you are
And we know where you live
And we know there's no need to forgive
And we know who you are
And we know where you live
And we know there's no need to forgive
And we know who you are
And we know where you live
And we know there's no need to forgive again
Lyrics submitted by DiesisKey, edited by Mellow_Harsher
We No Who U R Lyrics as written by Warren Ellis Nicholas Cave
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Mute Song Limited
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I read an early review of this, I think on NME, that thought this song might be about a mob with pitchforks (the trees hands, I guess?). I don't know if I buy that, but I think there's some kind of mob mentality to this song. Maybe it's just the choir singing. It seems like there's a hunt going on. For the little bird? If your quarry goes to ground, leave no ground to go to. So they burn down the forest.
And the ending, the creepy "We know who you are, we know where you live, we know there's no need to forgive" makes me think Nick is making a statement about the modern world. We have left ourselves nowhere to hide. Everyone knows where we live. Everyone knows who everyone is now. And no one in power is ever going to apologize for that. If that knowledge is abused, well, oops, bud don't worry. There's no need for the powerful to feel bad about it. They'll never get it wrong. Again.
And if I think there's a connection to the modern world, and because this is Nick Cave, I wonder if we look at the modern social-media connected world, if this is somehow a song about Twitter? "The little bird." Because Nick Cave is odd like that. Maybe I'm reaching by this point...
Intriguing lyrics. I saw someone explain this as being literally about trees, but I go down with the explanation that it's about the internet and also the mob mentality Thatmatt is talking about.
I believe that the tree could be anyone, but most likely a public figure (politician, celebrity), and causes controversy. The tree ignores and can also not control the little bird, meaning public opinion (indeed a reference to twitter perhaps).
'We' are anonymous. And because all information is so easily available, we 'breathe' all that's been said about this person, the tree, in like it's nothing. We don't have to really think about it. And because we are anonymous, and don't personally know the person involved, there's also no need for us to forgive this person.
Next, the trees are standing like pleading hands, maybe trying to apologise for what is done. We don't respond to that. When we return, the trees will burn.
I think that what Nick Cave is trying to make clear is that on internet it's very easy to ridicule or be rude towards a person that might have made a mistake. We're not thinking anymore and are very easy to judge those persons. And once those persons take the heat, we know who they are, what they do and where they live. At the same time the anonymity on the web is even greater than standing in the classical 'mob with torches'. There are no consequences for being rude anymore so there is also no need to forgive the person.
ThatMatt got a point, it might concern the "internet" world, even the title of the song is written "We No Who U R" which is internet language... Anyway there's a silent underground threat throughout the song that Nick Cave can easily summon!