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.
She comes on like a stone
But you don't know where from she was thrown
Like a burning meteor from miles high
Shes looking for a place to land
She said you got yourself some sand
And whatever you'd reply she took as yes
She comes out the deep?
With her newly planted seeds and soon you're
Thrown down on your knees and then you're dead
Then before you know the weeds are all beastly overgrown
With all the wild seeds he sews in your sleeve
You've got to know you'll never let her go
Lightning bolt!
Lightning bolt!
Lightning bolt!
Always something and never nothing
Isn't that the way we're taught to be, to be?
Through the worn our pages
In stages when you knew not who to be
Yeah! yeah!
Until the lightning strike sets you free, yeah!
You've got to know you'll never let her go
She is lightning bolt!
Lightning bolt!
Lightning bolt!
The crashing stormy waves are over shoreline everyday
Until the castle on her waves turns to sand
She holds her lovely breast as her birds fall from her nest
Flying towards the great northwest, yeah you were here
And with no repair in sight
There is no god with such might
As you open her world wide with such a view
And your death will soon arrive as she finally decides
That all her problems, they won't die with you
A-yeah! a-yeah! a-yeah!
Never let her go
She's a lightning bolt
Never let her go
She's true
She's rock 'n roll
She's a lightning bolt
Uncontrollable
Like you
But you don't know where from she was thrown
Like a burning meteor from miles high
Shes looking for a place to land
She said you got yourself some sand
And whatever you'd reply she took as yes
She comes out the deep?
With her newly planted seeds and soon you're
Thrown down on your knees and then you're dead
Then before you know the weeds are all beastly overgrown
With all the wild seeds he sews in your sleeve
You've got to know you'll never let her go
Lightning bolt!
Lightning bolt!
Lightning bolt!
Always something and never nothing
Isn't that the way we're taught to be, to be?
Through the worn our pages
In stages when you knew not who to be
Yeah! yeah!
Until the lightning strike sets you free, yeah!
You've got to know you'll never let her go
She is lightning bolt!
Lightning bolt!
Lightning bolt!
The crashing stormy waves are over shoreline everyday
Until the castle on her waves turns to sand
She holds her lovely breast as her birds fall from her nest
Flying towards the great northwest, yeah you were here
And with no repair in sight
There is no god with such might
As you open her world wide with such a view
And your death will soon arrive as she finally decides
That all her problems, they won't die with you
A-yeah! a-yeah! a-yeah!
Never let her go
She's a lightning bolt
Never let her go
She's true
She's rock 'n roll
She's a lightning bolt
Uncontrollable
Like you
Lyrics submitted by Hrd2Imagin
Lightning Bolt Lyrics as written by Eddie Jerome Vedder
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
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”
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
This song is clearly about surfing & Eddie's surfboard. Lightning Bolt is a brand of surfboards, once you get that it all makes sense.
I feel like this is deeper than surfing or songwriting like the other comments have said but I wouldn't know what it's about so.....
I know they said Eddie had writers block for the making of Binaural but I disagree, than entire album was so unique and beautiful and a brave change in paths...this album at first felt like that but it didn’t have the buzz of binaural, this song saddens me, if you didn’t know any better you’d think this was a high school kids first attempt at a hit, it’s cloudy and murky and seems like a paradoxical metahphor minus the intention, it’s simple, and lazy, I really hope they step it up there on next album. We’ve only been waiting 6 fkn yrs boys
Sounds good to me jarturotorres
Nah, it's about writing songs. Ed basically said that was the case when he was interviewed in the lead up the album. Songwriting sometimes hits you like a lightning bolt.
I think this song is about that and the issues that come with it. About focusing on so much on certain issues, while others grow around you. Hence, you have the dynamic relationship described in the song where the lightning bolt is somehow destroying the person that loves it. That sort of thing....
It's actually a pretty great lyrical song, if this interp is correct.
Cyrano de Bergerac- no? I believe so. That is quite possibly the best way to decipher the lyrics here. Gerard Depardieu won an Oscar in the role though I prefer Steve Martin's twist on the character in Roxanne.
To put it in modern day terms, it is sort of like Catfish but not.
Imagine, if you will, a gal meets a fellow whom she is attracted to and even though they have amazing chemistry together, he blows her off because many women are at his beck & call. So...how can she possibly get his attention? She becomes his "secret admirer". And he is fascinated by the notes she sends him even though he isn't quite sure WHO is sending him these hilarious & touching sentiments, over time?
Fast forward- he finds out who it is and is stumped! She seemed so funny, intelligent, sweet, thoughtful & sincere in her notes but...she isn't quite up to snuff in regards to being good enough to meet his family. He is smitten, for sure, but she isn't up to his standard.
And now he isn't sure how to handle his feelings?
Actually upon much deeper thought- this song could be about figuring out WHO YOU ARE on your journey. Very much so- I think the two or three characters in the song are bouncing off one another, over time. Perhaps she is his nemesis? Or the catalyst for him (the male) to begin to dive in (be more introspective). She is perhaps "the protagonist"? He is drawn to her, curious about her and she...makes him wonder what kind of man does she want me to be? Need me to be? What kind of man have I become because of her? She seems to spurn him or keep him at a distance? And this is his plea...or the third person who is advising sings/suggests "you can never let her go"...she is that valuable to him. She has sparked him, touched him, gotten through to him.
The thing is- we're not given the conclusion. It's kind of open ended. You can speculate what has happened with these two people but this song leaves you wondering.
Who knows? There must be a really exceptional reason why the band named an entire album after this cut- considering they have never done that previously.
@EST1966 <br /> <br /> I think it's about a woman. She becomes a part of your life. You fall in love. You "plant some seeds". Then she turns on you. Blames you for all of her problems. She "Sows other seeds" while you are home sleeping. Then, in the end, you get divorced, and she realizes "all her problems, they don't die with you"<br /> <br /> Regardless of who is right about the meaning. This is a GREAT song! Hope we can all agree on that!
Oh and these lyrics are way way off, go on genius lyrics for correct version,