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.
I thought that I'd been hurt before
But no one's ever left me quite this sore
Your words cut deeper than a knife
Now I need someone to breathe me back to life
Got a feeling that I'm going under
But I know that I'll make it out alive
If I quit calling you my lover
Move on
You watch me bleed until I can't breathe
I'm shaking, falling onto my knees
And now that I'm without your kisses
I'll be needing stitches
Tripping over myself
Aching, begging you to come help
And now that I'm without your kisses
I'll be needing stitches
Just like a moth drawn to a flame
Oh, you lured me in, I couldn't sense the pain
Your bitter heart, cold to the touch
Now I'm gonna reap what I sow
I'm left seeing red on my own
Got a feeling that I'm going under
But I know that I'll make it out alive
If I quit calling you my lover
Move on
You watch me bleed until I can't breathe
I'm shaking, falling onto my knees
And now that I'm without your kisses
I'll be needing stitches
Tripping over myself
Aching, begging you to come help
And now that I'm without your kisses
I'll be needing stitches
Needle and the thread, gotta get you outta my head
Needle and the thread, gonna wind up dead
Needle and the thread, gotta get you outta my head
Needle and the thread, gonna wind up dead (gonna wind up dead)
Needle and the thread, gotta get you outta my head (gotta get you outta my head)
Needle and the thread, gonna wind up dead (wind up dead)
Needle and the thread, gotta get you outta my head, get you outta my head
You watch me bleed until I can't breathe
I'm shaking, falling onto my knees (falling on my knees)
And now that I'm without your kisses (without you)
I'll be needing stitches (and I'll be needing stitches)
Tripping over myself
Aching, begging you to come help (begging baby, please)
And now that I'm without your kisses
I'll be needing stitches
And now that I'm without your kisses
I'll be needing stitches
And now that I'm without your kisses
I'll be needing stitches
But no one's ever left me quite this sore
Your words cut deeper than a knife
Now I need someone to breathe me back to life
Got a feeling that I'm going under
But I know that I'll make it out alive
If I quit calling you my lover
Move on
You watch me bleed until I can't breathe
I'm shaking, falling onto my knees
And now that I'm without your kisses
I'll be needing stitches
Tripping over myself
Aching, begging you to come help
And now that I'm without your kisses
I'll be needing stitches
Just like a moth drawn to a flame
Oh, you lured me in, I couldn't sense the pain
Your bitter heart, cold to the touch
Now I'm gonna reap what I sow
I'm left seeing red on my own
Got a feeling that I'm going under
But I know that I'll make it out alive
If I quit calling you my lover
Move on
You watch me bleed until I can't breathe
I'm shaking, falling onto my knees
And now that I'm without your kisses
I'll be needing stitches
Tripping over myself
Aching, begging you to come help
And now that I'm without your kisses
I'll be needing stitches
Needle and the thread, gotta get you outta my head
Needle and the thread, gonna wind up dead
Needle and the thread, gotta get you outta my head
Needle and the thread, gonna wind up dead (gonna wind up dead)
Needle and the thread, gotta get you outta my head (gotta get you outta my head)
Needle and the thread, gonna wind up dead (wind up dead)
Needle and the thread, gotta get you outta my head, get you outta my head
You watch me bleed until I can't breathe
I'm shaking, falling onto my knees (falling on my knees)
And now that I'm without your kisses (without you)
I'll be needing stitches (and I'll be needing stitches)
Tripping over myself
Aching, begging you to come help (begging baby, please)
And now that I'm without your kisses
I'll be needing stitches
And now that I'm without your kisses
I'll be needing stitches
And now that I'm without your kisses
I'll be needing stitches
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
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This song is about him realizing he's in a toxic relationship and making himself leave, no matter how much it hurts.
Awesome song. A guy has clearly fallen hard for his "dream girl" (or so he thought ). After all, she seemed like everything he was looking for. Things really took off between them, and and came to a screeching halt just as fast. She doesn't love him anymore. He is emotionally wounded as he struggles to overcome his feelings of unrequitted love.
Moving on is hard, and the girl's not willing to make it any easier. Perhaps she just doesn't care about him anymore, or maybe letting him down easily would be too inconvenient. Whatever the reason, he is hurt, and the pain is so real that it might as well be physically inflicted. Despite the hurt, he keeps returning to its source, "like a moth to a flame". Love is irrational and this might not make sense. But the truth is, part of him still loves the girl and wants to be with her.
Yet an even bigger part of him knows better. To feel whole again, he must fight these feelings and "move on". It's a struggle. But he knows he will make it. As he fights his poorer judgment, he searches for "needle and thread" (new love) to help stitch his wounds and bring him back to himself.
What if this song is his way of pointing out that men can be abused in a relationship just as much as a woman can be. What if he wanted to leave the relationship, every time he wanted to leave she would abuse him. This happened so often that he didn't know how to go about leaving her?
This is a shot in the dark, but it could definitely be a possibility..
@HadassahRaven I think you're right. That's what I'm picking up from the lyrics.
@kelpieKeeper I also did draw some of my conclusion from watching the video. Which I very much believe added to the songs overarching meaning. Whether or not that was his focus, its what I got.
I think “needle and the thread” means his girlfriend has been hurting him so much he will need stitches. I don’t know sorry if it’s obvious or I’m not clear.( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
The lyrics and the film clip are about the open secret of Magianism. Magicians often tie knots when they are weaving a curse and this is what "stitches" gives reference to. This practice is where the name wicker comes from because the knots were commonly used to create a piece of wickerwork. There is a price in the next life for practising black magic and "gonna wind up dead" refers to both the authors death and the price the Jinn (Demon) he worshipped in the ritual will extract from him as well as the death of the subject of the curse.
Black magic can be fatal and usually manifests in the form of an accident; I would expect that the person he is singing about died in a car accident.
Don't believe me? You buy into the veil of absurdity that witchcraft hides behind and are distracted by the retarded herbal hippies with crystals right? Real magicians will almost never admit to practising witchcraft and will make a fool of you and cast doubt on its existence if you don't really believe. If you find yourself foolhardy enough to ignore everything you have heard about dabbling in the occult try this.
The next time you see someone with a wart get a viable green pea (without antifungal agent on it), hold the pea and say "please help" and touch it to the wart (getting a spec of blood or lymph [wart juice] on the pea will help). Wrap the pea in a piece of paper and later plant it in moist earth and as it germinates and grows the wart will wither and die. Cursing someone with warts is not much harder.
You will not thank me for telling you this if you try it and later die outside of Islam.
Everybody in rehab thinking this song be about dope.
Interesting discussion. I interpret the lyrics to be about a guy with a broken heart, trying to get over it. But the idea that it's a metaphor for addiction works too.
Does anyone else think the lines beginning with "Needle and the thread..." sound like something from an old nursery rhyme? Probably not, but that part really caught my attention.
My co-workers told me it was about his addiction to Heroin???
I was like, "Nooooooo, say it ain't so" but now that I really really listen to the lyrics, it could possibly be that :-( disturbing, I know.
"Needle in a thread, gonna wind up dead" [Heroin needle in his vein, which may eventually kill him]
"I'm without your kisses, I'll be needing stitches" [With putting the heroin in him "Heroin kisses" he'll be going through withdrawal and will probably start scratching, or doing whatever happens, to himself, during withdrawal]
Love this song!
The song is just about dealing with the pain of breaking up and the hurtful things that people say to each other but focusing on moving on. I love this kid's voice! I read he is a Canadian whose mom is English and his dad is Portuguese. His name reminds me of my daughter's friends with an Irish mom and a Latino dad because their first names are Irish and their last names are Latino.