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.
Someone was here before me and they took the possibility away
And without any control or freedom the elements were laid down in this way
And so my mind is slowly devoured by the ideas to which it subscribes
And in the end I'm left with nothing except the memory of
believing my own lies
And where are you now, my most unfortunate lie?
The light shows my face in the mirror and my hand as it reaches to touch
The evidence of pain and delusion and a mind which was never clear enough
I saw the sun rise in an ancient desert where this moment was first foretold
And the black water was thick as blood and my hands they were full of gold
And where are you now, the most lethal, all consuming lie I ever told?
Where are you now, my unfortunate, irreversible lie?
And without any control or freedom the elements were laid down in this way
And so my mind is slowly devoured by the ideas to which it subscribes
And in the end I'm left with nothing except the memory of
believing my own lies
And where are you now, my most unfortunate lie?
The light shows my face in the mirror and my hand as it reaches to touch
The evidence of pain and delusion and a mind which was never clear enough
I saw the sun rise in an ancient desert where this moment was first foretold
And the black water was thick as blood and my hands they were full of gold
And where are you now, the most lethal, all consuming lie I ever told?
Where are you now, my unfortunate, irreversible lie?
Lyrics submitted by jt
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Light Up The Sky
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Lying to control others, and ending up believing them yourself, reaping great rewards. Eventually, it hurts everyone you fooled, including yourself. The desert is symbolic of any place barren in some way, a place for contemplation.
The interesting thing about this song is that only the final lines of the first and second verse are sung; The rest sound like they were recited into a tape player. I love this song, though "most unfortunate"ly, I do not have the album. I have only the bare-bones, spoken-word-less instrumental version from the rerelease.
I think this song is about human free will and how it is the most unfortunate lie we tell ourselves. The lie is that we make our own decisions, have our own agency, and have control of our fate. It is lethal because we believe we are invincible, our lives matter; our minds trick us into thinking we are even alive at all.
"And so my mind is slowly devoured by the ideas to which it subscribes And in the end I'm left with nothing except the memory of believing my own lies."
When he sees himself in the mirror, he realizes his existence came from a primordial ooze where the fate of mankind was first foretold. We began from nothing and will end as nothing. Black water and gold could be metaphors for this primordial ooze. Now he is face to face with the lie of his existence, realizing his "existence" has and always will be, in his own mind.
I think you're right Cynothoglys... It's about lying to get somewhere higher in life, power, greed and money, recurring themes in Swans' oeuvre... I think Gira is a great poet and singer, and that the Swans wrote some of the most beautiful songs ever... There's a lot of symbolism in the songs from "White mouth..." ad this songs shows it.
I see the "most unfortunate lie" as being a lie told to oneself. The lie is the "ideas" ones own mind "subscribes" to. But the mind is not "clear enough." The song describes an "ancient" time when the present was "foretold." If this is possible then there is no self determination, right? There is a since of realizing powerlessness. This song draws a picture in my mind of the singer looking in a literal mirror, and realizes he's killed himself. In that moment his minds eye draws a metaphor of a, river of black water, drawing his hands out and finding them cupping his own blood ("thick as blood...full of gold). And the song sets the mood for what he feels at that moment. Clarity, and eternal regret. It's too late, he is undone. His lie was, "lethal, all consuming." So, Knowing he can not live, his last wish is to want to believe the self-deluded thoughts that led him to suicide. But he can not. Ironic.