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.
Hermann Loves Pauline, and Pauline loves Hermann
They made love and gave birth, to a little German
They called him MC squared, cos he raps like no other
An asthma sufferer, like Ernesto Guevara
Too much Monte Kristo number four
(Her and I believe)
Pass the ventolin I need some more
(They had more)
We have ways of making you think
(To do)
We have ways of making you think
(Than simple balancing)
We have ways of making you think
(Two point four family)
We have ways of making you think
(Sanity)
We have ways of making you think
(Personality, a ha ha)
They told me over a drink
They never noticed him at school
They tell me he kept himself to himself
He used to sit and stare up at the ceiling
Hermann loves Pauline
They never noticed him at school
They tell me he suffered poor health
He used to vacantly stare out the window, feeling under
Why do you do
What they tell you?
Marie Curie was Polish born, but French bred
Ha French bread
Of course she ended up dead from radiation
Slow invisible suffocation
Down the twenty- four hour garage, or any service station
I lead my life in a quest for information
Since surrounded by pies and books
Middle-aged drivers and deranged cooks ah ah a
They never noticed her at school
They tell me she kept to herself
She used to sit and stare up at the ceiling
Hermann loves Pauline
They never noticed her at school
They tell me, she suffered poor health
She used to vacantly stare out the window, feeling under
Why do you do
What they tell you?
They never noticed her at school
They tell me she kept herself to herself
She used to sit and stare up at the ceiling
Hermann loves Pauline
They never noticed him at school
They tell me he suffered poor health
He used to vacantly stare out the window, feeling under
They made love and gave birth, to a little German
They called him MC squared, cos he raps like no other
An asthma sufferer, like Ernesto Guevara
Too much Monte Kristo number four
(Her and I believe)
Pass the ventolin I need some more
(They had more)
We have ways of making you think
(To do)
We have ways of making you think
(Than simple balancing)
We have ways of making you think
(Two point four family)
We have ways of making you think
(Sanity)
We have ways of making you think
(Personality, a ha ha)
They told me over a drink
They never noticed him at school
They tell me he kept himself to himself
He used to sit and stare up at the ceiling
Hermann loves Pauline
They never noticed him at school
They tell me he suffered poor health
He used to vacantly stare out the window, feeling under
Why do you do
What they tell you?
Marie Curie was Polish born, but French bred
Ha French bread
Of course she ended up dead from radiation
Slow invisible suffocation
Down the twenty- four hour garage, or any service station
I lead my life in a quest for information
Since surrounded by pies and books
Middle-aged drivers and deranged cooks ah ah a
They never noticed her at school
They tell me she kept to herself
She used to sit and stare up at the ceiling
Hermann loves Pauline
They never noticed her at school
They tell me, she suffered poor health
She used to vacantly stare out the window, feeling under
Why do you do
What they tell you?
They never noticed her at school
They tell me she kept herself to herself
She used to sit and stare up at the ceiling
Hermann loves Pauline
They never noticed him at school
They tell me he suffered poor health
He used to vacantly stare out the window, feeling under
Lyrics submitted by Hanners, edited by geneticlizard
Hermann Loves Pauline Lyrics as written by Dafydd Ieuan Cian Ciaran
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Of course it's about Hermann Einstein and Pauline Koch who gave birth to "little German" Albert and his sister.
You have to love a band that uses counterpoint well.
What's counterpoint? Is that when they're all singing different things at once?
we have ways of making you think, possibly the best line, ever.
"Marie Curie was Polish born but French bred (HAH! French bread!)"
Love that line. SFA are one of the few bands who can throw a funny line in a good song and still make it work!
SFA OK!
Apparently counterpoint is where 'two melodic strands occur simultaneously' - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpoint
Which in this song would be all the "bah bah bah"s in the bridge.
i luv this song!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i just got an MP3 4 my 12th birthday, on sunday, this is the first thing that whent on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL
I relate to this. I used to sit and stare up the ceiling at school as well. Hah!! French breeaaad!!1
Actually, the song's about Gruff buying cheap factual books from motorway service stations and the information that they've taught him: so the first verse is from an Einstein biog and the second from some crummy Marie Curie biography, both of which came from service stations in the late 90s. The video is set in a motorway service station.
It's also a swipe at education: i.e. that it teaches you nothing useful and that actual geniuses underwhelm at school.
The song was not successful and was not popular- SFA were leaving it out of their sets during the tour to promote the single, that's how well it was going down live. It stalled at #27 in the UK Top 40.
ah it all makes sense now! Thanks.<br /> I remember this single being relegated to the bargin bin pretty quickly in W H Smith's.<br /> Didn't get any air play I think (unlike Play It Cool).<br />
Actually, they didn't play it live because they had difficulty performing it. Gruff himself brought this up at a recent solo gig and explained why they hadn't played it for years.