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.
Forgotten throes of another's life
The heart of love is their only light
Faithless greeds, consolidating
Holding down sweet charity
With western eyes and serpents breath
We lay our own conscience to rest
But I'm aching at the view
Yes, I'm breaking at the scenes, just like you
They have values of a certain taste
The innocent, they can hardly wait
To crucify, invalidating
Turning to dishonesty
With western eyes and serpents breath
They lay their own conscience to rest
But then they lie and then they dare to be
Hidden heroes candidly
So I'm aching at the view
Yes, I'm breaking at the scenes just like you
(I feel so cold on hookers and gin)
(This mess we're in)
The heart of love is their only light
Faithless greeds, consolidating
Holding down sweet charity
With western eyes and serpents breath
We lay our own conscience to rest
But I'm aching at the view
Yes, I'm breaking at the scenes, just like you
They have values of a certain taste
The innocent, they can hardly wait
To crucify, invalidating
Turning to dishonesty
With western eyes and serpents breath
They lay their own conscience to rest
But then they lie and then they dare to be
Hidden heroes candidly
So I'm aching at the view
Yes, I'm breaking at the scenes just like you
(I feel so cold on hookers and gin)
(This mess we're in)
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Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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"
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.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
I always wondered where the phrase "western eyes" came from. I was in Foyles bookshop on Charing Cross Road when in the corner of my eyes I saw a book called "Under Western Eyes" by Joseph Conrad. I purchased it and gave up 1/3 of the way through as I found it a tough read. The song does, however, reflect perfectly the noirish mood of the book.
Wikipedia describes the book as "Full of cynicism and conflict about the historical failures of revolutionary movements and ideals. ....the irrationality of life, and the unfairness with which suffering is inflicted upon the innocent and poor and the careless disregard for fellow life with whom we share existence.
Says it all in my opinion.
@129484 Foyles - love that book store..Always wondered what this song meant. Its a grower. I cant stop listening to it.
I think this song relates to the way some people manipulate, control and prey on other people who love naively, and then how the abuser moves on with their conscience clear due to laying blame of some sort at the loser's door. I feel that the overall tragic tone to the song pertains to the loser's jaded feelings. I also feel that the meaning has parallels to the western civilisation and somehow blames such for the way we become greedy and selfish even extending to something personal, such as love.
"Forgotten throes of anothers life" Meaning the abuser (I'll say baddy) is not considering the other's (goody) life.
"The heart of love is their only light" Meaning the goody only feels and knows, quite naively, the way we all do when we're young, blind love.
"Faithless greeds,consolidating" The baddy has no faith, and their greed for what they want to get from the goody is consolidated into a fine and focused point.
"Holding down sweet charity" The sweet charity is the love given by the goody being held down by the baddy.
"With western eyes and serpents breath We lay our own conscience to rest" The baddy's can lay their conscience to rest by buying into the media, western values and justifying it.
"But I'm aching at the view Yes I'm breaking at the scenes just like you" I think this speaks for itself. Beth Just Ache's watching this happen. It pains her,
This first part of this verse may have two meanings They have values of a certain taste The innocent they can hardly wait To crucify, invalidating Turning to dishonesty
Meaning #1 It could be written from the perspective of the baddy meaning their values are an acquired taste,similar to some foods and that "The innocent they can hardly wait" refers to how they lay in wait, to prey on the naive lovers. Then, they crucify them and invalidate them by manipulation (dishonesty).
Meaning#2 It could be the bitterness the goody now feelsand they themselves, in turn, have been jaded and turned into baddys only to go on and perpetuate the treatment to the next crop of naive lovers.
The second part of the verse refers to whoever the first part refers to.
With western eyes and serpents breath They lay their own conscience to rest But then they lie and then they dare to be Hidden heros candidly
This means that whether it the baddy, or goody (turned bad) the western way means they simply lay the conscience to rest. Then, they go on to lie about the goody, turning blame to them, messing their head up, manipulating, controllling etc. These lies are important because it is the very existence of them and the belief the baddy puts into them that does clear their conscience. These lies can be shoehorned to make the baddy appear the hero, and therefore they have made themselves shine candidly, meaning, falsely and subtley.
The hookers and gin sample at the end only reflects the coldness and bitterness left in the heart of the goody, who, may give up on the fallacy of romantic love to go and drown their sorrows in cold sex and pain killers.
To me, this is one of the most haunting songs I have ever heard. Beth's voice is the most appropriate voice for such a song and this song is one of the few which can affect me emotionally every time I hear it. Personally this song is perfection from the tone of Beth's voice, to the meaning of the song to it's structure, sounds, genre and samples.
And on top of that, it is AWESOME to fuck to!
@ezydriver This is just rediculous interpretation sorry, but no. The entire album focusses on the effects of capitalism and the Western dominance in the world. This entire song is from that perspective also leading to the above suggestion of the Conrad novel. My dude, this is not it. Nothing to do with baddy and goody - you've completely missed the meaning.
Well, I'm not so sure, but I always thought it was "Yes, I'm breaking at the 'seams' just like you.."
It think it sounds better that way because it makes more sense than scenes, but ya never know.
I love this song either way..
It's a beautifully melancholy song, to be sure. Singing of the hopelessly destructive nature of western civilisation, Beth Gibbons DOES make use of the same musical tones that we've come to associate with deep sadness, as Phrogex said.
As to the last part I feel so cold, On hookers and gin. etc.
It DOES sound like a sample, but to the best of my knowledge, most of the instrumentation in Portishead's works are also samples. They're recorded on tape, then down-sampled; producing a gritty sound. Perhaps it was recorded specifically for this song?
i feel so cold all hookers and gin
this mess we're in :-/
her voice is truely haunting...
I'm so disappointed to see such little comments on such a BEAUTIFUL song. I LOVE this song so much, I just can't get enough of it. So full of emotional, and reproachful. It reminds me of that song called Waterbaby, in which they collaborated w/ Sneaker Pimps. It also reminded somewhat of an old 1920's song sung at a bar. Beautiful splendid work of her. I love the part at the end, when they put the mysterious, familiar voice of the man at the end. One of my favorites of Beth's!
I agree, like I almost never agree with other people. Its amazing that you mention Waterbaby, I have such a memory attached to that song. I think this song is not truly understood except by western people that know about life outside of the west. Really, if you live in the west, but have traveled long enough, you will see what the lyrics are about. If I am correct, then the song is about the pain felt by a westerner who understand how wrong life can be in the west, as if the soul of a jaded, well traveled, and painfully aware individual was singing. I feel a little comfort when I hear this song, because I feel a little cold myself, about the mess of our culture in the west.
I wan't to know what's the meaning for the last words "i feel so cold/all hookers and gin/this mess we're in". If this is a sample, what's the original source? I'been looking for this in vain... Thanks, Yahuar
The "hookers and gin" was in fact originated by the band.
it jsut feels like a bar song reminding me of the one whom always drinks alone and only gets sex from hookers