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.
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Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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.
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.
people explode pandora pompadour pele be sweet persephone
we all adore the turning ball he turned to her adore a poor animal we all adore the turning ball he turned to her adore the poor animal
breath on you breath out we're all bloody
people explode pandora pompadour pele be sweet persephone
we all adore the turning ball he turned to her adore a poor animal we all adore the turning ball he turned to her adore the poor animal
people explode pandora pompadour pele be sweet persephone
What I can't help laughing at is you guys trying to make out lyrics that are not even in English..
... why do people keep wasting space with comments that LF didn't know what she was singing about and was 'on drugs anyway', ??
firstly - do you say that about Van-Gogh, Edgar Alle Poe or Picasso? Do you say it about Edith Piaf or Billie Holiday? or Pink Floyd or the Rolling Stones?
secondly - even if LF was unaware of what parts of her psyche she was revealing in her poetic dot-joining exercise, there is still plenty of meaning to be found.
thirdly - fair enough: to pin down lyric meanings to a single interpretation is a fatuous exercise, of course, however to deny speculation is just as fetchless - more so in fact as it discourages our further exploration of possible meaninglets, and as far as I can tell, LF's intention was for each of us to decide anew what the song means to us at the time we listen to it and so be pulled into an experience with the Now.
almost all analysis suffers from one-dimensional thinking, as once we have struggled to find An answer it is easier to cling to it than to put it in an undecided space and go looking for more possibilities. This leads to heinous, yet easily avoidable erreurs, and we then get labelled as a 'person who thinks like X'. which produces further errors. we try to communicate, but instead we are misinterpreted and everyone ends up with their own ideas about what we meant to convey...
I have written too much, but might share about what the song means to me somewhere another time!
..the song is presumably named after the producer Ivo Watts Russell - who produced many of the artists on the 4AD label.
Indeed. The song was originally called "Peep-Bo" but she changed it to "Ivo" after Mr. Watts-Russell, I believe that then triggered calling all the other songs on the album after unusual names as well.
Trying to understand CT lyrics is like playing mornington Crescent
this song sure is beautiful.
Not sure you can write the lyrics for this or any of the CT's songs from this wonderful treasure of an album. I heard this in 1984 whilst listening to the great John Peel show. 1984 was a great year for British music (in my view it has yet to surpassed for sheer breadth of music styles). This album was haunting, poetic and calming. Liz's voice is fantastic. This is my favourite of all CT albums and I particularly like this opening track.
I have a hard time reading these 'lyrics' without busting a gut. If there ever was an example of 'let it be' regarding the Cocteau's, this is it. Yes, it's very likely she sings the word 'pompadour', but Liz' thing was about texture for this album--she made the music incredibly special but let it do the talking also.
I agree - this whole excercise pointless for the cocteau twins, surely?
Elizabeth has admitted lyrics would often change with each singing anyway . . .
I agree. Trying to decipher CT lyrics is almost always an exercise in futility. She could be singing in gaelic here for all we know.
What I can't help laughing at is you guys trying to make out lyrics that are not even in English, at least not totally. Of course there are those songs from Garlands, Milk And Kisses, Heaven Or Las Vegas etc which are indeed in English but as for other ones such as these from Treasure, it has been said so many times that these are words from different languages put together and people still force English lyrics upon them just because they want to make some sense of them. They may have some subjective meaning but this doesn't help, unless you are just joking about making out their lyrics.
Largely agreed, but I'd say it's also worth doing it for Head Over Heels, and some songs on Treasure. After that though, all bets are off, with the exception of something like Melonella, where some enterprising soul found the book that had the list of butterfly names she's reading out...