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.
When blood sees blood
Of its own
It sings to see itself again
It sings to hear the voice it's known
It sings to recognize the face
One body split and passed along the line
From the shoulder to the hip
I know these bones as being mine
And the curving of the lip
And my question to you is:
How did this come to pass?
How did this one life fall so far and fast?
Some are lean and some with grace, and some without;
All tell the story that repeats
Of a child who had been left alone at birth
Left to fend and taught to fight
See his eyes and how they start with light
Getting colder as the pictures go
Did he carry his bad luck upon his back?
That bad luck we've all come to know
And my question to you is:
How did this come to pass?
How did this one life fall so far and fast?
When blood sees blood
Of its own
It sings to see itself again
Of its own
It sings to see itself again
It sings to hear the voice it's known
It sings to recognize the face
One body split and passed along the line
From the shoulder to the hip
I know these bones as being mine
And the curving of the lip
And my question to you is:
How did this come to pass?
How did this one life fall so far and fast?
Some are lean and some with grace, and some without;
All tell the story that repeats
Of a child who had been left alone at birth
Left to fend and taught to fight
See his eyes and how they start with light
Getting colder as the pictures go
Did he carry his bad luck upon his back?
That bad luck we've all come to know
And my question to you is:
How did this come to pass?
How did this one life fall so far and fast?
When blood sees blood
Of its own
It sings to see itself again
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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I think this is a very difficult song to understand. Maybe that's why no one has commented on it yet. I thought I'd make a few suggestions.
Could it be about orphans - "a child who had been left alone at birth"??? The blood ties that they long to find and how they search for common features to recognize themselves in someone.
Could it be also about death? Maybe the orphan dies on the street where he was "left to fend and taught to fight". The reason I am suggesting death is the past tenses throughout the song and the lines "Getting colder as the pictures go".
But then there's the verse: "One body split and passed along the line From the shoulder to the hip I know these bones as being mine And the curving of the lip"
I don't quite know what to make of it. I think that the song deserves some attention and more discussion. It would be great to understand it more.
I think it's about twins separated at birth and then reunited. "One body split and passed along the line" As if they are really the same person in two bodies. Then maybe they're reunited and one of them turns out much worse off than the other. That's my feeling.
Taylor has a good theory, but I always thought this song was about a mother giving up her child and meeting him again when he's older and adopted. I love Suzanne Vega's lyrics, they can be so profound.
I am sure most if you have seen this but there's a post in songfacts website that says that in an interview she said its about meeting her biological father. That's the the theme (parents were divorced since she was born)
i read many years ago
i read many years ago that Suzanne parents split when she was a small child and she could not see resemblance in her father's photos or her mother, until one day she saw a photo of a young boy and saw the resemblance and ask who it was, that was her father's bother which looked like her, but died at a young age and never really mentioned. the meaning of the story that she never really felt similar to her biological parents as they did not look like her and then when she finally sees where she gets her face and slender body from, got to know that her uncle passed. this is what i remember reading 30 years ago on a music magazine when the song came out, but i am not sure if it comes from a reputable source.