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.
It feeds on the souls of the living.
And gets inside their minds.
Transforms their brains and their longings,
No consciousness it will find.
It feeds on their fears and emotions,
As it has for 2000 years
Its infected the Hindus, infected the Buddhists,
Kept them all in tears.
If you're nearly dead, it will keep you alive.
And if you're alive, it keeps you nearly dead.
It forces the body to seek uninfected,
And gets inside their heads.
Once your brain is infected,
It changes what makes you pleased.
It forces your body to seek uninfected,
And add them to the diseased.
And in this way it crept slowly
All across the land
But the wise and the strong can still join forces
Defending our last stand
If you're nearly dead, it will keep you alive.
And if you're alive, it keeps you nearly dead.
It forces the body to seek the uninfected,
And gets inside their heads.
And gets inside their minds.
Transforms their brains and their longings,
No consciousness it will find.
It feeds on their fears and emotions,
As it has for 2000 years
Its infected the Hindus, infected the Buddhists,
Kept them all in tears.
If you're nearly dead, it will keep you alive.
And if you're alive, it keeps you nearly dead.
It forces the body to seek uninfected,
And gets inside their heads.
Once your brain is infected,
It changes what makes you pleased.
It forces your body to seek uninfected,
And add them to the diseased.
And in this way it crept slowly
All across the land
But the wise and the strong can still join forces
Defending our last stand
If you're nearly dead, it will keep you alive.
And if you're alive, it keeps you nearly dead.
It forces the body to seek the uninfected,
And gets inside their heads.
Lyrics submitted by Super Sapien
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This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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It's an interesting theory, and it has a very valid point... but as people have pointed out, the only religions/ideologies in the song itself are Hinduism and Buddism. Religion wouldn't make the followers of these religions cry. It's the same when you look at the yearsof infection (2000), most established religions are far older. But, dude, I'm not getting that. To me, this seems like a song about literal zombies, a post-apocalypse world filled with stumbling brain-eaters and a few last strongholds of civilization. At least, that's my own personal opinion answering the question "What does this song mean to you?". Sometimes a fish is a fish is a fish.