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.
hey brother can you spare a dime
skin and bones that's melting in a backwards way to grow
out of heart and out of mind
snd kiss me in the rearview when you go
dying at twenty-three, i'm trying on my apathy
with a tired conversation floating in this ether sky
tried again too many times, and doesn't it get worse
sit and stare
seems like we're running out of dimes
bodies that we burn as fuel, irreversible decline
pocket lint and turpentine
warm my insides, wash these ashes from my eyes
death with an attitude, i'm putting on my sunday suit
tired as a conversation held one too many times
a year or two or three or ten or twenty more
waiting
skin and bones that's melting in a backwards way to grow
out of heart and out of mind
snd kiss me in the rearview when you go
dying at twenty-three, i'm trying on my apathy
with a tired conversation floating in this ether sky
tried again too many times, and doesn't it get worse
sit and stare
seems like we're running out of dimes
bodies that we burn as fuel, irreversible decline
pocket lint and turpentine
warm my insides, wash these ashes from my eyes
death with an attitude, i'm putting on my sunday suit
tired as a conversation held one too many times
a year or two or three or ten or twenty more
waiting
Lyrics submitted by AllStarMe
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Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
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.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
What is said during the speaking part?
I'm not really sure, but this is what I can make out: "So close to , my mom must have felt free then and ready to live it all again. Nobody, nobody had the right to cry over her, and I felt ready to live it all again too. __ blind rage would wash me clean, rid me of hope for the first time. And that night alive with the signs and stars. I open myself to the gental indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself, so like a brother, really. I felt that I had been happy, and I was happy again. __ . For me to feel less alone __ ."
That is hard to make out
Great Simpsons reference.
So close to dying, my mom must have felt free then and ready to live it all again. Nobody, nobody had the right to cry over her, and I felt ready to live it all again too. As is all that blind rage would wash me clean, rid me of hope for the first time. And that night alive with the signs and stars. I open myself to the gental indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself, so like a brother, really. I felt that I had been happy, and I was happy again. Happy that I was consimated. For me to feel less alone [??????]
"So close to dying, maman must have felt free then and ready to live it all again. Nobody, nobody had the right to cry over her. And I felt ready to live it all again, too. As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope for the first time. And in that night, alive with the signs and stars I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself - so like a brother, really - I felt that I had been happy, and I was happy again. For everything to be cunsimmated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators at my funeral, and that they greet me with cries of hate."
It's taken from the end of a novel titled The Stranger, by Albert Camus. You shopuld chek it out, it's one of the best books I've veer read. The Cure song Killing An Arab is about the same story. (Brendan is one of the most well read artists I've come across.)
Awesome reference to the Depression era song "Brother Can you Spare a Dime?"
Awesome reference to the Depression era song "Brother Can you Spare a Dime?"
I just finished the novel The Stranger last night and it was pretty cool seeing that Brendan incorparated the last lines of the book into this song. As Mr Marx has pointed out, it's defiantly worth a read.