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.
Flies are buzzing round my head
Vultures circling the dead
Picking up every last crumb
The big fish eat the little ones
The big fish eat the little ones
Not my problem, give me some
You can try the best you can
You can try the best you can?
The best you can is good enough
If you try the best you can
If you try the best you can
The best you can is good enough
This one's optimistic
This one went to market
This one just came out of the swamp
This one dropped a payload
Fodder for the animals
Living on animal farm
You can try the best you can
You can try the best you can
The best you can is good enough
If you try the best you can
If you try the best you can
The best you can is good enough
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
Ah ah ah
Oh oh oh
I'd really like to help you, man
I'd really like to help you, man
Nervous messed up marionettes
Floating around on a prison ship
You can try the best you can
You can try the best you can
The best you can is good enough
You can try the best you can
You can try the best you can
Dinosaurs roaming the Earth
Dinosaurs roaming the Earth
Dinosaurs roaming the Earth
Ah ah ah (oh oh oh)
Ah ah ah (oh oh oh)
Ah ah ah
Oh oh oh
Vultures circling the dead
Picking up every last crumb
The big fish eat the little ones
The big fish eat the little ones
Not my problem, give me some
You can try the best you can
You can try the best you can?
The best you can is good enough
If you try the best you can
If you try the best you can
The best you can is good enough
This one's optimistic
This one went to market
This one just came out of the swamp
This one dropped a payload
Fodder for the animals
Living on animal farm
You can try the best you can
You can try the best you can
The best you can is good enough
If you try the best you can
If you try the best you can
The best you can is good enough
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
Ah ah ah
Oh oh oh
I'd really like to help you, man
I'd really like to help you, man
Nervous messed up marionettes
Floating around on a prison ship
You can try the best you can
You can try the best you can
The best you can is good enough
You can try the best you can
You can try the best you can
Dinosaurs roaming the Earth
Dinosaurs roaming the Earth
Dinosaurs roaming the Earth
Ah ah ah (oh oh oh)
Ah ah ah (oh oh oh)
Ah ah ah
Oh oh oh
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Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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.
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.
this song is probably the best showcase of radiohead's genius than any other.
the whole thing is a sarcastic parody of the idea of optimism:
"If you try the best you can The best you can is good enough"
this is what people say, when in reality you could do your best and still come out on bottom. just doing your best and being optimistic is no guarantee that things will be OK.
"The big fish eat the little ones The big fish eat the little ones Not my problem give me some"
in other words, just as the daily struggles of the fish are meaningless to us, our daily struggles are also ultimately meaningless, and it makes no difference to the world whether you succeed or fail, or "get eaten by bigger fish"
"This one's optimistic This one went to market This one just came out of the swamp This one dropped a payload Fodder for the animals Living on an animal farm"
here it's almost like Thom is imagining the world from an alien's point of view - this one is optimistic, as though optimism were just another trait that the person has, and it ultimately has no real effect on anything.
**** this is where the genius really comes in. the way he says that last line makes it form the beginning of the nursery rhyme about the pigs ("this one went to market...."). in other words, nursery rhyme = nice little lies that are told to make children feel good.
THEN, at the same time as all that, a third meaning is apparent, when he mentions Animal Farm. Animal Farm was an allegory for Communism (ie, do what work you can, and you'll be ok even if that work is not very good)
"Nervous messed up marionette Floating around on a prison ship"
by this he is clearly referring to humans as the marionettes - controlled like puppets by forces outside their control - located on a prison ship that they cannot escape from - Earth itself.
"Dinosaurs roam the earth"
another parody of optimism. the dinosaurs did their best to survive, but ultimately were wiped out by forces beyond their control. if optimism really worked this way, dinosaurs would still "roam the earth" because they did their best.
@mrguy6 THANK YOU someone finally mentions Animal Farm
@mrguy6 this is excellent. I agree with your points of view. I think you hit the nail of the head. This song is art in its truest form. It evokes such deep dramatic tones and paints a dark landscape. This song brings me back in time to college at the apex of my struggles in school - i was in near despair. The deep background of the song captures the feeling so perfectly. And all I wanted during that time was to believe desperately that Thom York was not being sarcastic. I needed that optimistic message to be true. Your description is the bigger picture of it all. the struggle doesn't matter and most of it is out of our control on this ship. But we can try to see the snippets of positivity. it's there despite the bad and the institutions around. We try and try again. and learn and try again. It's reincarnation for the soul despite the worlds we find ourselves in.