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.
You're seeing now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars,
I've been living on the edge so long, where the winds of Limbo roar.
And I'm young enough to look at,
And far old to see, all the stars are on the inside.
I'm not sure that's there's anything left to me
Don't let these shakes go on!
It's time we had a break from it,
It's time we had some leave.
We've been living in a place,
We've been eating up our brains.
Oh please don't let these shakes go on!
You ask me why I'm willing, why I can't speak to you,
You blame me for my silence, saying it's time I changed and grew.
But the wars still going on dear,
And there's no one that I know.
And I can't stand forever.
I can't say if were ever gonna be free,
Don't let these shakes go on!
It's time we had a break from it,
It's time we had some leave.
We've been living in a place,
We've been eating up our brains,
Oh please don't let these shakes go on!
You're seeing now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars,
My energy is spent at last, and my armor is destroyed,
I have used up all my weapons, and I'm helpless and bereaved.
Wounds are all I'm made of!
Did I hear you say that this is victory?
Don't let these shakes go on!
It's time we had a break from it,Send me to the rear!
Where the title madness swell,
And been sliding into Hell.
Oh please don't let these shakes go on!
Don't let these shakes go on
Don't let these shakes go on!
I've been living on the edge so long, where the winds of Limbo roar.
And I'm young enough to look at,
And far old to see, all the stars are on the inside.
I'm not sure that's there's anything left to me
Don't let these shakes go on!
It's time we had a break from it,
It's time we had some leave.
We've been living in a place,
We've been eating up our brains.
Oh please don't let these shakes go on!
You ask me why I'm willing, why I can't speak to you,
You blame me for my silence, saying it's time I changed and grew.
But the wars still going on dear,
And there's no one that I know.
And I can't stand forever.
I can't say if were ever gonna be free,
Don't let these shakes go on!
It's time we had a break from it,
It's time we had some leave.
We've been living in a place,
We've been eating up our brains,
Oh please don't let these shakes go on!
You're seeing now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars,
My energy is spent at last, and my armor is destroyed,
I have used up all my weapons, and I'm helpless and bereaved.
Wounds are all I'm made of!
Did I hear you say that this is victory?
Don't let these shakes go on!
It's time we had a break from it,Send me to the rear!
Where the title madness swell,
And been sliding into Hell.
Oh please don't let these shakes go on!
Don't let these shakes go on
Don't let these shakes go on!
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Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
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It's about Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion, you tits.
Yup, written by Moorcock. It is of course about the Eternal Champion in general, but it seems it would best fit Erekosë as he's the one who can remember all his previous incarnations.
Also, the lyric in the line "But the war's still going on, dear, and there's nowhen that I know" is wrong...it is "no end" not "nowhen".
The literal phrase "Veterans of the Psychic Wars" is mentioned in the Eternal Champion trilogy. If I remember correctly, they are incarnations of the Eternal Champion who fought for so long that they forgot about everything except fighting. The current Eternal Champion calls on them for help in a battle. Those of them that die on the battefield are set free, while the rest have to wait another era (or whatever it's called; been a while) for the next battle. There's also a Hawkwind song about it called Warriors.
@Noilen I think you got it, as much as it can be gotten.
To me, this song is about mental illness. Maybe a survivor of severe abuse. Even if you can get away from the abusive situation, the psychic scares run deep and the mind can be severely injured.
The song is based on Elric of Melniboné (probably the most famous of the Eternal Champions, wikipedia has a good overview of him), a character written by Michael Moorecock. This isn't just my interpretation, its what the writers intended. He wrote at least some of the lyrics. But if I didn't know better, I would think it was about drug addiction too. I just found out about this song recently (I vaguely remembered it from the movie Heavy Metal). Awesome song.
@SadisticSavior Definitely not Elric. His journeys were about his own struggle against destiny and fates that he actively wanted nothing to do with. Elric is loved for many things, I loved his balls. It takes some pretty extra-dimensionally large cojones to tell the Infinite Lords of Law, Chaos and Justice to all go screw themselves.<br /> <br /> What is more likely, is that this song, written for a sci-fi film, gave Moorcock an opportunity to express that the Eternal Champion, even in some futuristic world of psionic intergalactic warriors, continues as the Avatar of the Balance.
Micheal Moorcock did cowrite this song (along with Black Blade and the Great Sun Jester). He says the song is an allusion to a soldier's post traumatic stress syndrome. They keep living the horror in their heads.
While this song by Moorcock is obviously about the Eternal Champion, I do not find any validation for assuming it is about any one of those whose journeys have been written of.
What is more likely, is that this song, written for a sci-fi film, gave Moorcock an opportunity to express that the Eternal Champion, even in some futuristic world of psionic intergalactic warriors, continues as the Avatar of the Balance.
This song haunted me for years. I didnt know any background, didnt know about Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion. Although the imagery sounded much like a soldier's PTSD, I thought there must be something deeper. To me, it brought to mind the the mass media advertizing that we're surrounded by. I always hated the media. The thousand psychic wars were the thousands of advertisements both commercial and political, constantly trying to get into our heads, make us want things we dont need, playing on our fears and hopes, making us identify with one brand against another brand, what to like, what to be afraid of. "Im not sure that there's anything left of me", meant that we couldnt be sure if our opinions were our own, or if they were implanted by the media. They dont care how much they mess with your head.
The war's still going on, dear, and there's no end that I know. ...we're all veterans of these psychic wars.
Never diid know what the "shakes" were. Guess I didnt do enough drugs back when I had the chance. :-)
One of my all-time favorite songs.
@solagreg Hi solagreg, Your interpretation is good, if you didn't know about the books of Moorecock. With those book in hand it is pretty obvious. Without them your interpretation is solid, and I just wanna say I dig it too.
Any really good song with a thinkng mans lyrics can be interpreted in a multitude of fashions. Oftentimes this is a deliberate approach by the writers with several angles in mind. However the nature of such lyrics inasmuch as they will appertain to many other aspects of the human condition means that people will find these underlying truths applying to other experiences of theirs, their friends and/or acquaintances. So Moorcock did think of more than one angle but other people have thought up more and yet more people will think up others.