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.
Though I've tried before to tell her
Of the feelings I have for her in my heart
Every time that I come near her
I just lose my nerve as I've done from the start
Every little thing she does is magic
Everything she do just turns me on
Even though my life before was tragic
Now I know my love for her goes on
Do I have to tell the story
Of a thousand rainy days since we first met?
It's a big enough umbrella
But it's always me that ends up getting wet
Every little thing she does is magic
Everything she do just turns me on
Even though my life before was tragic
Now I know my love for her goes on
I resolved to call her up a thousand times a day
And ask her if she'll marry me in some old fashioned way
But my silent fears have gripped me long before I reach the phone
Long before my tongue has tripped me, must I always be alone?
Every little thing she does is magic
Everything she do just turns me on
Even though my life before was tragic
Now I know my love for her goes on
Every little thing she does is magic
Everything she do just turns me on
Even though my life before was tragic
Now I know my love for her goes on
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah
Every little thing, every little thing
Every little thing, every little thing
Every little, every little, every little
Every little thing she does
Every little thing she does
Every little thing she does
Every little thing she does
Thing she does is magic
Ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh
Ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh
Ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh
Ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh
Every little thing
Every little thing
Every little thing she do is
Magic, magic, magic
Magic, magic, magic
Hey, oh, yo, oh
Ee-oh
Do I have to tell the story
Of a thousand rainy days since we first met?
It's a big enough umbrella
But it's always me that ends up getting wet
Of the feelings I have for her in my heart
Every time that I come near her
I just lose my nerve as I've done from the start
Every little thing she does is magic
Everything she do just turns me on
Even though my life before was tragic
Now I know my love for her goes on
Do I have to tell the story
Of a thousand rainy days since we first met?
It's a big enough umbrella
But it's always me that ends up getting wet
Every little thing she does is magic
Everything she do just turns me on
Even though my life before was tragic
Now I know my love for her goes on
I resolved to call her up a thousand times a day
And ask her if she'll marry me in some old fashioned way
But my silent fears have gripped me long before I reach the phone
Long before my tongue has tripped me, must I always be alone?
Every little thing she does is magic
Everything she do just turns me on
Even though my life before was tragic
Now I know my love for her goes on
Every little thing she does is magic
Everything she do just turns me on
Even though my life before was tragic
Now I know my love for her goes on
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah
Every little thing, every little thing
Every little thing, every little thing
Every little, every little, every little
Every little thing she does
Every little thing she does
Every little thing she does
Every little thing she does
Thing she does is magic
Ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh
Ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh
Ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh
Ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh
Every little thing
Every little thing
Every little thing she do is
Magic, magic, magic
Magic, magic, magic
Hey, oh, yo, oh
Ee-oh
Do I have to tell the story
Of a thousand rainy days since we first met?
It's a big enough umbrella
But it's always me that ends up getting wet
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic Lyrics as written by Gordon Sumner
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"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.
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Gentle Hour
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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,
When We Were Young
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As a girl I always wished a guy would feel this way about me
you know most people feel the same way
Mrs D.V., I wonder if a guy has ever felt that way about you. The problem is, it's usually the ONE person we're least attracted to! Always seems to be the way. Have you felt this way about a guy before? It always surprises me that a guy as great looking as Sting has a couple songs where he says he's tongue tied and lonely.
No one has mentioned the absolutley electric EYO-0! EYO-O! EYO-O! my favourite part I'd have to say. I do think it someone he already knows. Beside the thousand rainy days thing i think the umbrella talk is impotant. Hell is directly tied into the rainy days... I think its just another example of how infatuated he is. They are friends theyve been together on thses rainy days, the umbrella is big enough but does she share? (NO!) and yet... Every little thing she does is magic!!
its akin to Shakespere's love sonnet where the object of his love has hair like wire and breath like onions...but he love her in spite of these things. Or maybe because of them too...the whole package "warts and all"
@eddieb A lifelong friend recently revealed to me that the song ends with a seemingly endless stream of my initials, EO. Since age 13 and for decades thereafter, I wore a signet ring inscribed with these initials, which became my nickname among high school friends in the 60s. Just today, I spotted your comment here. I suspect the initials in the lyrics likely refer to a female heartthrob who Sting wanted to specify as the girl in the song.
it's about a guy who REALLY likes a girl and everytime he wants to tell her he's too affraid to say it but everything she does is just magical to him and his fear is of rejection
This song is beautiful, addictive, and all around wonderful.
To me, this song's about a guy who is always rejected, and he can't bring himself to confess his feelings to the girl he likes. Great song to listen to if you're in that boat!
^ same here. i don't think this song needs an explanation... it's simply about loving that one girl who could slap you across the face and make it seem like 'magic'. cheesy, i know. so catchy though.
It's about a guy who's shy around his crush!
I think its about the feelings a guy has for a girl from start to end the fears of starting something
"I just lose my nerve As I've done from the start"
The feelings he has if he loses her: "Long before my tongue has tripped me Must I always be alone"..at least thats part of what its about, mostly the feeling a guy would go through for someone else.
I would have to side most with the first poster. Here we have arguably the most perfect song ever written about becoming absolutely infatuated with a girl. Totally happy, though, it is not. "Every little thing she does is magic" is merely an observation from a far distance, he doesn't totally know her and can't truly connect ("[My silent fears have gripped me"). Ultimately he's left to ask why he "must ... always be alone."
Every guy has had these feelings before. The thought of her studying, or working, or brushing her just absolutely kills you and then the inevitable happens: either reality sets in or the breakup occurs. Sting hopes to avoid that here, consciously or not. He doesn't want to make the phone call. It's tragic, and it's true. Imagining the wedding is a lot more fun that actually confessing your feelings and getting rejected. Irregardless, it's what one has to do. At some point, we all "end[...] up getting wet."