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.
Mark
I'll meet you at the show
I'll try to convince Roger to go
(Mark exits)
Angel
Live in my house
I'll be your shelter
Just pay me back
With one thousand kisses
Be my lover - I'll cover you
Collins
Open your door
I'll be your tenant
Don't got much baggage
To lay at your feet
But sweet kisses I've got to spare
I'll be there - I'll cover you
Both
I think they meant it
When they said you can't buy love
Now I know you can rent it
A new lease you are, my love,
On life - be my life
Just slip me on
I'll be your tenant
Wherever - whatever - I'll be your coat
Angel
You'll be my king
And I'll be your castle
Collins
No you'll be my queen
And I'll be your moat
Both
I think they meant it
When they said you can't buy love
Now I know you can rent it
A new lease you are, my love,
On life - all my life
I've longed to discover
Something as true as this is
Collins Angel
So with a thousand
sweet kisses If you're cold
I'll cover you And you're lonely
With a thousand
sweet kisses
I'll cover you You've got one nickel only
With a thousand sweet kisses
I'll cover you
When you're worn
out and tired With a thousand sweet kisses
I'll cover you
When your heart has
expired
Both
Oh lover I'll cover you
Oh lover I'll cover you
I'll meet you at the show
I'll try to convince Roger to go
(Mark exits)
Angel
Live in my house
I'll be your shelter
Just pay me back
With one thousand kisses
Be my lover - I'll cover you
Collins
Open your door
I'll be your tenant
Don't got much baggage
To lay at your feet
But sweet kisses I've got to spare
I'll be there - I'll cover you
Both
I think they meant it
When they said you can't buy love
Now I know you can rent it
A new lease you are, my love,
On life - be my life
Just slip me on
I'll be your tenant
Wherever - whatever - I'll be your coat
Angel
You'll be my king
And I'll be your castle
Collins
No you'll be my queen
And I'll be your moat
Both
I think they meant it
When they said you can't buy love
Now I know you can rent it
A new lease you are, my love,
On life - all my life
I've longed to discover
Something as true as this is
Collins Angel
So with a thousand
sweet kisses If you're cold
I'll cover you And you're lonely
With a thousand
sweet kisses
I'll cover you You've got one nickel only
With a thousand sweet kisses
I'll cover you
When you're worn
out and tired With a thousand sweet kisses
I'll cover you
When your heart has
expired
Both
Oh lover I'll cover you
Oh lover I'll cover you
Lyrics submitted by babeee
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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"
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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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.
To me, this song is just the ultimate, pure idealistic approach to love, and that's why it's great. Angel and Collins are both HIV positive, neither is sure just how much time they have left to live, and yet they love each other this earnestly. In most other shows, or as a standard pop song, this would be cheesy as hell, but because of the circumstances of the characters singing it it becomes beautiful and somewhat bittersweet.
Extra Note: This song also seems significant to me because the love between Collins and Angel in Rent seems more realistic to me than most situations you ever see on stage or in movies, gay or straight. Angel's death is one of the only moments in theater/movies that has ever bought me close to tears.
yes. this song is really sweet. because you know that theyre both dying, and therefore the line: "I think they meant it When they said you can't buy love Now I know you can RENT it A new lease you are, my love" is so sad. because...they know theyre on borrowed time, which is why they can only rent love. but they appreciate the time more. its so sweet and sad...
i never thought of it that way and i never understood that im so glad you said that whole idea about renting love because they are on "borrowed time" but shit... i forgot my thought....oh right isn't everyone technically renting love.... b/c someones gonan die soon i mean its more time to "rent" if youre marrie and such but the fact that jsut because they KNOW they are both dieing does it make it any less than maureen and joanne renting love?? i feel very wrong and i still agree with both of u 1 0 0 %
Angel and Collins have just met a little while ago, but their love is strong, because they truely believe No Day But Today. This song was great for me, I'm a total Angel x Collins fan. They know they've only got a while left to be on earth together, at any given point one could up and leave. They have to live life to the fullest, it's true love.
THIS IS DEFINITELY ONE OF MY FAVORITE RENT SONGS EVER. im having it played at my wedding. this song is just the most perfect lovesong ever. angel and collins are saying that no matter what happens they will love each other, forever.. " when your heart has expired" as angel's does. collins loves her still, even after she moves on from here.
I would have to say this IS my favorite "love" song. As nightkite13 was saying that this song would probably be considered cheesy if it were a pop song, I'd agree. But I am sure people would still love it. Its the perfect song for a couple who love each other. Whether their lacking good health, money or whatever. Just the meaning of the song.. Love is FREE. I don't know. But this is my favorite song. Am in love with it.
this song kills me. i love it to death, but i hate how it's so cheery sounding, then if you really listen to the lyrics, and the foreshadowing... ahhh! why did angel have to die??? this song is sooo cute. and ahhh. it makes me want to cry.
I love this song and I especially adore Wilson Jermaine Heredia's voice. I could listen to that beautiful tenor (with falsetto) all day long.
It's so sweet and shows the devotion between Angel and Collins.
Simply one of the best songs ever. Period. The whole era of 1980s New York, AIDS, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, etc. is SO fascinating AIDS was such a tragedy. Yet, from this tragedy came the need to examine what matters in life. And when people realized this, and chose to LIVE as best as they could for as long as they had They set an example for all of us (like the line in La Vie Boheme where they sing "to living with, living with, living with... not dying from disease!) SO TRUE You always have to live with, not die from! Just like the Bob Dylan lyric: "He not busy being born is busy dying" This song is just such an uplifting statement! "There's only us, there's only this, forget regret, or life is yours to miss" The message of RENT is so vital.
"I think they meant it When they said you can't buy love Now I know you can rent it"
I thought that meant that when you RENT something, you get something and give something back. or somethin. and angels death is the the only thing that have made me cry. over a movie that is. xd