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.
Charlemagne shakes in the streets
Gideon makes love to the suites
And Holly's not invincible
In fact she's in the hospital
Not far from that bar where we met
On that first night
Charlemagne pulls street corner scams
And Gideon's got a pipe made from a Pringles can
Holly's insatiable, she still looks incredible
But she don't look like that same girl we met
On that first night
When she was golden with bar-light and beer
On that first night
She slept like she'd never been scared
And then last night
She said "Words alone never could save us."
And then last night
She cried and she told us about Jesus
Holly's inconsolable
Unhinged and uncontrollable
'Cause we can't get as high as we got
On that first night
Boys and girls in America
Boys and girls in America
Boys and girls in America
Boys and girls in America
Boys and girls in America
Don't bother talking to the guys
With their hard, soft eyes
You know they're already taking on
Don't even speak to all those sequin-surfed beach boys
When they kiss they spit white noise
When they kiss they spit white noise
When they kiss they spit white noise
When they kiss they spit white noise
Yeah, when they kiss they spit white noise
Now when they kiss they spit white noise
When they kiss they spit white noise
Gideon makes love to the suites
And Holly's not invincible
In fact she's in the hospital
Not far from that bar where we met
On that first night
Charlemagne pulls street corner scams
And Gideon's got a pipe made from a Pringles can
Holly's insatiable, she still looks incredible
But she don't look like that same girl we met
On that first night
When she was golden with bar-light and beer
On that first night
She slept like she'd never been scared
And then last night
She said "Words alone never could save us."
And then last night
She cried and she told us about Jesus
Holly's inconsolable
Unhinged and uncontrollable
'Cause we can't get as high as we got
On that first night
Boys and girls in America
Boys and girls in America
Boys and girls in America
Boys and girls in America
Boys and girls in America
Don't bother talking to the guys
With their hard, soft eyes
You know they're already taking on
Don't even speak to all those sequin-surfed beach boys
When they kiss they spit white noise
When they kiss they spit white noise
When they kiss they spit white noise
When they kiss they spit white noise
Yeah, when they kiss they spit white noise
Now when they kiss they spit white noise
When they kiss they spit white noise
Lyrics submitted by Nodima, edited by HowlingMad, chad56s, hornytheclown, bfreeby, BluVelvetChair, ivegivenup, Mellow_Harsher
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It's "words alone". The first time I listened to this song, when it got to the "don't bother" part, that was probably the closest to a musical catharsis I've ever gotten. I think it's about the end of the idealism of youth. At first, everything is new and exciting and the future looks so bright, but then you get swept up in everything and then later you look back and feel like you missed your chance. You just can't get as high as you used to.
I just really liked how it carried on the story of Charlemagne, Gideon and Holly from the first couple of albums... in those they were always on a road trip or some sort of high but it's almost like it's the end in this song... like they finally crashed and burned on some street corner somewhere: holly's in hopsital-pretty much totally hysterical- while the other two are working the streets for their next fix. It's condemning a lot of the stuff craig writes about... it's saying you don't want to end up like them.
i first heard this song while organizing a recent trucksworth of product in the freezer at work. halfway through the song i had to sit down. i must have sat on the freezer floor listening to it three or four times before realizing that i was still at work. i nearly cried myself into a heartfrenzy right there. goddamn. craigs writing and voice are philtre.
This is definitely Craig at his finest.
All the albums have a very similar theme to them about drugs, alcohol, partying, finding yourself, etc. But I never really understood the meaning of this album until I finally decided to pick apart this song's meaning. "Boys and Girls of America" just sounded like some cliche title, but I now realize its meaning goes a hell of a lot further than what the album title and album art may suggest on first glance.
^^ ah, but do you want to end up like them? "holly's insatiable. she still looks incredible" i thought of it as all those teenage mistakes you need to make before that transition to adulthood. oh god, i love this song.
The piano solo/tansition/bridge in this song is gorgeous and amazing
I always thought this song was about that point at which the secular experience mutates into memory; the point at the dynamic between the party (Holly, Charlemagne etc.) and the aspiration become antithetical.
Just like the 'moment' a memory doesn't bear any temporal significance once it has passed, so getting 'as high' as you got is a logical impossibility. What is in the past stays in the past and so to live a life chasing the feelings conjured by the fragmented sensual apparitions of memory is as futile as trying to 'feel' a concept - in the tactile sense - would be.
Strange analogy
I get goosebumps just READING the lyrics.
I will never forget the moment earlier this year when I threw a paper aeroplane on the stage at the Manchester show that had "PLEASE PLAY FIRST NIGHT" scrawled on it. They didn't notice it until they came back on for the encore. Tad picked it up, read it and just said "Alright, let's do it. Dusty, tune up the acoustic guitars". It started off shambolic and in the wrong key but by the time they crashed into the crescendo the whole audience were carried away in cries of "White noise!" as I crowd-surfed on the shoulders of some of the best friends I'll ever make, my face flooding with tears.
Best. Moment. Ever.
This might be stretching it...but:
I think Holly could be a personification of the word "holy" and what is holy. Religion as an institution has become misused in the modern world and when Holly says: "Words so long never could save us," she means that our actions will speak louder than whatever words people quote from the Bible. For those who have stuck with a religion for a long time, they may have gone through experiences good and bad that transformed their original beliefs. "She cried and she told us about Jesus" could be saying that people should go back to what they held onto originally instead of bending to the corruption of words and institutions.