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.
No one dared to
Speak of the terrible danger
The hideous ancient warnings
Forged in the void of night
He has risen up
Out of the blackness; chaos
Belongs to the prophet's sister
A sickening monstrous sight
Through that stifling heat underneath the pale green moon
(Hungered with the thirst to see things not yet seen)
Climbing endless stairs, leading to the choking room
(Eager to explore his most shocking mysteries)
Drifting beyond all time
Out of the churning sky
Drawn to the beckoning light
Of the dark eternal night
Black forces
Rage in a vortex, fighting
Rays of destruction swallowing
The echo of the universe
I am the last
Born of the blood of the pharaohs
The ultimate god of my creation
Sent to unleash this curse
Restless crowds draw near
Nameless hooded forms appear
(Amidst fallen ruins
Grotesque creatures battle)
Shadowed on a screen
Yellow evil faces leer
(Vacant monuments
Corpses of dead worlds left behind)
Drifting beyond all time
Out of a churning sky
Drawn to the beckoning light
Of the dark eternal night
Trapped in a hellish dream
Spinning past worlds unseen
And frightfully vanishing
Into the dark eternal night
Drifting beyond all time
Out of a churning sky
Drawn to the beckoning light
Of the dark eternal night
Trapped in a hellish dream
Spinning past worlds unseen
And frightfully vanishing
Into the dark eternal night
Speak of the terrible danger
The hideous ancient warnings
Forged in the void of night
He has risen up
Out of the blackness; chaos
Belongs to the prophet's sister
A sickening monstrous sight
Through that stifling heat underneath the pale green moon
(Hungered with the thirst to see things not yet seen)
Climbing endless stairs, leading to the choking room
(Eager to explore his most shocking mysteries)
Drifting beyond all time
Out of the churning sky
Drawn to the beckoning light
Of the dark eternal night
Black forces
Rage in a vortex, fighting
Rays of destruction swallowing
The echo of the universe
I am the last
Born of the blood of the pharaohs
The ultimate god of my creation
Sent to unleash this curse
Restless crowds draw near
Nameless hooded forms appear
(Amidst fallen ruins
Grotesque creatures battle)
Shadowed on a screen
Yellow evil faces leer
(Vacant monuments
Corpses of dead worlds left behind)
Drifting beyond all time
Out of a churning sky
Drawn to the beckoning light
Of the dark eternal night
Trapped in a hellish dream
Spinning past worlds unseen
And frightfully vanishing
Into the dark eternal night
Drifting beyond all time
Out of a churning sky
Drawn to the beckoning light
Of the dark eternal night
Trapped in a hellish dream
Spinning past worlds unseen
And frightfully vanishing
Into the dark eternal night
Lyrics submitted by 2006200720082009, edited by Octavarium64, potaytopotahto
The Dark Eternal Night Lyrics as written by John Petrucci John Myung
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
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This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
As someone else said, this is based off of Nyarlathotep by H. P. Lovecraft. It was one of the few Lovecraft stories I had not read. Then a few weeks ago, while doing laundry, I found one a Lovecraft Short story anthology on the "leave a book or magazine here" rack. The similarities were there almost right off the bat.
@Travatar There are direct quotes from the story in the song too... "Endless stairs"... "choking room"... "shadowed on a screen"... "yellow evil faces"... "I am the last"... "waves of destruction"... after reading Nyarlathotep, it suddenly clicked in my head.
my fav DT song
I wrote these lyrics down based upon what I could decipher, so they may not all be right. I know that the chorus is right for sure.
Anyway, this song is brilliant. Someone posted it on Youtube:
Edited. SM doesn't allow file sharing on its servers.<p><b><i>Edited by YtseJam on April 29 2007, at 12:28PM</i></b></p>
^Hey, Ytse, what did you think of the song?
I didn't know who am I listening to at first, but after 5-6 listenings (actually, it's still on repeat) I'm now starting to dig it. :) There are still some parts I'm not comfertable with, but this is most certainly a new approch for DT. Kudos!
Yea, the quality was not studio. It was like a demo or something.
It was brilliant, IMO.
BTW, these lyrics are very lacking... Much updating to do.
Yes, I know. But at least it gets the basics across.
Well, it's just as is mentioned in the promo on youtube... about a pharaoh that comes back from the dead.
The musical direction for this album almost seems as if it had the overall aura of 'awake' (I'm feeling this... is anyone else?) with heaviness that would make Symphony X sh*t themselves. Lyrics seem to be far less deep than anything they've ever written, on the other hand (though i could be wrong, maybe there's a much deeper meaning to this song than what DT left us with). Not that i'm really complaing, though: I'm a head banger first, then a lyric deducer.
I actually see no wrong in the song, it reminds me of Awake's style, though a lot of people seem to dislike anything they give out in this album.
There seems to be some craze in trying to say "Dream Theater have sold out LOL", which saddens me >.>
I now really want Systematic Chaos just to get the better version of this song