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.
Tutto è santo
Tutto è santo
Tutto è santo
Non c'è niente di naturale nella natura ragazzo mio
Tentilo bene in mente
(laughter)
Whoooo!
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Noooo! (laughter)
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take
Time and a time, a time and a time
A time and a time, a time and a time
A time and a time, a time and a time
A time and a time, a time and a time
That which is now
And that which is to be hath already been
That which is now hath already been
To be and that which is
That which is now
For the first time in the history of the world a young girl climbed into a tree one day. She climbed down from the tree next day. God bless her.
Time
Something is happening that is not happening.
Take
Sex (laughter)
Something is happening which is not happening at all.
time
Take
(laughter)
Ce n'est pas la longueur qui fait la puissance.
(laughter)
time
(That which is now)
Take time
(And that which is to be, that which is now hath already been)
Take time
(That which is now hath already been)
Take time
(There is no remembrance of former things)
Take time
(Time and a time, a time and a time)
Take time
(A time and a time, a time and a time)
Take time
(A time and a time, a time and a time)
Take time
(There is no new thing under the sun)
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Tutto è santo
Tutto è santo
Non c'è niente di naturale nella natura ragazzo mio
Tentilo bene in mente
(laughter)
Whoooo!
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Noooo! (laughter)
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take
Time and a time, a time and a time
A time and a time, a time and a time
A time and a time, a time and a time
A time and a time, a time and a time
That which is now
And that which is to be hath already been
That which is now hath already been
To be and that which is
That which is now
For the first time in the history of the world a young girl climbed into a tree one day. She climbed down from the tree next day. God bless her.
Time
Something is happening that is not happening.
Take
Sex (laughter)
Something is happening which is not happening at all.
time
Take
(laughter)
Ce n'est pas la longueur qui fait la puissance.
(laughter)
time
(That which is now)
Take time
(And that which is to be, that which is now hath already been)
Take time
(That which is now hath already been)
Take time
(There is no remembrance of former things)
Take time
(Time and a time, a time and a time)
Take time
(A time and a time, a time and a time)
Take time
(A time and a time, a time and a time)
Take time
(There is no new thing under the sun)
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Take time
Lyrics submitted by toadtws
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The sampled parts of this song are from the King James version of the Bible. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 says:
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to luck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Notice that there are seven sets of four uses of "a time" in that, as there are in the song. This probably explains why they used "there is no new thing under the sun" for the last sample of the song: They had run out of "a time and a time"s.
You'll also notice these as the lyrics to the Byrds' "Turn, Turn, Turn":
songmeanings.net/lyric.php
The two odd samples out, "There is no remembrance of former things" and "there is no new thing under the sun" are also from Ecclesiastes, at 1:11 1:9 respectively.
I think this song is a meditation on time, and how best to use it. The scripture quoted here is all about not getting caught up in the rat race. "It's all been done before, get over it." That could be a distressing thought but The Books remind us that, instead of obsessing about keeping up with the Joneses, we should instead Take Time to have fun with friends and family. This is where all the samples of uproarious laughter come in.
What a fantastic song.
toadtws, what a great post! i don't know how you found all of that, but it sure adds a whole new depth of meaning to an already amazing song. I looked up all the references you listed and was very interested...thanks for telling everyone about what you found
I know the beginning is Italian, although some of it is too fast for me to understand. All I know is; " Non c'e niente di naturalement " = there is nothing naturally, and ragazze = girls.
begining in italian:
tutto è santo (X3) Non c'è niente di naturale nella natura ragazza mia Tentilo bene in mente
it means: Everything is saint nothing is natural in nature my girl, keep it in mind
and then the small passage is not in spanish but in french (with an african accent)! first a girl say "ce n'est pas la longueur qui fait la puissance" which means: it is not its lengh that makes it powerful!" And i don't hear/understand the second girl...
Thank you for the lyrics in english because i'm french and sometimes i don't understand everything!!!
I met Nick and Paul last year at a concert and they told me several things about this song. First of all, the person reading the passages of the Bible is Abba Eban, an Israeli diplomat. He has an audio book of him reading from Psalms and Ecclesiastes.
The the Italian sample came from the film "Medea" by Pasolini. Wikipedia helpfully informs us that this was a film adaptation of Euripides' tragedy by the same name, about the relationship between Jason (of Golden Fleece fame) and his erstwhile wife Medea.
The French samples are from the Senegalese film "Touki Bouki." IMDB says this is a film about a young couple stuck in Senegal who long to live in Paris. They dream up cons to get the money to book passage. And now that we have a translation for that sample (thanks Tangee!), it sounds like a pretty risqué scene. :-)
i just watched Medea today actually, after randomly finding it in torrent form a few days ago. i was pleasantly surprised when i recognized those lines in the first scenes of the movie!
according to the film's english subtitles (which aren't that great) and my own interpretive translation:
"tutt'è santo" means "all is holy" "non c'è niente di naturale nella natura, ragazzo mio" means "there is nothing natural in nature, my boy" and, "tienilo bene in mente" means "remember this well"
in the film, a centaur is speaking these lines to a small boy, so the line should probably be "ragazzo mio," not "ragazza mia."
The repetition of "Take time" reminds me of "tick-tock". It's like the whole song is a clock, constantly tick-tocking and moving on, and it's all we can do to take the time as it comes and goes because we'll never be able to stop it. We take time as it is; good times and bad.
Does anyone know where the "For the first time in the history of the world..." quote comes from?
i'm not sure where the recording comes from, but the quote is actually an abridged version of:<br /> "For the first time in the history of the world, a young girl climbed into a tree one day a Princess, and after having what she described as her most thrilling experience, she climbed down from the tree the next day a Queen– God bless her."<br /> which was written in the hotel guest book of the Tree Tops Hotel (actually in a tree) in, I think Kenya by Jim Corbett, a jungle cat hunter-turned-conservationist when the future Queen Elizabeth was staying there in 1952. supposedly her father (the king) died whilst she was up in the treetop hotel. So, she climbed into the tree a young girl and came down a queen. Not sure why its been cut just so in this song.<br /> <br /> PS, this is coming from wikapedia, so take it with a grain of salt.
Having been in Treetops Hotel myself, I can confirm that this is indeed where that quote comes from!
according to a site where i translated the italian and french bits:
Tutto è santo. Tutto è santo. Tutto è santo. Non c'è niente di naturale nella natura ragazzo mio. Tienilo bene in mente.
Everything is holy. Everything is holy. Everything is holy. There is nothing natural in nature my boy. Keep that in mind.
Ce n'est pas la longueur qui fait la puissance.
It is not the length which makes potency.
Great postings above -- gives a lot of depth to a song I already loved. Any thoughts on how this line fits in? <br /> <br /> "There is nothing natural in nature my boy."<br /> <br /> Maybe that the world is so full of contrivances (nothing natural) that it takes effort to step back, perceive things in simplicity, enjoy the present?
any course in miracles readers here? this song seems to fit quite well with that belief system!