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.
Time flies
Time crawls
Like an insect
Up and down the walls
The light pours out of me
The light pours out of me
The conspiracy
Of silence ought
To revolutionize
My thought
The light pours out of me
The light pours out of me
The cold light of day
Pours out of me
Leaving me black
And so healthy
The light pours out of me
The light pours out of me
It jerks out of me
Like blood
In this still life
Heartbeats of love
The light pours out of me
The light pours out of me
Time crawls
Like an insect
Up and down the walls
The light pours out of me
The light pours out of me
The conspiracy
Of silence ought
To revolutionize
My thought
The light pours out of me
The light pours out of me
The cold light of day
Pours out of me
Leaving me black
And so healthy
The light pours out of me
The light pours out of me
It jerks out of me
Like blood
In this still life
Heartbeats of love
The light pours out of me
The light pours out of me
Lyrics submitted by nightandday
The Light Pours out of Me Lyrics as written by John Alexander Mcgeoch Howard Devoto
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY, Universal Music Publishing Group, Mute Song Limited
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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song with the most recognizable music. i see it as resembling some sort of paranoia or something that's making one week and an overall dark person by draining "the light" out of them. great, great song.
For me this song is about the deletion of a person, almost an erasing of the soul. As all energy to illuminate the world is depleted like a battery, he is left in a state of darkness that is a "healthy" state as he no longer is conflicted by what he perceives. As time passes the individual becomes increasingly a being living in darkness, and the more the light leaves him the nearer death he becomes as his life force is drained. He becomes increasingly numb and loses the ability to love as heart beats pumps the bleed out. Devoto despairs that life is draining of him of life itself and this is because he is deeply unhappy with the society in which he lives.
I agree with @Retroperiscopes interpretation. I wanted to add that the line about the light being drained, seemingly paradoxically leaving him "black" and "healthy" does make a lot of sense, if you think of it in terms of being leeched dry, a bloodletting. He pronounces "healthy" with emphasis on the "HELL," as a Lydonesque pun, which reinforces the message that the situation is actually hellish, barbaric and anything but healthy. That's how we view bloodletting via leeches now, but at one point this was widely accepted medical practice. The health effects of being in toxic environments are widely acknowledged now. It's common sense. PTSD hadn't yet been included in the DSM until a year after this song was released.
I love this song, especially on the live album 'Play' which shows how musically great this band was. Can't imagine why there there's only on comment on this song. I reckon the previous comment nails it, but what is meant by "in this still life, heart beats up love'?
Brilliant song, especially the Real Life album version. I suppose it's about loss of enthusiasm/youthful naivety and embarking on the slippery slope to world-weariness. I'm not sure. Perhaps the great man himself will tell us.