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.
I put on my overcoat and walked into winter, my teeth chattered rhythms
And they were grouped in twos or threes,
Like a Morse code message was sent from me to me.
Cars on slippery slopes, they're stuck: people pushing through
Their mittens as I was beginning to feel it soaking through my shoes,
Getting colder with every step I took to your apartment, dear.
And I was a kaleidoscope, the snow on my lenses distorting the image of what
Was only one of you and I didn't know which one to address as all your lips
Moved.
This is when I forget breathe all the things I scripted, they sound unfounded.
And the look that you're giving me, it tells me exactly what you are thinking,
"this ain't working anymore."
They got their mothers worked into a panic
Sledding down hills into oncoming traffic
The parents layered clothes until the children couldn't move then kept them
Outside til their noises were blue and I got left there, too.
I put on my overcoat and walked into winter, my teeth chattered rhythms.
And they were grouped in twos or threes like a Morse code message was sent from me
To me.
And they were grouped in twos or threes,
Like a Morse code message was sent from me to me.
Cars on slippery slopes, they're stuck: people pushing through
Their mittens as I was beginning to feel it soaking through my shoes,
Getting colder with every step I took to your apartment, dear.
And I was a kaleidoscope, the snow on my lenses distorting the image of what
Was only one of you and I didn't know which one to address as all your lips
Moved.
This is when I forget breathe all the things I scripted, they sound unfounded.
And the look that you're giving me, it tells me exactly what you are thinking,
"this ain't working anymore."
They got their mothers worked into a panic
Sledding down hills into oncoming traffic
The parents layered clothes until the children couldn't move then kept them
Outside til their noises were blue and I got left there, too.
I put on my overcoat and walked into winter, my teeth chattered rhythms.
And they were grouped in twos or threes like a Morse code message was sent from me
To me.
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This song just kicks so much ass. There's no other way of putting it. The tunes upbeat, and the musics happy, even as the lyrics and imagery get progressively sadder and more bleak. This sort of song writing is exactly what popular music is missing...
It's about the narrator walking through the snow to his girlfriend's apartment and failing in his attempt to save the relationship. I think the Morse code in his chattering teeth is like his subconscious warning him that this will not go well. He mentions getting cold feet from walking through the snow, but it also means he is getting "cold feet," as in being nervous about what he has to do. When he finally talks to her, he is so nervous that his vision seems like a kaleidoscope, and even the things he planned to say don't seem to make any sense. So she breaks up with him, and leaves him out in the cold, both literally and figuratively. The repeating of the first verse is now about him walking back to his own house, with the Morse code message probably telling himself something along the lines of, "I told you so."
Maybe the kaleidoscope refers to how his image of the relationship was distorted...He thought it was going better than it actually was. I love "My teeth chattered rhythms... Like a morse code message was sent from me to me" :)
Ever hear a song and wonder if they wrote it for you? Well, except for the overcoat...change that to peacoat.
amen
oh man, this song is just amazing.
Once you find the lyrics, this song becomes much more. And because it was fantastic previously, that makes it... fantastic. Death Cab for Cutie definitly have mastered the art of lyrics in music
I can't help but sing this song at times, but I always have to stop when people start hitting me.. my voice doesn't compare to Gibbard's unfortunately..
Gibbard's is just one of the great song writers, lyrically, of our time... what bugs me about this song is that beautiful part right in the middle "this is when I forget to breath.....tells me exactly what you are thinking...." it's lovely and romantic and then he hits us so non-chellantly(sp?) with "this ain't working anymore"---pow!! oh Ben...
who friggen doesn't like Kaleidoscope?