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.
Every thousand years
This metal sphere
Ten times the size of Jupiter
Floats just a few yards past the earth
You climb on your roof
And take a swipe at it
With a single feather
Hit it once every thousand years
'til you've worn it down
To the size of a pea
Yeah I'd say that's a long time
But it's only half a blink
In the place you're gonna be
Where you gonna be
Where will you spend eternity
I gotta be perfect from now on
I'm gonna be perfect starting now
Stop making that sound
Stop making that sound
I will say I forgot it
But it was only yesterday
And it's all you had to say
This metal sphere
Ten times the size of Jupiter
Floats just a few yards past the earth
You climb on your roof
And take a swipe at it
With a single feather
Hit it once every thousand years
'til you've worn it down
To the size of a pea
Yeah I'd say that's a long time
But it's only half a blink
In the place you're gonna be
Where you gonna be
Where will you spend eternity
I gotta be perfect from now on
I'm gonna be perfect starting now
Stop making that sound
Stop making that sound
I will say I forgot it
But it was only yesterday
And it's all you had to say
Lyrics submitted by prod, edited by brianANAST
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I stayed up late and did a lot of math, and this is what I came up with; it would take 386 trillion trillion years to wear down a metal sphere ( I used aluminum for the equation ) ten times the size of Jupiter, to the size of a pea, hitting it once every thousand years with a swipe of a single feather ( assuming the feather removes 10 micrograms of material with each swipe. For comparison, a fingerprint weighs 50 micrograms.) Here is the number in long format. 386,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years. The known universe is only 14 billion years old. Randys number has 16 more zeros. And remember, this 386 trillion trillion years is only half a blink, in the place you're gonna be.
26 zeros worth of years...all traded for one half of a blink.. loved your explanation.
@goodoltup Didn't add up; forgot to carry a zero.
I saw Built to Spill at the Kantine in Cologne, Germany on July 4, 1999. Modest Mouse opened for them. I had the chance to talk to Doug M before the show and I asked him about the song. He said as a child he had been at a christian camp once and one of the lectures at the camp involved this guy (I guess he was Randy) describing eternity this way. True story.
If that is really true that's really bad ass. You're lucky
@eap2nn I believe it and makes perfect sense now. Thanks for sharing.
@eap2nn Randy = Buddha
An amazing song and a great way to describe eternity, thanks Randy.
@Yrtlzmo Randy = Buddha
From Antigravity Magazine
antigravitymagazine.com/blog/doug-martsch-built-to-spill/
AG: I read somewhere that you had a professor in college who described eternity as this process of whittling down a metal sphere ten times the size of Jupiter to the size of a pea with a single feather, and that you took his words verbatim and wrote “Randy Described Eternity” from Perfect From Now On. DM: Pretty close. I think it’s a standard metaphor that’s used by Christian religious people to describe eternity. It wasn’t exactly that. I had to change some things from how I remembered because of syllables and meter and stuff, but basically that’s the idea—something giant getting slapped with a feather [until it’s worn down to nothing], you know, just some ridiculous metaphor for how long eternity is.
Although eternity is described here, I always felt the song wanted to communicate an even deeper meaning---that nothing we ever do will be good enough, and that the futility of wanting or trying to be "perfect from now on" is as immeasurable as eternity.
The music has a sad, longing feel to it, sort of a homage to the deep desire of some who desperately desire salvation and can never be assured of it.
What a great song. It reminded me of the analigy I heard from friend who's father was a minister. The emphasis on imaging heaven or hell for enternity. To me at the time it scared the shit out of me, I even vowed to "be perfect from now on" It's a great analigy, but was one used as one of the great scare tactics of christians. I think the song is a remembering of such an experiance with the desciptions of Jesus, god, etc.stripped, nothing but the thoughts and conclusions. A childhood memory. At least it is for me.
totally a song about christiain scare tactics. I love the sarcasm "i'm going to be perfect from now on, perfect starting now....so great.
"every thousand years / this metal sphere / ten times the size of Jupiter / floats just a few yards past the earth / you climb on your roof / and take a swipe at it / with a single feather / hit it once every thousand years / `til you've worn it down / to the size of a pea"
That is perhaps the greatest verse ever.
anyway, i do so believe that this particular song is litterally about eternity. <your thinking "no shit"- but bare with me this is my first comment on this thing> its about how through years and years everything changes yet some how remains the same. does that make sense? does to me.
or rather thats what i like to think its about. other than that i'm thinking someone was blabing on and on and randy didnt want to hear it anymore. liek he was being nagged about something and it felt like they were going at him for eternity.. but it was only yesterday and thats all i have to say. (:
In the book Stranger With My Face by Lois Duncan there is a passage which says "If there were a mile-high mountain of granite, and once every ten thousand years a bird flew past and brushed it with a feather, by the time that the mountain was worn away, a fraction of a second would have passed on the context of Eternity."