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 hear the drizzle of the rain
Like a memory it falls
Soft and warm continuing
Tapping on my roof and walls
And from the shelter of my mind
Through the window of my eyes
I gaze beyond the rain-drenched streets
To England where my heart lies
My mind's distracted and diffused
My thoughts are many miles away
They lie with you when you're asleep
And kiss you when you start your day
And a song I was writing is left undone
I don't know why I spend my time
Writing songs I can't believe
With words that tear and strain to rhyme
And so you see I have come to doubt
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you
And as I watch the drops of rain
Weave their weary paths and die
I know that I am like the rain
There but for the grace of you go I
Like a memory it falls
Soft and warm continuing
Tapping on my roof and walls
And from the shelter of my mind
Through the window of my eyes
I gaze beyond the rain-drenched streets
To England where my heart lies
My mind's distracted and diffused
My thoughts are many miles away
They lie with you when you're asleep
And kiss you when you start your day
And a song I was writing is left undone
I don't know why I spend my time
Writing songs I can't believe
With words that tear and strain to rhyme
And so you see I have come to doubt
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you
And as I watch the drops of rain
Weave their weary paths and die
I know that I am like the rain
There but for the grace of you go I
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
No Surprises
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Punchline
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
favorite line.. "there but for the grace of you go I" we're all like drops of rain, can you imagine findinig someone who makes your life more than just a weary path to death?
@p_k_rooz you would wonder if Kathy was his mother or his soul mate or someone who gave their life
Whatever partners Kathy had after Paul must have felt pretty inadequate listening to this.
Kathy also appears in the song "America," riding the bus and hitchiking around the country with Simon.
most beautiful paul simon song i have ever heard.
This song thrusts a hand down my throat grabs my heart and pulls it out... I should have known his song for more of my life. i've known Simon & Garfunkel for some forty years but Kathy's Song for only nine months - how is that. It means more every time I listen... I have cried in more places listening to this than I care to mention and I don't care. Quite the most simply beautiful song ever written ad there are a lot of beautiful songs, and songwriting is not a competition.
So here I am again sitting in a quite ordinary hotel lobby with a drink, catching up on some personal admin and convulsing with emotion as the song plays.........
Somehow I'm just hearing this song for the first time today. What a bright spot in what has been a very crazy time in the world. I couldn't help but think of one of my favorite Shakespeare quotes as I read the lyrics:
"I to the world am like a drop of water That in the ocean seeks another drop, Who, falling there to find his fellow forth - Unseen, inquisitive - confounds himself."
I feel like that is such a great comparison to Simon's lines:
"And as I watch the drops of rain Weave their weary paths and die I know that I am like the rain"
That last line: "There but for the grace of you go I" brings that all together so well. This is now my very favorite lyric.
A beautifully melancholy love song that sets the mood perfectly.
Overall about longing deeply for a lover that is separated from you. Sentiments of being distracted by the memories of spending time together. Intense yearning to be with her again.
He has come to the realization that everything else that once seemed so important in his life has lost all significance to him now. Feeling a loss of self or a loss of purpose while being apart. The only real or important thing is his love for Kathy.
One of the greatest love songs ever written. So relatable to so many with is beautiful poetic lyrics.
"And as I watch the drops of rain Weave their weary paths and die I know that I am like the rain" "There but for the grace of you go I”
Paul Simon apparently wrote this about a woman he met while touring England. As love songs go, it is one of the best. More specifically, it is written for someone, just like George Harrison's "Something" and John Denver's "Annie's Song." Whoever Kathy is, she can be proud that Simon regards her as the "only truth" he knows. It is possibly the most profoud lines ever sung, in my opinion.
@Ernest <br /> <br /> And now it's come to Paul and his wife pounding on each other and having to go to court in CT over it. Ahhh, youth!
He wrote this while in England actually he said that himself, and he just wrote in the perspective of a lost love but was actually dating Kathy at the time.
before paul & art really gained any recgnition in the US, they had been touring in europe for a while. while in london, they were both playing outside for kicks on the street during some evenings. a girl they were friendly with, named kathy would stand with them, and would frequently hold out a hat collecting money from passerbys.
This is how Garfunkel described the source of the song at a Simon and Garfunkel concert:<br /> youtube.com/watch<br />