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.
She lives in this house over there
Has her world outside it
Scrabbles in the earth with her fingers and her mouth
She's five years old
Threads worms on a string
Keeps spiders in her pocket
Collects fly wings in a jar
Scrubs horse flies and, and pinches them on a line
Oh
Oh
Oh
Oh
She has one friend, he lives next door
They're listening to the weather
He knows how many freckles she's got
She scratches his beard
She's painting huge books
And glues them together
They saw a big raven
It glided down the sky
She touched it
Oh
Oh
Oh
Oh
Today is her birthday
They're smoking cigars
He's got a chain of flowers
And sews a bird in her knickers
Oh
Oh
Oh
Oh
They're smoking cigars
They lie in the bathtub
A chain of flowers
Has her world outside it
Scrabbles in the earth with her fingers and her mouth
She's five years old
Threads worms on a string
Keeps spiders in her pocket
Collects fly wings in a jar
Scrubs horse flies and, and pinches them on a line
Oh
Oh
Oh
Oh
She has one friend, he lives next door
They're listening to the weather
He knows how many freckles she's got
She scratches his beard
She's painting huge books
And glues them together
They saw a big raven
It glided down the sky
She touched it
Oh
Oh
Oh
Oh
Today is her birthday
They're smoking cigars
He's got a chain of flowers
And sews a bird in her knickers
Oh
Oh
Oh
Oh
They're smoking cigars
They lie in the bathtub
A chain of flowers
Lyrics submitted by Neon_Like, edited by bleachershane
Birthday Lyrics as written by Einar Benediktsson Bjork Gudmundsdottir
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Im surprised only one person on here mentioned an imaginary friend. Thats pretty much how I always viewed it. Or like someone else said it could be her grandfather. I see how you could take certain parts as sexual (I think touching the Raven is kind of a stretch though, and even sewing a bird in her knickers and lying in the bathtub can be innocent). Taking Bjorks explanation into account you still cant say for sure that she is being literal in this explanation, she is an artist and cannot expected to conform to society’s expectations that what she is saying is literally what she means. Even “tasteless love affair” could mean “without taste” as in without tasting, without touching, without physical contact, which is what she said anyway that “nothing ever happened”. Maybe she saw a grocer and then created an imaginary friend (she does say hes her ONLY friend) thats a 50 yr old man. Also, bjork seems like a child at times in terms of her unique way of looking at and existing in this world, which is why it makes even more sense that regardless of the “5 year old’s” “real age”, she is five in her own mind. Thats the point of the song, in my opinion, to juxtapose the adult world and imaginary world of a child through imagery that COULD imply sexuality to some people and, in turn, highlight the difference between these two worlds (child/adult) in order to help adults remember what its like to exist in the world and the imagination of a child and see how our own “evil” interpretations are the result of us adults being constantly bombarded by sexuality on a daily basis, something the child has (hopefully) not yet experienced (or at least aware of).