#in a simple rhyme

[fuckyeahvanhalen86-95]

Van Halen had more than their share of contradictions.

They began life as a party band but were also home to one of rock's most inventive musicians in guitarist Eddie Van Halen, who spent countless hours toiling in isolation perfecting both his craft and instruments. Their fun-loving music, videos, fashion sense and personalities served as the template for a generation of bands, yet they were also at the center of two of the nastiest breakups in rock history.

So, yeah, things could get weird around Van Halen sometimes. They had an unparalleled gift for blending hard-rock chops and pop smarts and a knack for staying creatively ahead of their peers. Bold and sometimes strange musical experimentation played a role in that success, as you'll note in the below chronological look at the 10 Weirdest Van Halen Songs.

"IN A SIMPLE RHYME/GROWTH" (1980 - WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST)

Van Halen's first two albums were comprised of songs written during their club-performance days. On 1980's Women and Children First, they took advantage of their chance to write new material, expanding their palette and exploring more complex arrangements. One of the clearest and most distinctive examples is the LP's closing track, "In a Simple Rhyme." It's a poppy, progressive and somewhat weird rock song that sounds like Rush attempting to write a romantic ballad. After the song's gentle fade-out comes another surprise: a 30-second instrumental featuring a brontosaurus-sized guitar riff. According to The Van Halen Encyclopedia, the plan was for "Growth" to be expanded into a full song that would kick off the band's next album. That didn't happen, but they would occasionally play the song at their concerts, including a 1986 version featuring both Eddie Van Halen and Sammy Hagar on guitar.

"SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN THE PARK/ONE FOOT OUT THE DOOR" (1981 - FAIR WARNING)

After sneakily replacing his guitar with an electric piano on Women and Children First's "And the Cradle Will Rock...," Eddie Van Halen dove deeper into synthesizers with the following year's Fair Warning, using an inexpensive Electro-Harmonix micro-synthesizer to come up with "Sunday Afternoon in the Park." It's a funky and creepy two-minute instrumental that sounds like George Clinton's idea of a John Carpenter film score. The tempo switches to a hyperactive electro-boogie for the conjoined "One Foot Out the Door," as David Lee Roth tries not to get caught with somebody else's wife. It's all topped with one of Van Halen's fiercest guitar solos, which fades out too quickly.

"BIG BAD BILL (IS SWEET WILLIAM NOW)" (1982 - DIVER DOWN)

One of the main sources of friction between David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen was over the latter's use of keyboards. Roth feared it would upset the band's fans, who wanted only to see Van Halen in "guitar god" mode. (As "Jump" and the band's string of keyboard-based '80s hits proved, Roth was wrong.) But it was Roth who suggested that Van Halen's father, Jan, play jazz clarinet on the band's cover of the 1924 Milton Anger and Jack Yellen song "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)" on 1982's covers-heavy Diver Down. "He was nervous as shit," said Van Halen, recalling his dad at the recording session. "We're just telling him, 'Jan, just fuckin' have a good time. We make mistakes! That's what makes it real.' I love what he did."

"HOT FOR TEACHER" (1984 - 1984)

The final single of David Lee Roth's first tenure with Van Halen was the sorta weird "Hot for Teacher." How many hit songs can you think of that start with a 30-second drum solo, followed by an extended guitar solo? Roth doesn't appear until more than a minute into the song, speaking to his "classmates," rather than singing, as Eddie Van Halen suddenly shifts to chicken-pickin' rhythms. A traditional verse-and-chorus structure finally appears, but the band never stays in one place for long, blending speed-metal riffs with high school humor and a big Broadway-worthy chorus. It was all too perfect to last: Soon after the song's release, everything went to hell.

"INSIDE" (1986 - 5150)

"Man, what kind of crap is this?" That's the opening question Sammy Hagar asks on the closing track of his first album as Van Halen's new singer. After using the first eight songs on 5150 to establish the new lineup as a commercial and artistic force, Van Halen cracks open the fourth wall and directly if obliquely addresses the controversy that ensued after Hagar was hired to replace Roth. Over a thumping synth-rock groove, Hagar gets meta about what he's learned from his new bandmates: "Now me, look, I got this job not just being myself," he says. "I went out I brought some brand new shoes, now I walk like something else." He gets more serious as the song goes on, hitting some wild vocal heights while singing about feeling the need for "something special, someone new, some brand new group to sink my teeth into."

"MINE ALL MINE" (1988 - OU812)

After proving they could use keyboards to craft hit pop singles and ballads, Van Halen took a more serious step with the opening track of 1988's OU812. Clocking in at over five minutes, the complex "Mine All Mine" treads near jazz-fusion territory and showcases a new lyrical depth that almost drove Hagar past the breaking point. "It was the first time in my life I ever beat myself up, hurt myself, punished myself, practically threw things through windows, trying to write the lyrics," he told writer Martin Popoff in 2010.

"PLEASURE DOME" (1991 - FOR UNLAWFUL CARNAL KNOWLEDGE)

For the most part, 1991's For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge marked a return to straightforward guitar rock for Van Halen. The hit single "Right Now" was the only song to feature keyboards; almost everything else follows a Standing Hampton-on-steroids formula. But the seven-minute "Pleasure Dome" takes a weird turn into progressive rock, with the Van Halen brothers and Michael Anthony daring each other to go deeper into King Crimson-style madness. Hagar's cosmically themed vocals are fine but seem almost beside the point. When the band performed the song live, it was usually instrumental.

"STRUNG OUT" (1995 - BALANCE)

Ever wanted to hear Eddie Van Halen destroy a piano? According to the Van Halen Encyclopedia, while renting composer Marvin Hamlisch's beach home in 1983, Van Halen "threw everything he could find into the piano and raked various items across the strings, including ping-pong balls, D-cell batteries and even silverware." Supposedly, there are hours of tapes documenting this, but Eddie Van Halen mercifully selected the best 90 seconds for inclusion on the band's final album with Hagar.

"CROSSING OVER" (1995 - BALANCE [JAPAN IMPORT])

Van Halen released only one non-album B-side, and it was a pretty strange one. In 1983 Eddie Van Halen composed "David's Tune," a tribute to a friend who died by suicide, handling all the instruments and vocals. After joining Van Halen in 1985, Sammy Hagar was eager to flesh out the track, but Van Halen kept "Crossing Over" in the vaults for nearly a decade, until the death of the band's manager, Ed Leffler. A full-band take was recorded and then blended with the guitarist's original version, which can be heard in the left channel of the released recording. The sonic effect is otherworldly, a perfect match for the song's subject matter.

"HOW MANY SAY I" (1998 - Van Halen III)

Van Halen III is the most criticized album of Van Halen's career, and much of the scorn is directed at the closing "How Many Say I," which features Eddie Van Halen on his only lead-vocal performance. The piano-based track is reminiscent of a late-era Roger Waters ballad and is an odd creative choice for the band, which was in the process of introducing its third singer, Gary Cherone. "They forced me," Van Halen told Billboard at the time. "Don't be shocked when you hear the vocal." "Maybe we were being too artsy-fartsy," Cherone later admitted to Rolling Stone. "But I thought it was great."

#ultimate classic rock #2022 #van halen #eddie van halen #michael anthony #sammy hagar #david lee roth #alex van halen #gary cherone #in a simple rhyme #growth #one foot out the door #Saturday afternoon in the park #big bad bill (is sweet william now) #hot for teacher #inside #mine all mine #pleasure dome #strung out #crossing over #how many say i #videos #news #Youtube

[syringaledraws]

Oops, I did it again

A sudden TWEWY x Hollow Knight crossover thing appears

#twewy #the world ends with you #hollow knight #hk fanart #hollow knight fanart #my art #the simple joy of mashing fav games together hjkdgf #i hope the characters are at least somewhat recognizable? #attempts were made #joshua kiryu #yoshiya kiryu #shiki misaki #neku sakuraba #daisukenojo bito #rhyme bito

[txttletale]

#tattletxt #hieroglyphic every particle #i like my simple little rhyme schemes and rhythms :) #it is fun learning to move past needing them but they are fun to execute

[thatsbelievable]

#Here is a Simple Rhyme to Help You Remember Why it’s a Terrible Idea to Run With Scissors #TW scissors #unreality #poem #poems #rhyme #rhymes

[windslar]

Stumbled upon some Brindleton Bay kitties when I was taking screenshots for Tawhay.

I also just realized a lot of people are probably saying it wrong in their heads, which is totally understandable. I don't know how to read those diacritics (letters with accents) that tell you how to pronounce things, so I'm not even going attempt it. But basically it's TAW (sounds like 'Tao', rhymes with 'now') - HAY (sounds like 'hi' as in 'hello').

🌈✨the more you know✨🌈

#the sims 4 #ts4 #i imagine most ppl read it as tao-hey (girl hey) #or taw (rhymes with thaw) - hey? #lol i like to think the filipino language and its dialects are 'say it how you spell it' #but it aint that simple 😩

[amalgamationink]

NAPOWRIMO24 #13: ars poetica

#prompt: create a word bank of 10 simple words. 5 sense nouns. 3 concrete nouns. 2 verbs. create rhymes for those words. write poem. #it doesn't have to be an actual rhyming poem but focus on SOUNDPLAY. #i made my partner give me the words without telling him what they were for so i couldn't cheat and come up with easy ones. #he gave me: doll. lemon. rose. clamour. hair. hat. desk. sunshine. skip. kiss. #this one is incoherent probably but i had SO MUCH FUN writing it i literally don't care if anyone else likes it bc I DO!!!! #napowrimo 2024 #napowrimo #spilled ink #writeblr #poetry on tumblr #poets on tumblr #poems on tumblr #poetry #poem #ars poetica #(technically. kind of.) #damien.txt #img desc in alt text

[olliesneweyes]

still thinking abt the wreck that is train!andrew's office once he falls asleep at the desk tbh because godd i love imagining messy workaholic offices

conductors also kind of do everything on the train, like they oversee the other train employees, take payments for boarding, check the tickets, make sure passengers are safe and comfortable, etc etc so he is. SO exhausted probably

i think bc to me this andrew is kind of. stoic and polite (he would still melt if you were nice to him i think) he doesn't have many signs other than getting slightly more unkempt and i think his hands shake REALLY bad w sleep deprivation, or he seems like he's focusing on not literally just crinkling to the ground and fifudhf anywaybi really like traindrew

i watched about 22 mins of the first murder on the nord express gameplay vid btw and i'm gonna cry both victor and andrew are so djfjfj

Exactly!!

#he's like. pacing and stuff near the end #because if he stood still who knows what'd happen #(he'd fall asleep) #also I'm thinking maybe Andrew is suddenly without other staff on the train without rhyme or reason #to add more similarities to the actual oletus #so he's probably even MORE overworked because he's taking it on himself to do everything #and he says he's fine but you can start to see him sway a little when he stands #or disguise yawning by breathing heavily #or take a few seconds to register anything that's said to him #meanwhile Andrew just wants to go to the safety of bed but he doesn't have a bed on the train #and he doesn't think to use an employee one #until someone tells him to #he absolutely would melt if you were nice to him #and I think if he's pretty awake it's subtle (just smiling and being a bit affectionate and maybe a tear or two) #but if he's tired it's probably really obvious that it means so much to him (maybe... too much for such a simple gesture) #i think affection is probably the biggest difference because if you hugged him while he was fully alert #he'd just return it mutely but you'd be able to see the sadness when you let go because why do these things have to be so short? #and if he's tired he wouldn't accept affection unless he sat down first #which seems a bit weird but it's VERY clear why when you actually do because he just flops onto you like a limp noodle #he's not good at hiding how much he wants this at ALL #he's probably crying too out of joy #congrats bucko you're cuddling this man until he falls asleep otherwise he'll be extremely sad (it only takes like 2-5 minutes you're fine) #idv #godddddd Andrew Kreiss my beloved

[minty-bubblegum]

I'm bad at coming up with any actual good poetry so I'm sending her little love haikus <33

#The thing is tho that uh #I adore poetry :( #Especially love poems!!! #I suck at these they're SO BASIC HELP #AND ONLY HAIKUS THOSE ARE THE ONLY ONES I'M GOOD AT WRITING #BECAUSE SIMPLE RULES #COMPARED TO OTHER FORMS #I MIGJT TRY TO DO A RHYME SCHEME #OOPHM WRITING

[goodnightwindy]

did you guys know you can literally just write a new nursery rhyme. like most of them have been around for aaages but you can genuinely just create a new one if you want. isnt that crazy

#inspired by a simple rhyme that popped into my mind last night while falling asleep

[mikavlcs]

this request i’m working on has me writing a poem and...mad respect to people that can actually competently write this stuff because what the FUCK.

#like this shit is so hard omfg #rhyming seems so simple and yet…. #definitely not putting the whole thing in the fic #because i value what little dignity i have left....

[ereborne]

Song of the Day: December 28

"Give Me All Night" by Carly Simon

#song of the day #I didn't make very much progress in the playlist today because I was listening to so much Turnpike Troubadours and then the family arrived! #song of the day was almost either 'Something to Hold On To' or 'Pipe Bomb Dream' by Turnpike Troubadours #but I figured I'd just finished talking about them in the year-end asks and I could go for 'Give Me All Night' instead #it's got a less regular rhyme scheme than I'm used to and a kinda rounder old-fashioned sound and it always catches my ear when it plays #and like 'Such a Simple Thing' it always reminds me of a fic #fic rec #the Xenoethnography series by Therrae which is such an incredible impressive work. Transformers from the pov of an anthropologist #by all rights 'Higher Love' should be the anchor song for Xenoethnography since it's actually plot relevant by the end of the story #and it's got such a lovely sentiment #but nope! 'Give Me All Night' gets mentioned more obliquely in the story and I had to go and look it up #and something about the little bit of extra focus means it's the song that got cemented in my mind

[catgrub]

some pen tests w my faves <3

#and yes i drew hawkeye with the chalk bc of the rhyme . im a simple man ok #mash #hawkeye pierce #bj hunnicutt #margaret houlihan

[caliconimbus]

Hey bestie <3

Glad you’re having fun lmao :3c

#we are twin souls; alike in taste and temperament #tell me of your gripes and goals; for our meeting was heaven-sent #thoughts are shared across time and space; so I write this rhyme with grace #you my fine chap deserve a clap upon the shoulder; and a cat to take a nap on your lap as the days grow colder #because dear fellow; you’ve turned my gray night yellow #as each note you give; reminds me what it is to live #people you see are want to take; we all have a thirst to slake #but there is joy in baring one’s neck; that no one would expect #to sustain another person in even the smallest way; is a simple joy one can find each day

[not-another-robin]

Good morning. Listen to Batman: the audio adventures. Thank you

#i just got to season 2 and im in LOVE in love #the harley backstory is literally top notch its simple but so clever!!!! #catwoman my beloved #and alfred being a little bitch by BELOVED beloved #'old man??' from season 2 and the painting bit from season 2. ily btaa alfie #now that i know he has the same voice as harley quinn show clayface i cant unhear it unfortunately 😭 #but hes still slaying #i think its incredibly cute that alfred reciting nursery rhymes happens in like every series ive come across #hes just papa :) #and OUGH I LOVE THIS BATMAN SO MUCH IT'S UNREAL 😭 #hey jeffrey wright. hey come here im gonna give you a little kiss #he does the perfect line between 'kinda hot ' and 'there is something deeply wrong with you baby' #his autism swag is on point btw #AND HIS DYNAMIC WITH ROBIN 🥺 HE CHATS WITH HIM ABOUT SCHOOL AND CALLS HIM CHUM 🥹 #reject modernity return to chum #and the one bit of brucie moment we got in season 1. bless #eternally confused autistic goth brucie my beloved ❤️ #every single thing we know about him from The Whale of Damacles. beloved #he 🥹 he donated to the museum 🥹 for his 9th birthday present 🥹 and he doesnt even realise thats a weird present for a little boy #UGH. btaa my BELOVED #watch now. watch right now #narscreaming

[kinderwoods]

CHRISTMAS SONG FOR KIDS @KIDS @CHRISTMAS SONG

#animation #christmas songs for kids #3christmas nursery rhymes #13favorite christmas songs #11christmas songschristmas timechristmas carolschristmas songs for children #3top christmas songsmerry christmaskids christmas song #15songs for kidsup on the housetopsanta where are you song #69nursery rhymeschristmas song for kids #8kids songssuper simple songssantasongs for toddlers #19children’s songsfor kidsfor childrenjingle bellssanta songs #Youtube

[tate-lin]

I'm Still Looking For You

Three years ago, I died, And slumbered 'neath the earth To sprout a single leaf come Spring And give rise to new birth

I can see you now, Shadows dancing past the panes Life bursts through harsh cracks Blinding me with pain

I love you, I love you, I love you— But love matters not When the person closing doors Was the one who let me rot

Where have you been all this time? Just what have you slain? I stand beyond your doorstep Waiting in endless vain

So the earth can feel like high sea, So blood is desert grain

In wait, In the chill, Till the end of the world— Or at least the reading of my will

Here's the thing, here's the kicker No one tells you about There is just no way to control The breaking of your heart

Three years, two years, Eight months now When will you (I) notice That there has only been one vow?

So I take root before your door The distance a heavy weight Across the seas, across your steps, I have yet to accept my fate

I'll be buried at one, darling Please, for once don't be late

—Tate Lin

#poetry #spilled ink #original poem #simple four-line rhyme #tate lin poems #if you think this is about you then yes it absolutely is <3