So long ago, I don't remember when
That's when they say I lost my only friend
Well, they said she died easy of a broken heart disease
As I listened through the cemetery trees

I seen the sun comin' up at the funeral at dawn
Of long broken arm of human law
Now it always seemed such a waste, she always had a pretty face
I wondered why she hung around this place

Hey, come on try a little
Nothing is forever
There's got to be something better than
In the middle
But me and Cinderella
We put it all together
We can drive it home
With one headlight

She said, "It's cold
It feels like Independence Day
And I can't break away from this parade"
But there's got to be an opening
Somewhere here in front of me
Through this maze of ugliness and greed

And I seen the sun up ahead at the county line bridge
Sayin' all is good and nothingness is dead
We'll run until she's out of breath
She ran until there's nothin' left
She hit the end, it's just her window ledge

Hey, come on try a little
Nothing is forever
There's got to be something better than
In the middle
But me and Cinderella
We put it all together
We can drive it home
With one headlight

Well, this place is old
It feels just like a beat up truck
I turn the engine, but the engine doesn't turn
Well, it smells of cheap wine, cigarettes
This place is always such a mess
Sometimes, I think I'd like to watch it burn
But I sit alone and I feel just like somebody else
Man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same
But somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin' dreams
I think of death, it must be killin' me

Hey, hey, hey, hey
Come on try a little
Nothing is forever
There's got to be something better than
In the middle
But me and Cinderella
We put it all together
We can drive it home
With one headlight


Lyrics submitted by kevin, edited by windandwater313, notalexb

One Headlight Lyrics as written by Jakob Dylan

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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One Headlight song meanings
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156 Comments

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  • +26
    General Comment

    From reading the artists few chats about the song but still leaving enough unsaid to let the listener put their own feel on it is a wonderful gift Dylan gave us with this one.

    To me this song is about growing up, you get in your 20s or early 30s and everything you though was real turns out to be bullshit. Your friends weren't really your friends, the beliefs your parents taught you aren't all correct, you find our that hippies only hate capitalism when they aren't selling you something, that both political parties are f*k'd, that rich people live by a different set of laws than poor people, that love isn't like the movies, that you can't be whatever you want to be if you work hard enough and that life can sometimes be damn hard with so many responsibilities it almost breaks your back from the weight of it. I think he uses Cinderella just as a fictional character that represents the innocents of youth. That the poor mistreated step-sister can become the princess. You see a lot of unfair and heartless situations and how ugly the world can be and you think you can change it when you're 17, 22, 26, 29 then one day you are 35 and like, "No matter what we do or how hard we try these people are still the same a$$hles doing the same evil to each other and the world around them." It's a hell of a wake up call and it can be shocking and painful when you realize it's not all roses and sunshine.

    His only friend is innocence or liberty, take your pick. I've often wondered if Lady Liberty herself is "She" because of the undertones of American society involved in the song. I look at the second verse and "it's cold it feels like indepedence day..." It makes me think of these parades today where people are too lazy to stand and salute the flag or the soldiers and they only reason they are really there is so their kids can get all the free candy being thrown out. Nobody respects what America stands for anymore and when you realize it, it's eye opening.

    There is also a sorrow that runs through the song almost as a mourning for the dreams that die as you get older. You look around one day and you didn't travel the world like you always said you would and instead are in the same town going through the same motions as the generation before you.

    So there is this bitterness and regret that can start to get to you if you let it but even if many of your dreams and aspirations are gone and innocence is dead, you still have your own morality and drive to overcome life's obstacles. Nobody ever thinks they'll be sick or die or unemployed or any of that when they are young but as you grow older and life sh*ts on you some...

    Just never give up and you can find happiness in life despite all that crap. You can make it if you just don't quit. Life may not be as pretty as we thought but it's still got a lot of good in it. So even if your diluted view (or headlight) of the world as a kid is dead, your sensibility-view (other headlight) is still getting you through it.

    That's my take.

    guitarsandsorrowon July 12, 2011   Link
  • +7
    General Comment

    The lyrics tell a fragmentary story about a former friend and her death, and the singer's emotions in the aftermath. The use of strong words and images and the incomplete story have resulted in many different interpretations of the song, which include suicide, drug abuse, death of a lover, death of one's mother, having breast cancer and/or depression.

    Jakob Dylan, the lead singer and songwriter of The Wallflowers, has said that the song is about "the death of ideas" and that the many metaphors and images in the lyrics were not meant to be taken literally. Dylan explains that he and the band had very little support when they were putting together the record, hence the shout-out "c'mon try a little." The last two lines of the chorus "we can drive it home / with one headlight" are a reference to how the band were able to get through with their ideas despite being hindered (i.e. with one headlight) by the lack of support. (Wikipedia)

    musiclover9753on January 28, 2012   Link
  • +5
    General Comment

    like tito said..this song isnt about a girl who died..not even a girl at all..the song is about perserverance and how even though times may be hard, everything around you is falling apart..with "one headlight" you can make it through. the "she" is life...the world..the world is greedy and cold. just to clear it all up for you! if you dont believe me..just check out their website

    bettybooperz19on April 22, 2003   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    Many great thoughts on this song. I think it's about the existential angst that comes with being young and/or drug addiction. The very thing that you do to be more than just "in the middle" and feel alive is what ultimately kills you. Sometimes it kills your spirit, like the last verse communicates, or sometimes it literally kills you, which is alluded to earlier on.

    Believe me, i've lived the life and lost a dear friend to drugs, and this song is spot on. The shit gets old, but you keep doing it because while you tell yourself that it will get better, you realize that the best you can hope for is to keep it on the road, in the dark, with one headlight.

    Mendalusa77on June 23, 2014   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    So long ago,I don't remember when....that's when they said I lost my only friend.

    I returned to my hometown for a early morning funeral for someone I consider my friend.
    The long arm of human law, death has taken her. They whisper she died of a broken heart as I sit here back in the trees watching the funeral. She had such a pretty face, so much potential it seems a waste that she choose to stay here and try to make it better. I never did understand how she stayed when I left. This place was so run down and messed up. I remember I used to think the only way out was dying. That I would die here in this city. This city that dreams died in.

    She used to say, "Hey, come on try a little , nothing lasts forever. There's got to be something better than being stuck in the middle of of all this."

    She made me believe that we could do it. She made anyone she spoke to want to try. Want to find something better. She gave hope. And yet she stayed and helped even more.

    She used to say, "Even a car with one headlight can get you home."

    She and I, we put it all together so I rise up and out. But she stayed to help others.

    She would say, There's got to be an opening, somewhere here in front of you. Through this maze of ugliness and greed for you to get out."

    When I finally found my way out she was there.

    She told me, as we stoped at the county line bridge on my way out of this city, "It's cold but this is your independence day. Today we celebrate your freedom. But I have to stay. This parade needs me to help others. Remember, all there's good in the world is there for you. This nothingness is dead and gone, now in your past."

    I was scared to leave all I knew. So she said "Lets run!" and ran with me, helped me past this last part. Over the bridge and out of the city until she ran out of breath. Like she was giving me one last push with all her heart. It seemed so strange at the time, running over a silly bridge. But it meant more than I knew. But she ran until there was nothing left. Helped so many but each failure she took to heart and it must have got to her. It must have broke her heart. The ones that would not, could not get out. She ran out of hope. She hit her end and found it at the edge of a window ledge.

    I wander this place where I grew up. I look around at the mess, the poverty and the squalor. They say she died of a broken heart disease. Too many she could not help. Those who would not help themselves rise up out of this hell hole they were born in. It stinks of cigarettes and cheap wine. How could she stand it? Sometimes I think I would like to watch it burn. This place that destroyed someone like her.

    Right now, I feel so alone and I feel like somebody else. The memories of who I was, where I came from and who am I now. I know I have not changed but I know am not the same person I was when I was here. This place is so old and run down. It feels like the truck I used too own when I was here. Always on the verge of dying on me. The one that died before I left. Now, it just will not start anymore. The life has left. She has left.

    Shadowedgeon April 01, 2013   Link
  • +3
    My Interpretation

    To me this song has a deep seeding in how we overcome the trials and tribulations that life throws at us, even through the loss of something important. Carrying on.

    Beginning with the all to real notion of displaced amnesia, in a sense. "So long ago, I don't remember when" - may not have been very long at all. It's just the inability for one to face what is happening to them that causes a disconnection to their own reality (who they are) - The car, referenced in these lyrics - is their life after the loss of something important to their heart. Whether that be inoncence, a loved one, or even an oppurtunity to take a specific path. The lyrics do keep this interpretation open. I for one, keep solid to the love story inside.

    As the chorus rolls in, it feels like this individual is stuck, unable to move after the loss and is trying to motivate himself to get up and do something with his life, "Come on, Try a little" - to get up and find who he was, what he lost. "But me and Cinderella" - they could put it all together, and no matter how damaged or held back this person is, they could easily drive it home with "one headlight" - if only he could get back what he lost, or never lost it in the first place, nothing in life would be able to hold him back.

    Loss doesn't have to mean forever either. Some things in life are worth fighting for and I think the ending of this song includes this interpretation. As the second verse continues the description of the world he has to face alone - dark and full of greed, hate and despare. He is desperately looking for an opening, or a path to take to bring him back to life. Whether that be closure, or finding what he lost. He mentions later that "Man, I Ain't changed, but I know I Ain't the same" as if he realizes who he was, but still can't be that person without his heart. And even thinks about suicide as an option to escape this madness.

    Lastly he plays the chorus again, trying to motivate himself to get up and fight. Ending with the memory of how things were, meaning he is trying to find the strength to fight by remembering what he is fighting for. I like how one reviewer put it

    "Now she's gone but he resolves to carry on, to fight through to the end, even though this light in his life has gone out. What strikes me is his use of "we" as in "we can drive it home". She's gone, but he's still going to make it through for her." - Moral. Never stop fighting.

    Robert_Vanleeuwenon September 29, 2016   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I think the singer is watching his friend die from domestic violence. "The long broken arm of human law." Maybe the law turned it's head away from her. She was trapped in the abusive relationship, and didn't know how to get out. "She said it's cold It feels like Independence Day And I can't break away from this parade But there's got to be an opening Somewhere here in front of me Through this maze of ugliness and greed" Sounds to me she was trapped in a relationship that drove her over the edge. She confided in her friend, the singer, and in the last verse he shows his digust. "Well this place is old It feels just like a beat up truck I turn the engine, but the engine doesn't turn Well it smells of cheap wine & cigarettes This place is always such a mess Sometimes I think I'd like to watch it burn." Maybe I'm reading to much into it. This song has bugged me about it's meaning for years.

    Honeybeeon August 28, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Jakob Dylan said this song is about the death of ideas, not a suicide. It's very metaphoric.

    doubleTon August 31, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    To me this song is about a girl who committed suicide because she feels that it just won't get better and everytime she tries to break out of the life she feels trapped in, she gets knocked back down. I also think that it says he feels the exact same way as she did; and since her death, he realizes what he needs to do to make the change happen, but isn't really doing anything about it. The lines about me and cinderella i think say that even though it isn't perfect, it is still functional.

    ttroellon June 20, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I never thought of it being about a girl commiting suicide. To me it always sounded like a girl being murdered that he loved and it being unsolved. Thus - "The long broken arm of human law". Also, the domestic violence theory sounds correct too. Going from the domestic violence theory, it kind of makes sense. And the lyric of "She always had a pretty face" shows that just because someone is pretty and popular on the outside, tells nothing of their home life. Going from the suicide theory - it sounds like she wasted something very important. "It always seems such a waste". As if she was very talented, and had the ability to go far in life and wasted it.

    Either way, beautiful song. The end.

    Kippixinon March 08, 2003   Link

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