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.
It was like this in 1999
It was like this in 1874
It was like this when you were a child
It was like this when I was a whore, well
They were massing troops on the back of the isles
They were saying those things, they were all in denial
They were talking about their own front lip
It smelt like, it smelt like shit
They were eating popcorn out of a dish
They're saying, " I wish, I wish, I wish"
I was there in 1999, I was left and I left my old self behind
Still living, but you know I'm not denying
Said what I said, and I said this
In 1918 things were better
When I was nothing but a sweater
Now I'm born again as another man
I'm living on this in this foreign land
I used to be angora, angora fleece
Isn't no sound and I eat in peace
And no one knew, and no one cared
And you didn't know whether you wanted to dare
It's not what you were thinking then
And as your resurrection breathed out cinnamon
And I was not to be confused
And then in 1882 they still sold it to those fucks
Things have been going wrong since the beginning
And no one was losing and no one was winning
They just fucked each other up
And in 1999 I was in a park in Chicago
Oh, that was nice
He was like a father and he knew what he was saying
And wait
I'm not talking about this bullshit
And I went to talk to the more Italian boys who hung out there
They said that they would rather see me dead
Or at least not kept
And they broke my jaw and I was left to thaw
And I walked away and I called my mom and said
"Hell yeah it sucked, yeah, I loved it, break my jaw now!"
You hang on, you hang on
You got your ring on and you were just saying, uh
One thing you remembered
You were never even once being clever
Then you were, when sleeping, you were sleeping
When they're saying when there was a phone, yeah
Mistakes were made and I ended up in Florida
Things were not right, I didn't care though
What you do, and what you become
Either way you end up all dumb
That's all right with me now, that's all right with me now
1-2, 1-2 me with the troops
They were massing on the porch
They wanted to be the only thorn
And in the court of the golf golf center
I hear things are better and no one's really tougher
And you're talking loud and you're talking proud
In your trumpet now, oh shit!
Well you said then, what you meant then
What you did then, was you want to have sex
And you did not do, you could not do
You could not pull out but you tried to
Then you said, "Well, I don't need
I don't need to wear myself a bikini today!"
It brings me to the embarrassment
I was sitting on a raft in pond sediment
And they said, "Hell yeah, oh, hell yeah"
You looked naked for shit but you were drunk, you didn't care
Well, what were you thinking?
It was like this in 1874
It was like this when you were a child
It was like this when I was a whore, well
They were massing troops on the back of the isles
They were saying those things, they were all in denial
They were talking about their own front lip
It smelt like, it smelt like shit
They were eating popcorn out of a dish
They're saying, " I wish, I wish, I wish"
I was there in 1999, I was left and I left my old self behind
Still living, but you know I'm not denying
Said what I said, and I said this
In 1918 things were better
When I was nothing but a sweater
Now I'm born again as another man
I'm living on this in this foreign land
I used to be angora, angora fleece
Isn't no sound and I eat in peace
And no one knew, and no one cared
And you didn't know whether you wanted to dare
It's not what you were thinking then
And as your resurrection breathed out cinnamon
And I was not to be confused
And then in 1882 they still sold it to those fucks
Things have been going wrong since the beginning
And no one was losing and no one was winning
They just fucked each other up
And in 1999 I was in a park in Chicago
Oh, that was nice
He was like a father and he knew what he was saying
And wait
I'm not talking about this bullshit
And I went to talk to the more Italian boys who hung out there
They said that they would rather see me dead
Or at least not kept
And they broke my jaw and I was left to thaw
And I walked away and I called my mom and said
"Hell yeah it sucked, yeah, I loved it, break my jaw now!"
You hang on, you hang on
You got your ring on and you were just saying, uh
One thing you remembered
You were never even once being clever
Then you were, when sleeping, you were sleeping
When they're saying when there was a phone, yeah
Mistakes were made and I ended up in Florida
Things were not right, I didn't care though
What you do, and what you become
Either way you end up all dumb
That's all right with me now, that's all right with me now
1-2, 1-2 me with the troops
They were massing on the porch
They wanted to be the only thorn
And in the court of the golf golf center
I hear things are better and no one's really tougher
And you're talking loud and you're talking proud
In your trumpet now, oh shit!
Well you said then, what you meant then
What you did then, was you want to have sex
And you did not do, you could not do
You could not pull out but you tried to
Then you said, "Well, I don't need
I don't need to wear myself a bikini today!"
It brings me to the embarrassment
I was sitting on a raft in pond sediment
And they said, "Hell yeah, oh, hell yeah"
You looked naked for shit but you were drunk, you didn't care
Well, what were you thinking?
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