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 that you got yourself a house
And all your friends you finally figured out
But you go out in the night til you got no place to go
I see you on the corner where you're trying to use the phone
And everyone will say you missed your chance
And everyone will say you've lost you're edge
But it's just something that you've heard about a thousand time before
And every time you're falling then you'll see me on the floor
And someday when you turn around
You'll take a wife, and start a life
It won't be long
I hear that you got yourself a job
And all your friends you finally nailed down
But you go out in the night till you got no place to go
Something you ain't doing right is haunting you at home
Now we've been hanging round for quite a while
So let's get out of here and take a drive
On the parkway tonight
You can hear the engines roar
The flashing lights will nab you when you're driving your way home
And someday when you turn around you'll see the door is closing
And all your friends you finally figured out
But you go out in the night til you got no place to go
I see you on the corner where you're trying to use the phone
And everyone will say you missed your chance
And everyone will say you've lost you're edge
But it's just something that you've heard about a thousand time before
And every time you're falling then you'll see me on the floor
And someday when you turn around
You'll take a wife, and start a life
It won't be long
I hear that you got yourself a job
And all your friends you finally nailed down
But you go out in the night till you got no place to go
Something you ain't doing right is haunting you at home
Now we've been hanging round for quite a while
So let's get out of here and take a drive
On the parkway tonight
You can hear the engines roar
The flashing lights will nab you when you're driving your way home
And someday when you turn around you'll see the door is closing
Lyrics submitted by ophelia219, edited by karritevoyager
138th Street Lyrics as written by Matthew Frederick Barrick James Hamilton Leithauser
Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
"a thousand time before" should be "a thousand times before"