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.
Girls don't want to play like that
Just want to talk to the boys
Just want to do what is in their hearts
And the girls want to be with the girls
And the boys say, "What do you mean?"
Yes, the boys say, "What do you mean?"
Well, there's just no love
When there's boys and girls
And the girls want to be with the girls
Yes, the girls want to be with the girls
Girls want things that make common sense
The best for all concerned
Don't want to have to go out of their way
And the girls want to be with the girls
And the boys say, "What do you mean?"
Yes, the boys say, "What do you mean?"
Well, there's just no love
When there's boys and girls
And the girls want to be with the girls
Yes, the girls want to be with the girls
Girls are getting into abstract analysis
Wouldn't like to make that intuitive leap
They're making plans that have far reaching effects
And the girls want to be with the girls
And the boys say, "What do you mean?"
Yes, the boys say, "What do you mean?"
Well, there's just no love
When there's boys and girls
And the girls want to be with the girls
Yes, the girls want to be with the girls
Just want to talk to the boys
Just want to do what is in their hearts
And the girls want to be with the girls
And the boys say, "What do you mean?"
Yes, the boys say, "What do you mean?"
Well, there's just no love
When there's boys and girls
And the girls want to be with the girls
Yes, the girls want to be with the girls
Girls want things that make common sense
The best for all concerned
Don't want to have to go out of their way
And the girls want to be with the girls
And the boys say, "What do you mean?"
Yes, the boys say, "What do you mean?"
Well, there's just no love
When there's boys and girls
And the girls want to be with the girls
Yes, the girls want to be with the girls
Girls are getting into abstract analysis
Wouldn't like to make that intuitive leap
They're making plans that have far reaching effects
And the girls want to be with the girls
And the boys say, "What do you mean?"
Yes, the boys say, "What do you mean?"
Well, there's just no love
When there's boys and girls
And the girls want to be with the girls
Yes, the girls want to be with the girls
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Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
I think this song is about Buildings or Food...
I think it might be about both. ;)
@SanjuroSeaCow lmfao
I think this song is pretty funny actually. I get the impression he's saying that the girls actually care about meaningful relationships and the guys just wanna get laid.
Killer song.
I read in an interview in Trouser Press from around the time when Fear of Music was released that Tina considered this song to have been born out of a conversation she and David had. She said that she was surprised to hear the lyrics, as they basically came straight from something the two had been discussing.
Lyrically, this song reminds me of the song Tentative Decisions. Communication problems between girls and guys, the difference between the two genders... Girls like hanging out with guys because guys can be different and scary (at first anyway). It seems to show just how guys don't fully grasp what girls are trying to say all the time. Their response to "abstract analysis" and "intuitive leap" is "What do you mean?"
This song reminds me of lesbianism, but I'm pretty sure its not about that...
The keyboard in this song is phenominal. Did Eno do it?
Hmmm, nysh has a pretty good, simple explanation for these lyrics. I actually didn't think it had anything to do with love/sex/romantic relationships at all. Maybe it's just because I was thinking about the song in terms of what I see in my own life, but I thought the song was about how girls primarly tend to prefer other girls for friends. Sure, they'll talk to the boys and socialise with them as they must, but girls prefer their close friendships to be with other girls. Hence, the girls want to be with the girls.
Well - I don't know, I'm kind of making an over-generalisation here, and I'm only really talking about what I see in my life. Most of the girls I know don't seem to be interested in befriending boys, unless it's with the intention to become "a little more than friends" (y' know?). I'm perfectly aware that it's not always that way, and that some girls prefer boys as companions (actually, I'm a 15-year old girl, and maybe it's just got something to do with the developmental stage I and my contemporaries are in, and that I'm rather atypical in most respects, but I kind of prefer boys to girls because I understand them better). But I mean, in general.
I just realised that that all came out as an overly wordy way of saying "this song is about how girls prefer girls to boys for friends".
Ha, Pippin, I got the same feeling from this song.<br /> <br /> If I had heard it back in high school, I would've had a different opinion. There, most of my friends were girls, and they preferred the company of boys. Now that I'm in college, though, it's very different. My platonic girlfriends there spend most of their time with each other, and I hear from them a lot of anti-boy comments, largely due to some relationship drama llama. <br /> <br /> ...and then I have a friend at Bryn Mawr who spends all of her time with girls and, coincidentally, just started listening to the Talking Heads.
yeah...Pippin has hit the nail on the head, I'd say.<br /> <br /> for the past couple of years, my closest friend has been a woman. she's older than me, but not by too many years. and I'm a man, so...<br /> <br /> her other friends assume--based on the length of the friendship, and the mere fact we spend time together--there MUST be something else going on (that she's hiding, or not willing to talk about). no amount of explanation will convince them.<br /> <br /> but: we ARE just friends. the thought of a more-intimate involvement never occurs to either of us. except as a brief chuckle over: other people's assumptions, or (what seems to us) the self-evident absurdity of she and I ever becoming romantically entangled.<br /> <br /> (there are explainable reasons, but it'd be TMI. and anyway I'm already much too wordy in my contributions to this page.)<br /> <br /> maybe David was hoping to get at something more profound. for example, his explicit statement that "there's boys and girls," which--given his conceptual-art leanings, at the time--implies much more than what (at first) those simple words would seem to convey. he has an explicit message, part of which is this: there are boys, and there are girls, and they're not the same.<br /> <br /> with references to things like abstract analysis and intuitive leaps, he was (I'd guess) hoping to illuminate some of those differences. if so, he focuses more on trying to get inside the girls' heads: perhaps due to the assumption, "hey, I already know how the boys think, so...that part is not as interesting."<br /> <br /> but...I don't think David Byrne thinks like other boys. not like other people, either.<br /> <br /> nor do I think he succeeds in communicating anything other than a simple, straightforward observation about how males & females tend to behave with each other. he was trying for something more, but failed. some of his other Songs About Buildings and Food are more memorable. this one isn't great, but it's a decent effort.
wasn't trying to say, "my closest friend has, [only] for the past couple of years, been a woman."<br /> <br /> but how would I make the intended meaning clearer?<br /> <br /> "for the past couple of years, there's one person who's been my closest friend. BTW she's a woman."<br /> <br /> must be a simpler way than that.