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.
A cripple walks amongst you
All you tired human beings
He's got all the things a cripple has not
Two working arms and legs
And vital parts fall from his system
And dissolve in Scottish rain
But vitally, he doesn't miss them
He's too fucked up to care
Well is that you in front of me?
Coming back for even more of exactly the same
You must be a masochist
To love a modern leper on his last leg, on his last leg
Well I crippled your heart a hundred times
And still can't work out why
You see, I've got this disease
I can't shake and I'm just rattling through life
Well this is how we do things now
Yeah this is how the modern stay scared
So I cut out all the good stuff
Yeah I cut off my foot to spite my leg
Is that you in front of me?
Coming back for even more of exactly the same
You must be a masochist
To love a modern leper on his last leg
Well I am ill but I'm not dead
And I don't know which of those I prefer
Because that limb which I have lost
Well it was the only thing holding me up, holding me up
Well I'm lying on the ground now
And you're walking through the only door
Well I have lost my eyesight like I said I would
But I still know
That that is you in front of me
And you are back for even more of exactly the same
Well are you a masochist?
You love a modern leper on his last leg
And you're not ill and I'm not dead
Doesn't that make us the perfect pair?
You should sit with me and we'll start again
And you can tell me all about what you did today
What you did today
All you tired human beings
He's got all the things a cripple has not
Two working arms and legs
And vital parts fall from his system
And dissolve in Scottish rain
But vitally, he doesn't miss them
He's too fucked up to care
Well is that you in front of me?
Coming back for even more of exactly the same
You must be a masochist
To love a modern leper on his last leg, on his last leg
Well I crippled your heart a hundred times
And still can't work out why
You see, I've got this disease
I can't shake and I'm just rattling through life
Well this is how we do things now
Yeah this is how the modern stay scared
So I cut out all the good stuff
Yeah I cut off my foot to spite my leg
Is that you in front of me?
Coming back for even more of exactly the same
You must be a masochist
To love a modern leper on his last leg
Well I am ill but I'm not dead
And I don't know which of those I prefer
Because that limb which I have lost
Well it was the only thing holding me up, holding me up
Well I'm lying on the ground now
And you're walking through the only door
Well I have lost my eyesight like I said I would
But I still know
That that is you in front of me
And you are back for even more of exactly the same
Well are you a masochist?
You love a modern leper on his last leg
And you're not ill and I'm not dead
Doesn't that make us the perfect pair?
You should sit with me and we'll start again
And you can tell me all about what you did today
What you did today
Lyrics submitted by indierocker13, edited by 121345
The Modern Leper Lyrics as written by Scott John Hutchison Grant David Hutchison
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY
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"
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
I really don't think this is about drugs. At all. Not of any kind, including alcohol. This is all about his mental state, how he is.
First off, it's modern leper. Not a leper of old, where you risk losing body parts. In our society today, most of our focus is on emotional and mental wellbeing. So a modern leper is someone who's losing himself in that way, not physically.
To me, he blends in, you wouldn't know him by sight. He's losing himself, parts of who he is, and he doesn't care because he's so far gone.
The part that sells this to me is well I've crippled your heart a hundred times and still can't work out why, see I've got this disease that I can't shake and I'm just rattling through life.
Anyone who's dealt with depression, especially depersonalization, knows that it's not something that you can just brush off, and it leaves you drifting in everything you do. If you've ever dealt with someone like that, you know how crushing it can be, trying to help, and not able to do anything because they can't shake it. When you're in that kind of state, depressed, not sure of yourself, unable to feel anything, one of the few things that can break through is a kind of odd desperation. You're surrounded by these people that are doing everything they can think of to help you, and you know it's hurting them when it doesn't work, but they keep trying. Sometimes you have to wonder if they are some kind of masochist to keep trying. You can't help but hurt them, so for them to keep trying is sometimes only explained by them being a masochist of somekind.
Not necessarily healthy, but that's kind of what it's about.
The more he loses the things keeping him going, the less it makes sense, the harder it is for him to keep going. And I think at the end, he's kind of starting to come around.
If I don't make any sense, it's because I've been having a bad night.
this sums it up perfectly.
I definitely agree with this. I don't believe the song was written about drug abuse, but of course you can interpret it however you please. That is what makes music and art so beautiful. However, I see the song as someone's lost identity. Everyone views them a certain way but so many people don't understand their true personality and difficulties. When he says "Is that you in front of me? Coming back for even more of exactly the same. You must be a masochist, to love a modern leper" I believe he is saying that those that choose to love him or try and understand him don't really get what they are getting themselves into...They see that he is deeper but they keep coming back despite the fact that he has issues and will eventually hurt them in the end.