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.
My telephone wakes me in the morning
Have to get up to answer the call.
So I think I'll go back to the family
Where no one can ring me at all.
Living this life has its problems
So I think that I'll give it a break.
Oh, I'm going back to the family
'Cause I've had about all I can take.
Master's in the counting house
Counting all his money.
Sister's sitting by the mirror
She thinks her hair looks funny.
And here am I thinking to myself
Just wondering what things to do.
I think I enjoyed all my problems
Where didn't I get nothing for free.
Oh, I'm going back to the family
Doing nothing is bothering me.
I'll get a train back to the city
That soft life is getting me down.
There's more fun away from the family
Get some action when I pull into town.
Everything I do is wrong,
What the hell was I thinking?
Phone keeps ringing all day long
I got no time for thinking.
And every day has the same old way
Of giving me too much to do.
Have to get up to answer the call.
So I think I'll go back to the family
Where no one can ring me at all.
Living this life has its problems
So I think that I'll give it a break.
Oh, I'm going back to the family
'Cause I've had about all I can take.
Master's in the counting house
Counting all his money.
Sister's sitting by the mirror
She thinks her hair looks funny.
And here am I thinking to myself
Just wondering what things to do.
I think I enjoyed all my problems
Where didn't I get nothing for free.
Oh, I'm going back to the family
Doing nothing is bothering me.
I'll get a train back to the city
That soft life is getting me down.
There's more fun away from the family
Get some action when I pull into town.
Everything I do is wrong,
What the hell was I thinking?
Phone keeps ringing all day long
I got no time for thinking.
And every day has the same old way
Of giving me too much to do.
Lyrics submitted by Krendall2006
Back to the Family Lyrics as written by Ian Anderson
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Is this a five-beat signature like "Living in the Past"?
This is a catchy rythym but my ear and musical knowledge aren't good enough to tell.
This is a sensiive retelling of the yearning we have for the quiet life back home, nearer the womb. But it seems you can never quite go back home, for the pastoral becomes boring and most of us seem to eventually head back to the frazzled busy-ness of being "gainfully" employed and "successful".
@excompost: I agree with your interpretation; I'd just add that the protagonist of this song can't be happy no matter what he does: "back to the family (his family of origin)" proves stale, boring, soporific, punctuated by the madness of the "master" and his money-greed and sister and her weird physical-appearance obsessions. But returning to the chosen "family" of hectic work life in London is no better: phone rings constantly, job duties pile up, his boss is never satisfied with his work. No satisfaction anywhere.