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.
Don't hesitate to remember everything,
From this never-ending drama monologue,
Don't leave your hate in surrender,
Try to save all the friends that you have lost.
Save yourself from everything that you have learned,
Save yourself from all the trust you never earned,
We will all learn from the burning out,
We will all learn from the liars mouth,
Save yourself from everything you have learned.
It's easy to forget where you are and where you've been,
So far in this business of inconsistent paper stars,
So let this die or let us live,
If you want blood there's none to give,
Just stop asking for the right to drain us all dry tonight.
Save yourself from everything that you have learned,
Save yourself from all the trust you never earned,
We will all learn from the burning out,
We will all learn from the liars mouth,
Save yourself from everything you have learned.
Oh,oh,oh,oh
It's easy to forget who you are,
In this business of these paper stars,
It's easy to forget who you are,
In this business of these paper stars,
It's easy to forget who you are,
In this business of these paper stars,
It's easy to forget who you are,
In this business of these paper stars,
From this never-ending drama monologue,
Don't leave your hate in surrender,
Try to save all the friends that you have lost.
Save yourself from everything that you have learned,
Save yourself from all the trust you never earned,
We will all learn from the burning out,
We will all learn from the liars mouth,
Save yourself from everything you have learned.
It's easy to forget where you are and where you've been,
So far in this business of inconsistent paper stars,
So let this die or let us live,
If you want blood there's none to give,
Just stop asking for the right to drain us all dry tonight.
Save yourself from everything that you have learned,
Save yourself from all the trust you never earned,
We will all learn from the burning out,
We will all learn from the liars mouth,
Save yourself from everything you have learned.
Oh,oh,oh,oh
It's easy to forget who you are,
In this business of these paper stars,
It's easy to forget who you are,
In this business of these paper stars,
It's easy to forget who you are,
In this business of these paper stars,
It's easy to forget who you are,
In this business of these paper stars,
Lyrics submitted by xXdevinXcoreXx
Business of Paper Stars Lyrics as written by
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
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what, no comments? that couldn't be because this song is ridiculously hard to interpret or anything.
i mean, obviously "paper stars" are some sort of extended metaphor. come on people.
sooooo... any ideas as to what they are??
i really don't know, but it seems to me that the "business" of paper stars is just life's journey in general, a never ending drama monologue? Doesn't sound too optimistic, but the advice here overall is to never forget who you are and you'll pull through. I like it.
The song illustrates the negative effects of celebrity, show business, and hollywood:
"Try to save all the friends that you have lost"
"It's easy to forget where you are and where you've been" (We always hear about celebrities "forgetting where they came from", especially if they had humble upbringings, by letting fame go straight to their heads and becoming completely different people)
"We will all burn from the burning out" (Most celebs live an indulgent lifestyle, partying excessively (especially those in the young hollywood scene) and can easily find themselves caught up in drug or alcohol addiction. Tons of careers and talented individuals have been sabotaged by their self-destructive behavior, which has been coined "burning out." This could also carry a darker meaning: "We will all burn" could imply going to hell.)
"Save yourself from everything you have learned" (Learn from the mistakes you see other celebrities make. How is it that so many still seem to end up in rehab?)
"It's easy to forget who you are In this business of these paper stars" ("This business of these paper stars" = show business, paper stars = celebrities. Why paper? It's flimsy, insubstantial, it can be torn (aka destroyed) so easily, like the careers or reputations of celebs often are by one scandal or bad decision)
To me, this song represents people who act like something they're not. It relates to something that happened to me recently which is how I got this interpretation.
A paper star to me represents a person who is trying to be a "star". Not literally a star as in a famous or anything, but trying to be something ahead of everyone else by bragging and lying to everyone to make it seem like their life is perfect.
I think the singer is saying that he's lost a group of friends to a liar since they believe that person's lies and he is the only one that can save himself from it so he left "the Bussiness of Paper Stars" The Bussiness I think is the way the paper stars are-as in the lies and how they try making themself look.
With "From this never ending drama monologue" it's like the person is just pretty much talking about himself and maybe creating other people that are really him/herself (as in a relationship, sibling, etc.) and just making up people to their huge giant story of lies.
"Drain us all dry tonight" to me seems like draining everyone from their reality into a fantasy world where the liar is making himself superior with probably a "perfect life" making his/her followers feel jealous which is want the liar wants.
"Save yourself from the thing that you have learned Save yourself from all the trust you never earned" is as if saying that he needs to save himself and not follow the liar since he learned how the liar is and the trust is just the fake trust from the friends that left him for the liar.
"It's easy to forget who you are In this business of these paper stars" to me seems like it's easy to get caught up in the web of lies and either believe it or because they start becoming the lie.
"We will all burn from the burning out w will all burn from the liar's mouth" seems like it's saying that the followers will finally know the truth of the paper star (the liar) and burn on from the truth.
Actually, I think the song's about how Humans are easy to change and manipulate at such a young age, how everything around them shapes them for the future, forcefully or not. The Paper Stars are literally stars made of paper, specifically those gold stickers a child sometimes gets for behaving. Conditional rewarding shapes a young child to do whatever for that star again, and eventually carrying over to a point where they just think the thing they did to earn it is normal. If this was the case, the "Liar" from the chorus would be the giver of the paper stars, a parental figure or teacher.
I don't understand how the words from "So let us die -" to "- try tonight." connect to this theory, that's the only problem.