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.
Children running down the street in uniforms
Laughing in the rain and heading towards me
They were yelling about something, they were singing in code
Something like “Ten dead men on a dead man’s chest/ fight the war
Forget about the rest”
They were searching for sunlight, they were searching for gold
So I catch a fever from the inside, dip my hands into my pocket
Open up my wallet
Such a strange gesture to make in this town
“Sure ain’t gold but it gets me around,”
Then I grabbed a twenty from the inside
Hand it to the smallest, tell him “Spend it wisely.”
He looked up at me then back at the ground
I just wish him luck then turn right around
Now I talk to myself late at night
Oh I try to connect with the ghost to a best friend
My brother, my accomplice, another writer, my best man
And sometimes I feel so forgiven at night
I just put down the shades but I open my window
The bad luck just leaves me
I hear Ben tell me “Brother, you’re home.”
I think it all started in the summer ‘98
In Normandy, New Jersey
Later in the day I was thinking about existence and unaccepting fate
I was fourteen years old but what else can I say
Even then I knew time was gonna catch me
I graduated private school in the summer of ‘02
My first true love left me and I didn’t know what to do
I moved into New York and I thought I found the truth
A pint glass full of paddy’s and pills you shouldn’t chew
Well, I swore that the drugs were gonna kill me
And I was wrong, I was wrong, I was writing a song
Tried to blame myself because she was gone
I didn’t know that she was unaffected
Her bad luck came through a needle
And I knew that the drugs were gonna kill her
Fast forward to the fall of ‘05
I met a girl of my dreams and she helped me survive
Then she left my life at a complicate time
In March of ‘06 I attempted suicide
Well I know that Sudafed can’t kill me
To everyone that knew, yeah I apologize
I’m sorry mom and dad, I never meant to make you cry
Thanks to all my friends, you’re the reason I’m alive
You make everyday worth living in this ribbon called Time
Well, it’ll take more than bad luck just to kill me
Limbs and things and verbs and sounds
I’ve got ten years of words buried in the ground
They’re being reassembled by the ghost of Ben Brown
He’s adapting the screenplay even still now
He better cast someone cool like Johnny Depp to play me
The child took my twenty and he looked me in the eyes
He said, “Thanks mister, for the gold” and continued walking by
I could see him proudly show his friends it made me wanna cry
Cause all I could do was think of mine
I know I’m a lucky guy
Thank you all for everything, I miss you all
Goodnight
Laughing in the rain and heading towards me
They were yelling about something, they were singing in code
Something like “Ten dead men on a dead man’s chest/ fight the war
Forget about the rest”
They were searching for sunlight, they were searching for gold
So I catch a fever from the inside, dip my hands into my pocket
Open up my wallet
Such a strange gesture to make in this town
“Sure ain’t gold but it gets me around,”
Then I grabbed a twenty from the inside
Hand it to the smallest, tell him “Spend it wisely.”
He looked up at me then back at the ground
I just wish him luck then turn right around
Now I talk to myself late at night
Oh I try to connect with the ghost to a best friend
My brother, my accomplice, another writer, my best man
And sometimes I feel so forgiven at night
I just put down the shades but I open my window
The bad luck just leaves me
I hear Ben tell me “Brother, you’re home.”
I think it all started in the summer ‘98
In Normandy, New Jersey
Later in the day I was thinking about existence and unaccepting fate
I was fourteen years old but what else can I say
Even then I knew time was gonna catch me
I graduated private school in the summer of ‘02
My first true love left me and I didn’t know what to do
I moved into New York and I thought I found the truth
A pint glass full of paddy’s and pills you shouldn’t chew
Well, I swore that the drugs were gonna kill me
And I was wrong, I was wrong, I was writing a song
Tried to blame myself because she was gone
I didn’t know that she was unaffected
Her bad luck came through a needle
And I knew that the drugs were gonna kill her
Fast forward to the fall of ‘05
I met a girl of my dreams and she helped me survive
Then she left my life at a complicate time
In March of ‘06 I attempted suicide
Well I know that Sudafed can’t kill me
To everyone that knew, yeah I apologize
I’m sorry mom and dad, I never meant to make you cry
Thanks to all my friends, you’re the reason I’m alive
You make everyday worth living in this ribbon called Time
Well, it’ll take more than bad luck just to kill me
Limbs and things and verbs and sounds
I’ve got ten years of words buried in the ground
They’re being reassembled by the ghost of Ben Brown
He’s adapting the screenplay even still now
He better cast someone cool like Johnny Depp to play me
The child took my twenty and he looked me in the eyes
He said, “Thanks mister, for the gold” and continued walking by
I could see him proudly show his friends it made me wanna cry
Cause all I could do was think of mine
I know I’m a lucky guy
Thank you all for everything, I miss you all
Goodnight
Lyrics submitted by M0NGREL
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