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.
Winter gettin' colder, summer gettin' warmer
Tidal wave comin' cross the Mexican border
Why buy a gallon, it's cheaper by the barrel
Just don't get busted singin' Christmas carols
That's us, that's right
Gotta love this American ride
Both ends of the ozone burnin'
Funny how the world keeps turning
Look ma, no hands
I love, this American ride
Gotta love this American ride
Momma gets her rocks off watchin' Desperate Housewives
Daddy works his ass off payin' for the good life
Kids on the YouTube learnin' how to be cool
Livin' in a cruel world, it pays to be a mean girl
That's us, that's right
Gotta love this American ride
Both ends of the ozone burnin'
Funny how the world keeps turning
Look ma, no hands
I love, this American ride
Gotta love this American ride
Poor little infa-Miss America's down
She gained five pounds and lost her crown
Quick fix plastic surgical antidote
Got herself a record deal, can't even sing a note
Plasma gettin' bigger, Jesus gettin' smaller
Spill a cup of coffee make a million dollars
Customs got a thug with an aerosol can
If the shoe don't fit, the fits gonna hit the shan
That's us
That's right
Gotta love this American ride
Both ends of the ozone burnin'
Funny how the world keeps turning
Hot dog, hot damn
I love, this American ride
Gotta love this American ride, oh yeah
Tidal wave comin' cross the Mexican border
Why buy a gallon, it's cheaper by the barrel
Just don't get busted singin' Christmas carols
That's us, that's right
Gotta love this American ride
Both ends of the ozone burnin'
Funny how the world keeps turning
Look ma, no hands
I love, this American ride
Gotta love this American ride
Momma gets her rocks off watchin' Desperate Housewives
Daddy works his ass off payin' for the good life
Kids on the YouTube learnin' how to be cool
Livin' in a cruel world, it pays to be a mean girl
That's us, that's right
Gotta love this American ride
Both ends of the ozone burnin'
Funny how the world keeps turning
Look ma, no hands
I love, this American ride
Gotta love this American ride
Poor little infa-Miss America's down
She gained five pounds and lost her crown
Quick fix plastic surgical antidote
Got herself a record deal, can't even sing a note
Plasma gettin' bigger, Jesus gettin' smaller
Spill a cup of coffee make a million dollars
Customs got a thug with an aerosol can
If the shoe don't fit, the fits gonna hit the shan
That's us
That's right
Gotta love this American ride
Both ends of the ozone burnin'
Funny how the world keeps turning
Hot dog, hot damn
I love, this American ride
Gotta love this American ride, oh yeah
Lyrics submitted by octanerocks
American Ride Lyrics as written by Joe West Dave Pahanish
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think this song is talking about the problems this country faces(obviously) but Toby Keith is saying nevertheless, he is still proud to be an American. "That's us that's right gotta love this American Ride." No country is perfect. America is great; we have the freedom to do pretty much anything. Just sayin'
Anyway, jrr45 said Toby pick a side, this song is not necessarily unpatriotic. Well, that's just how I see it. I'm not sure if I've made my point clear but I just wanted to say that :) :D
TK re-writes Hank Jr.'s "The American Dream". Gotta love that Nashville machine...
He did not write it.
I have the song figured out except for this line:
If the shoe dont fit, the fits gonna hit the shan.
What is this referring to? Anyone know?
They did an interview with him, its just a way of saying "sh*ts gonna hit the fan" it was so the radio wont edit it.
he actually means "the sht's gonna hit the fan." but he probably changed it to not have sht in the song.
I think Keith's trying to show the irony of our country. We can't sing Christmas carols, Jesus is hardly known in this country even though it was founded as a Christian country and is based on Christian values. People are just living on their own terms and rules which he means by "look Ma no hands" and how he says how kids are learning how to be cool on Youtube and women are getting their desires filled through Desperate Housewives while their husbands slave at work trying to give themselves the perfect life, but there is no perfect life. There are so many examples, but our country's pretty messed up and yet we don't see it. We just keep pushing our patriotism and how much we love our country when we don't even see the reality of it all.
Geeners87, sorry man but this country wasn't founded as a christian country, nor is it based on christian values... The founding fathers were primarily diests, agnostics, or atheists.<br /> <br /> Sorry man,<br />
Uhm, yeah, it was founded as a Christian country. Pilgrims wanted to be worship God they wanted to, so they came here. Quite a few of the people who accepted contracts to come here with the first settlements came for the religious freedoms. Even those who didn't come primarily for religious freedom were Christian before they came here; that was the major religion in England, or rather the /only/ allowed religion in England. We started off a Christian country.
i agree<br />
i think it's just trying to say that if we keep up the way we're going we're screwed...qeeners87 is right, how we're drifting this song is funny, but sad too...cuz it's true. I love Toby's songs about America...like Courtesy of the red, white and blue...i just love those songs...
btw..some of these lyrics are incorrect..but im not gonna fix em, just check out elyrics.net and search this song...or any song...n u'll get the right lyrics
This song says alot about the flaws currently plaguing our country, but I can't help but note the dichotomy in the lyrics of this song compared to his previous work. I feel like music should be from the heart and not something that is created to correlate with the current economic and political times (at least not by a single artist). Even though I do agree with much of what he is saying, the validity behind it is meaningless written by someone who not too long ago sung about patriotism. You are a great artist Toby, but enough with the sardonic undertones and pick a side.
But he has, this song isn't unpatriotic it's just pointing out reality.<br /> <br /> Small businnesses and farms are being destroyed by big corporations. Todays youth are so damn guible and stupid that even if something contains a "DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS AT HOME" some kid somwhere will attempt it. Celebs in catfights get so much media attention it's un believable and every time they're on TV they get richer and richer and richer.<br /> <br /> Ozone is being destroyed but most corps don't wanna go green cause it's just not cost effective. The wage and salary of your average worker is just not enough to cover the costs of living a deccent life unless we get second jobs or do overtime.<br /> <br /> And, although I am an atheist, he's right. The material things of life are overriding goodwill, ospitalily and everything else any good religion tries to teach it's followers. I mean how long has the government been debating the Healthcare reform when we're heading for another Great Depression?<br /> <br /> This song can come off as Anti- America only if you don't get the references.
I really hope this song is suppose you be sarcastic >.>
I have a question. In the music video at the end when they show Castro and Kim Jong-il as Pirates, who is the other person on the ship with them?
Maybe Al Gore? Just a guess. Kind of looks like his caricature.
I think it might actually be Chavez, the Venezualen leader.
"Infa-Miss Ameria" is a very clever lyric. (Infa-miss for "Infamous".) You don't see a lot of wordplay in country lyrics - especially in the more patriotic stuff. Though, I think there's a lot of irony here. It reminds me a bit of Springsteen's "Born in the USA," which was adopted as this big, patriotic anthem but was really a litany of the problems being faced by the Boomers at the time. Maybe more akin to "Pink Houses," by John Mellancamp - it addresses the issues, but still celebrates American life in the end.
Man, didn't think I had that much to say about this.