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.
I see, yeah I see, see, I'm lookin right at you, I eye-contact you
You see me, and I'm a beamie, uh
First, I'm sayin hi, then I'm wavin bye-bye
We get in, we get in
Girl, you're so fly, you're so fly
Yo, these swallows is horny like charley parker
Be cutting em cause I'm studying these birds like ornithology
Follow em when they tweeting, holler instead of speaking
Give it a name, she played the wicked games every weekend
Broke up with a dude for almost ending a life
Came over for a closure, ended up spending the night
That cosy in this apartment, wine bottles started popping
Put scratches up on his back, they question him where he got them
Forgot it was her, she threaded him, fingers was like machetes
The fucking was so static, she shaded him like a faddic
Every single chick, shes like enough already
I need to be with someone else, this stuff is so petty
She once reacted to things he did in the past
Thinking it was no safe, he couldn't say no to the ask
The heavy so rash, she gave up all her power
He boarded out on the street, nowhere to live, nowhere to shower
How she gonna make it through the night?
How shes so accepting all this tension in her life?
She always carrying a baby with her
Her spitting image just like looking at her baby pictures
Afraid to say cause she dependent on man for real
How she running these streets but always standing still
She need to get up off the hamster wheel
She need to get up off the hamster wheel
How she running the streets but still standing still
She need to get up off the hamster wheel
She need to get up off the hamster wheel
Battery in the back, popping up with the cop
Top popular with the acid, the hot attack
Niggas whooping the holla out the drama
The way she passing the barber shop
Only job that's an option mcdonalds or telemarket
Often her asking together, this ain't the beatles
She need is a man like she going under needle
She doing so much cotton, it's a wonder she living
The money was so seductive, no wonder she ain't leaving
First time she fell like a woman was when a dude screamed
Nice ass out the car window driving past
Nobody showed her how to live so all she do is dream
They call her rocket cause the make-up is like the mash-bomb
Scars proeminently large on her frontal lobe
Behind bars for credit cards scheme she pulled a month ago
First she getting high, now we waving bye-bye
Shes waiting out the station
Just the same as shes waiting out the station
Late at night for a train that never came
She always carrying a baby with her
Her spitting image just like looking at her baby pictures
Afraid to say cause she dependent on man for real
How she running these streets but always standing still
She need to get up off the hamster wheel
She need to get up off the hamster wheel
How she running the streets but still standing still
She need to get up off the hamster wheel
She need to get up off the hamster wheel
You see me, and I'm a beamie, uh
First, I'm sayin hi, then I'm wavin bye-bye
We get in, we get in
Girl, you're so fly, you're so fly
Yo, these swallows is horny like charley parker
Be cutting em cause I'm studying these birds like ornithology
Follow em when they tweeting, holler instead of speaking
Give it a name, she played the wicked games every weekend
Broke up with a dude for almost ending a life
Came over for a closure, ended up spending the night
That cosy in this apartment, wine bottles started popping
Put scratches up on his back, they question him where he got them
Forgot it was her, she threaded him, fingers was like machetes
The fucking was so static, she shaded him like a faddic
Every single chick, shes like enough already
I need to be with someone else, this stuff is so petty
She once reacted to things he did in the past
Thinking it was no safe, he couldn't say no to the ask
The heavy so rash, she gave up all her power
He boarded out on the street, nowhere to live, nowhere to shower
How she gonna make it through the night?
How shes so accepting all this tension in her life?
She always carrying a baby with her
Her spitting image just like looking at her baby pictures
Afraid to say cause she dependent on man for real
How she running these streets but always standing still
She need to get up off the hamster wheel
She need to get up off the hamster wheel
How she running the streets but still standing still
She need to get up off the hamster wheel
She need to get up off the hamster wheel
Battery in the back, popping up with the cop
Top popular with the acid, the hot attack
Niggas whooping the holla out the drama
The way she passing the barber shop
Only job that's an option mcdonalds or telemarket
Often her asking together, this ain't the beatles
She need is a man like she going under needle
She doing so much cotton, it's a wonder she living
The money was so seductive, no wonder she ain't leaving
First time she fell like a woman was when a dude screamed
Nice ass out the car window driving past
Nobody showed her how to live so all she do is dream
They call her rocket cause the make-up is like the mash-bomb
Scars proeminently large on her frontal lobe
Behind bars for credit cards scheme she pulled a month ago
First she getting high, now we waving bye-bye
Shes waiting out the station
Just the same as shes waiting out the station
Late at night for a train that never came
She always carrying a baby with her
Her spitting image just like looking at her baby pictures
Afraid to say cause she dependent on man for real
How she running these streets but always standing still
She need to get up off the hamster wheel
She need to get up off the hamster wheel
How she running the streets but still standing still
She need to get up off the hamster wheel
She need to get up off the hamster wheel
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Hamster Wheel Lyrics as written by Talib Kweli Greene Michael Jackson
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,