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.
Quarter in a payphone
Drying laundry on the line
Watching sun tea in the window
Pocket watch tellin' time
Seems like only yesterday, I'd get a blank cassette
Record the country countdown 'cause I couldn't buy it yet
If we drove all the way to Dallas just to buy an Easter dress
We'd take along a Rand McNally, stand in line to pay for gas
God knows that shifting gears ain't what it used to be
I learned to drive that '55, just like a queen, three on a tree
Hey, what ever happened to waiting your turn
Doing it all by hand?
'Cause when everything is handed to you
It's only worth as much as the time put in
It all just seems so good the way we had it
Back before everything became automatic
If you had something to say
You'd write it on a piece of paper
Then you put a stamp on it
And they'd get it three days later
Boys would call the girls
And girls would turn them down
Staying married was the only way to work your problems out
Hey, what ever happened to waiting your turn
Doing it all by hand?
'Cause when everything is handed to you
It's only worth as much as the time put in
It all just seems so good the way we had it
Back before everything became automatic, yeah
Automatic
Let's roll the windows down
Windows with the cranks
Come on, let's take a picture
The kind you gotta shake
Hey, what ever happened to waiting your turn
Doing it all by hand?
'Cause when everything is handed to you
It's only worth as much as the time put in
It all just seems so good the way we had it
Back before everything became automatic, yeah
Automatic
Drying laundry on the line
Watching sun tea in the window
Pocket watch tellin' time
Seems like only yesterday, I'd get a blank cassette
Record the country countdown 'cause I couldn't buy it yet
If we drove all the way to Dallas just to buy an Easter dress
We'd take along a Rand McNally, stand in line to pay for gas
God knows that shifting gears ain't what it used to be
I learned to drive that '55, just like a queen, three on a tree
Hey, what ever happened to waiting your turn
Doing it all by hand?
'Cause when everything is handed to you
It's only worth as much as the time put in
It all just seems so good the way we had it
Back before everything became automatic
If you had something to say
You'd write it on a piece of paper
Then you put a stamp on it
And they'd get it three days later
Boys would call the girls
And girls would turn them down
Staying married was the only way to work your problems out
Hey, what ever happened to waiting your turn
Doing it all by hand?
'Cause when everything is handed to you
It's only worth as much as the time put in
It all just seems so good the way we had it
Back before everything became automatic, yeah
Automatic
Let's roll the windows down
Windows with the cranks
Come on, let's take a picture
The kind you gotta shake
Hey, what ever happened to waiting your turn
Doing it all by hand?
'Cause when everything is handed to you
It's only worth as much as the time put in
It all just seems so good the way we had it
Back before everything became automatic, yeah
Automatic
Lyrics submitted by abbielynn84
Automatic Lyrics as written by Natalie Hemby Miranda Lambert
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Reservoir Media Management, Inc., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Since when is driving 90 minutes into the city to buy a dress "doing it all by hand"? This lady is confusing her upper-middle class early 60's Dallas-Ft. Worth upbringing with pre-Civil War hard-scrabble subsistence living she can't possibly have any concept of. Get a clue lady, you grew up in post-Industrial corporate America just like all the rest of us. You're a professional musician. You don't put in the time to do your own makeup by hand, why would you presume to lecture anyone else?