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.
Destined to stay awake too long to contemplate where I've gone wrong
I try to formulate a song to make some good out of bad
The words I write, they seem contrived, ashamed to share my cheesy lines
I scrunch the scrap, a waste of time, a waste of thoughts in my head
The sets of songs that I forgot were all about my writers block
And all that's left to express is I've not got much to express
Self obsessed and hypercritical
Self abasing when over-analytical
Self-righteous but apolitical
I express myself and little else
I waste the day, I waste the evening, combing through words try to find meaning
It's just self-involved struggles with feelings, where do I go from that?
Each line written is lazy and boisterous, hard not to see my endeavors as pointless
Approach a project frustrated and joyless, get surprised when it's bad
But there is a truth that I've been evading, I mostly make things so you think I'm creative
I'm so shallow you see, that I have to build up a sense of identity
Self obsessed and hypercritical
Self abasing when over-analytical
Self-righteous but apolitical
I express myself and little else
I try to formulate a song to make some good out of bad
The words I write, they seem contrived, ashamed to share my cheesy lines
I scrunch the scrap, a waste of time, a waste of thoughts in my head
The sets of songs that I forgot were all about my writers block
And all that's left to express is I've not got much to express
Self obsessed and hypercritical
Self abasing when over-analytical
Self-righteous but apolitical
I express myself and little else
I waste the day, I waste the evening, combing through words try to find meaning
It's just self-involved struggles with feelings, where do I go from that?
Each line written is lazy and boisterous, hard not to see my endeavors as pointless
Approach a project frustrated and joyless, get surprised when it's bad
But there is a truth that I've been evading, I mostly make things so you think I'm creative
I'm so shallow you see, that I have to build up a sense of identity
Self obsessed and hypercritical
Self abasing when over-analytical
Self-righteous but apolitical
I express myself and little else
Lyrics submitted by username-ben
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