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 can't remember 1989
I can't remember what you looked like
'Cause I was dimed
Wasn't the whole world at the time?
A robot heart for my sleep in girl
She knows CPR
So I can come back to life
Ya, I can come back to life
I'm tired of walking around with my hand on my gun
Tired of watching them wind you up to see if you'll run
Tonight I'm going to go out and have me some fun
I'm tired of walking around here with my hand on my gun
I had me a vision that I was a fireman
In a time of fires
And I was paralyzed
A robot heart for a theme park world
Whatever keeps us alive
Whetever keeps claim to us being civilized
I'm tired of walking around with my hand on my gun
Tired of watching them wind you up to see if you'll run
Tonight I'm going to go out and have me some fun
I'm tired of walking around here with my hand on my gun
I can't remember 1989
I try but I forget what you look like
Baby, I ain't dimmed
Ya, it still keeps me up at night
A robot heart for a robot boy
Who dreamed he was a lion
Our lives in these empty spaces aside
I'm tired of walking around with my hand on my gun
Tired of watching them wind you up to see if you'll run
Tonight I'm going to go out and have me some fun
I'm tired of walking around here with my hand on my gun
Alright
I can't remember what you looked like
'Cause I was dimed
Wasn't the whole world at the time?
A robot heart for my sleep in girl
She knows CPR
So I can come back to life
Ya, I can come back to life
I'm tired of walking around with my hand on my gun
Tired of watching them wind you up to see if you'll run
Tonight I'm going to go out and have me some fun
I'm tired of walking around here with my hand on my gun
I had me a vision that I was a fireman
In a time of fires
And I was paralyzed
A robot heart for a theme park world
Whatever keeps us alive
Whetever keeps claim to us being civilized
I'm tired of walking around with my hand on my gun
Tired of watching them wind you up to see if you'll run
Tonight I'm going to go out and have me some fun
I'm tired of walking around here with my hand on my gun
I can't remember 1989
I try but I forget what you look like
Baby, I ain't dimmed
Ya, it still keeps me up at night
A robot heart for a robot boy
Who dreamed he was a lion
Our lives in these empty spaces aside
I'm tired of walking around with my hand on my gun
Tired of watching them wind you up to see if you'll run
Tonight I'm going to go out and have me some fun
I'm tired of walking around here with my hand on my gun
Alright
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This is definetly my favourite Matt Good tune. I've always had a passion for it for some reason and it always reminds me of so much science fiction I have read over my lifetime, the whole fireman issue reminds me of farenheit 451 by bradbury, and the whole robot part and walking around with my hand on my gun reminds me of roland from stephen king's dark tower series. It's always so much to take in, as if he is losing himself in everything or becoming paranoid hence the whole hand on the gun. It's just a fantastic song in general, I normally try not to read to deep into things but I have heard this song so many countless number of times and it's always great.