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.
Some static started in the pool hall
Hit a motherfucker's face with the cue ball
Then I met this girl she tried to gank me
So I smacked her in the pootie with a Plank, B
'Cause me and my crew were out breaking windows
The bingo, the lotto you know I'll never win those
Possession is half the law
I had my routines before all y'all
Your whole life is coming apart at the seams
You ain't nothing but a car thief biting routines
See, I'm a city slicker I ain't no townie
Right now I wish I had another hash brownie
Like Ricky always said you've got to toke and pass
Or Mookie's gonna kick your fuckin' ass
You try to take what isn't yours like a God damn rat
See, personally I wouldn't wanna go out like that
I'm a writer, a poet, a genius, I know it
I don't buy cheeba I grow it
People always trying to get next to me
I had a beautiful experience on ecstasy
I Smoked up a bag of elephant tranquilizer
Because I had to deal with a money-hungry miser
Had a 'caine-filled Kool with my man Rush Rush
Saw my teeth fall in the sink when I started to brush
You be doing nose candy on the Bowie coke mirror
My girl asked for some but I pretended not to hear her
You can't deny me, you always want to try me
Yo, you're just gonna get your ass kicked
Homeboy throw in the towel
Your girl got dicked by Ricky Powell
The Godfather of Soul in the belly of the beast
Smoking that dust at St. Anthony's Feast
All the wife beaters and all the tax cheaters
Sitting in the White House pulling their peters
Buy my cheeba from the cop down the street
The only cop with a rope chain walking the beat
So like a sneaky pouch time bomb tickin'
Or like the beat to my rhyme just kickin'
Space cake cookies I discover who I am
I'm a dusted old bummy hurdy-gurdy man
Five-O caught me now I'm going to the mountains
Said good-bye to my girl, my lawyers and accountants
My mind is kinda rhymin' and I think I oughta think
So I'm rockin' all the rhymes and I'll have another drink
So the lights are flashing, my mind is spinning
I feel like it is always the beginning
Of another rhyme I'm rapping, M.C-ing I rock
You ain't nothing but a car thief who must be stopped
Hit a motherfucker's face with the cue ball
Then I met this girl she tried to gank me
So I smacked her in the pootie with a Plank, B
'Cause me and my crew were out breaking windows
The bingo, the lotto you know I'll never win those
Possession is half the law
I had my routines before all y'all
Your whole life is coming apart at the seams
You ain't nothing but a car thief biting routines
See, I'm a city slicker I ain't no townie
Right now I wish I had another hash brownie
Like Ricky always said you've got to toke and pass
Or Mookie's gonna kick your fuckin' ass
You try to take what isn't yours like a God damn rat
See, personally I wouldn't wanna go out like that
I'm a writer, a poet, a genius, I know it
I don't buy cheeba I grow it
People always trying to get next to me
I had a beautiful experience on ecstasy
I Smoked up a bag of elephant tranquilizer
Because I had to deal with a money-hungry miser
Had a 'caine-filled Kool with my man Rush Rush
Saw my teeth fall in the sink when I started to brush
You be doing nose candy on the Bowie coke mirror
My girl asked for some but I pretended not to hear her
You can't deny me, you always want to try me
Yo, you're just gonna get your ass kicked
Homeboy throw in the towel
Your girl got dicked by Ricky Powell
The Godfather of Soul in the belly of the beast
Smoking that dust at St. Anthony's Feast
All the wife beaters and all the tax cheaters
Sitting in the White House pulling their peters
Buy my cheeba from the cop down the street
The only cop with a rope chain walking the beat
So like a sneaky pouch time bomb tickin'
Or like the beat to my rhyme just kickin'
Space cake cookies I discover who I am
I'm a dusted old bummy hurdy-gurdy man
Five-O caught me now I'm going to the mountains
Said good-bye to my girl, my lawyers and accountants
My mind is kinda rhymin' and I think I oughta think
So I'm rockin' all the rhymes and I'll have another drink
So the lights are flashing, my mind is spinning
I feel like it is always the beginning
Of another rhyme I'm rapping, M.C-ing I rock
You ain't nothing but a car thief who must be stopped
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Light Up The Sky
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No Surprises
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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