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.
Oh the night, here it comes again
It's on with the jeans, the jacket and a shirt
How'd I end up feeling so bad
For such a little girl
And I hold you close in the back of my mind
Feels so good but damn it makes me hurt
And I'm too scared to know how I feel about you now
La Cienega just smiled, "see you around"
And I hold you close in the back of my mind
Raise my glass 'cause either way I'm dead
Neither of you really help me to sleep anymore
One breaks my body and the other breaks my soul
La Cienega just smiles, waves goodbye
Oh the night, here it comes again
It's off with the jeans, the jacket and the shirt
How'd I end up feeling so bad
For such a little girl
And I hold you close in the back of my mind
Feels so good but damn it makes me hurt
I'm too scared to know how I feel about you now
How I feel about you now
La Cienega just smiles and says, "I'll see you around"
It's on with the jeans, the jacket and a shirt
How'd I end up feeling so bad
For such a little girl
And I hold you close in the back of my mind
Feels so good but damn it makes me hurt
And I'm too scared to know how I feel about you now
La Cienega just smiled, "see you around"
And I hold you close in the back of my mind
Raise my glass 'cause either way I'm dead
Neither of you really help me to sleep anymore
One breaks my body and the other breaks my soul
La Cienega just smiles, waves goodbye
Oh the night, here it comes again
It's off with the jeans, the jacket and the shirt
How'd I end up feeling so bad
For such a little girl
And I hold you close in the back of my mind
Feels so good but damn it makes me hurt
I'm too scared to know how I feel about you now
How I feel about you now
La Cienega just smiles and says, "I'll see you around"
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
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.
My all-time favorite Ryan Adams song. I've listened to this so many times. I feel the song is about a girl he has fallen in love with who lives in an area off of La Cienaga Blvd in LA. He's fallen completely in love with her but she doesn't feel the same way. He's a mess because of it. The nights are the most difficult (as they always seem to be after break-ups).
"Feels so good but damn it makes me hurt" I think refers to how great the memories are but it hurts so bad because it's all over.
She doesn't want to see him anymore so he know he's not going to be in her neighborhood again - "La Cienega waves goodbye." This hits home to me as it's always sad when you realize you're no longer going to be going to your girlfriend's/boyfriend's house.
I love the line about "one breaks my body and the other breaks my soul." Basically, he thinks about her all the time. The only way out is to drink, and drink. Drinking breaks his body but continually thinking about her breaks his soul.
Amazing song all around.
@wombats3 Wow. That part about the neighborhood is so good. Hadn't realized it before! It makes perfect sense.
Maybe, but I feel like it can be expressive of any moment in which you realize the girl you care about doesn't care about you anymore (and maybe never did). The "I'll see you around" is that key phrase that lets you know.
There's also the monotony of "jeans, jacket, and shirt". He goes out every weekend night, looking for love, developing relationships, and all to no avail.
This song is about that moment: just when you think you've got it, and she don't give a shit...
I always thought it was about a girl he was sleeping with, but not committed to. She was in it for the fun of it too, but he's beginning to fall for her. He's afraid to admit to himself how he feels about her, but one way or another he's screwed... if he falls for her she will break his heart when she stops sleeping with him. If he doesn't fall for her, his heart will still be broken when she stops sleeping with him because he will feel rejected.
But now I have a little different opinion. I think it's about a girl he let go of, and he's afraid to admit to himself that he has feelings for her and screwed up. La cienaga literally means marsh... perhaps everytime he gets drunk she fills his head and heart again, and he's stuck. If you look for la cienega long enough online, you'll also come across "knot." So la cienega is the marsh (alcohol and heartbreak) that he will be stuck in again tomorrow night, as he tries to drink away the girl that he is slowly admitting to himself that he should not have let go.
i think this song is about ryan, who is in a very serious relationship with some girl, who he's been with for awhile, and naturally, lately its been growing a little stale. That's when he meets the new girl, who is cute and innocent and new, and who he really begins to like and want, but can't, because he feels restrained down by his other "love".
there is a guy who loves a girl who is possibly a bit younger than him and who he is better off with because the love seems pure yet tainted. it is tainted with the other woman who he finds himself with too but is there more to bide his time with and fill the void, because he finds himself somehow going back to the younger girl despite the fact it is by now it is too worn out.bascially i am rambling, for the simpple fact that this song, when i first heard it and read the lyrics, it got me..its amazing how a complete stranger can word things so right to fit exactly what you are feeling..i guess we are all human and share alot of the same emotions.
This has always been one of my favorite songs. Lately, it means something more to me. Me and a friend started sleeping with each other and naturally I ended up getting hurt because I began to get attached. When we talked about what was going on, the guy teared up and said "You have no idea how hard it is to try to tell someone that you care so much about as a friend that you don't love them"... I feel this song is exactly what the guy was going through. Sure, the act of having sex feels good but once you realize what you're doing to the other person, it hurts.
"la cienega just smiles and says, 'i'll see you around' "-- I feel like I was that girl... I kinda knew what was going, there was no attachment on his side but I wanted to stay positive.
I do think you could take this song any way you want to... that's just my interpretation
La Cienega is the girl... the one he loves even though it hurts him. He keeps going back to this girl and hurting her and she tries to stay brave "La Cienega just smiled...see you around". He feels the guilt but yet can't help how he feels so tries to forget but can't "I hold you close in the back of my mind."
Beautiful song
The part that strikes me is the third verse "oh the night, here it comes again it's off with the jeans, the jacket and the shirt." In the first verse he put them on when the night came, but the second time he took them off. This makes me think drugs are at work more than a prostitute. Out all night and day binging, then you come down and go back home beat. I think that he's addicted and in love, but he can't kick the addiction and he knows its gonna ruin his relationship. When he mentions La cienega I think he's talking about his source. "just smiles and says I'll see you around" - always knowing he'll be back for more.
Just my opinion. I could see it going in a lot of different directions on this one.
I don't think this song is about him being torn between two women.. I tried to reread the lyrics a few times to see it from that point of view but to me... It's about one girl. by "little" she may be younger, or petite, or just fragile..i agree that the "on with the jeans, the jacket and the shirt" is him going through the everyday motions.. i don't know what la cienega means.. but i think maybe it's the girl and how she can say the smallest thing "see ya around" like it's nothing, but he feels so intensely for her.
i think the song is about alcohol also, when he says:
"and raise my glass 'cause either way i'm dead neither of you really help me to sleep anymore one breaks my body and the other breaks my soul la cienega just smiles as it waves goodbye"
he'll drink because either way he's in pain. "neither one of you really help me to sleep anymore" to me means, that the drinking doesn't make him sleep better either. nothing really numbs it. the "one breaks my body and the other breaks my soul", the alcohol being what breaks his body (bad for him physically), and "the other breaks my soul"... SHE breaks his soul.
:/i don't know. just my two cents.
while i still think there is credibility to my depiction of the song, i really like your ideas. addict can be for anything - drugs, alcohol, a person. <br /> <br /> good interpretation.
<br /> "and raise my glass 'cause either way i'm dead<br /> neither of you really help me to sleep anymore<br /> one breaks my body and the other breaks my soul<br /> la cienega just smiles as it waves goodbye<br /> <br /> I don't think this is about alcohol, I think when he says I raise my glass it is a metaphor. And I think this is about a girl who he likes who lives on the street La cienega, who breaks his body, but another girl breaks his soul.
I agree with an earlier comment. i think La Cienega is a prostitute. a young one. maybe too young. he never got her real name, so he named her after the street, where she was standing. oh, the night here it comes again. it's on with the jeans etc. he is in love with her, but he knows, he can't have her, so he sleeps all day and drinks all night. "either way i'm dead" means that if he will never get her, he will die from sorrow, and if he takes her (i think she loves him too) her pimp will come after her and our dear narrator. Thoughts?