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.
Well you look fantastic in your cast-off casket
At least the thing still runs
This nine to five bullshit don't let you forget
Whose suicide you're on.
I'm the one you trust in
and the world owes you nothing
You really, really want it that bad
You gotta come get it
It's your life, go live it
'Round the corner, give it some gas
If you want it that bad
Be a world class fad
Remember leave a trail of crumbs
If you want it that bad
You're a world class fad
Remember where you started from
Don't be sad
You're a world class fad
You wax poetic about things pathetic
As long as you look so cute
Believe these hills are starting to roll
Believe these stars are starting to shoot
If you want it that bad
Be a world class fad
Remember leave a trail of crumbs
If you want it that bad
You're a world class fad
Remember where you started from
Don't be sad
You're a world class fad
And the pressures gonna build yeah
Higher and higher
Something's gotta move here
Ain't knocking on wood
You're foxin' the cove? Oh yeah
Don't be sad you're a world class fad
Well you look fantastic in your cast-off casket
At least the thing still flies
I believe this road is starting to wind
And where we're going, starting to hide
If you want it that bad
You're a world class fad
Remember leave a trail of crumbs
You want it that bad
Be a world class fad
Remember where you started from
If you want it that bad
A world class fad
If you want it that bad
You're a world class fad
Don't be sad
You're a world class fad
Don't be sad
You're a world class fad
Don't be sad
That you're a world class fad
At least the thing still runs
This nine to five bullshit don't let you forget
Whose suicide you're on.
I'm the one you trust in
and the world owes you nothing
You really, really want it that bad
You gotta come get it
It's your life, go live it
'Round the corner, give it some gas
If you want it that bad
Be a world class fad
Remember leave a trail of crumbs
If you want it that bad
You're a world class fad
Remember where you started from
Don't be sad
You're a world class fad
You wax poetic about things pathetic
As long as you look so cute
Believe these hills are starting to roll
Believe these stars are starting to shoot
If you want it that bad
Be a world class fad
Remember leave a trail of crumbs
If you want it that bad
You're a world class fad
Remember where you started from
Don't be sad
You're a world class fad
And the pressures gonna build yeah
Higher and higher
Something's gotta move here
Ain't knocking on wood
You're foxin' the cove? Oh yeah
Don't be sad you're a world class fad
Well you look fantastic in your cast-off casket
At least the thing still flies
I believe this road is starting to wind
And where we're going, starting to hide
If you want it that bad
You're a world class fad
Remember leave a trail of crumbs
You want it that bad
Be a world class fad
Remember where you started from
If you want it that bad
A world class fad
If you want it that bad
You're a world class fad
Don't be sad
You're a world class fad
Don't be sad
You're a world class fad
Don't be sad
That you're a world class fad
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Light Up The Sky
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
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"
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
My wife and I are sure that it is "gassed up casket"; it is about a car.
@clovus I thoroughly agree - it's definitely a "gassed-up casket," or a deathtrap of a car.<br /> <br /> Still not sure about that "fox in a cove" line, though.