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.
Seen the carnival at Rome
Had the women I had the booze
All I can remember now
Is little kids without no shoes
So I saw that train
And I got on it
With a heartful of hate
And a lust for vomit
Now I'm walking on the sunnyside of the street
Stepped over bodies in Bombay
Tried to make it to the U.S.A.
Ended up in Nepal
Up on the roof with nothing at all
And I knew that day
I was going to stay
Right where I am, on the sunnyside of the street
Been in a palace, been in a jail
I just don't want to be reborn a snail
Just want to spend eternity
Right where I am, on the sunnyside of the street
As my mother wept it was then I swore
To take my life as I would a whore
I know I'm better than before
I will not be reconstructed
Just wanna stay right here
On the sunnyside of the street
Had the women I had the booze
All I can remember now
Is little kids without no shoes
So I saw that train
And I got on it
With a heartful of hate
And a lust for vomit
Now I'm walking on the sunnyside of the street
Stepped over bodies in Bombay
Tried to make it to the U.S.A.
Ended up in Nepal
Up on the roof with nothing at all
And I knew that day
I was going to stay
Right where I am, on the sunnyside of the street
Been in a palace, been in a jail
I just don't want to be reborn a snail
Just want to spend eternity
Right where I am, on the sunnyside of the street
As my mother wept it was then I swore
To take my life as I would a whore
I know I'm better than before
I will not be reconstructed
Just wanna stay right here
On the sunnyside of the street
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death
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I'm performing this song for my upcoming St Paddy's Day Celtic Rock Concert and I think it's about the search for happiness that everybody is looking for everyday. For him happiness is found on the Sunnyside of the street. That's what makes his heart sing. He's breaking the chains of childhood to do things his way and even though people disapprove like his mother he is not going to bend the knee or go thru someone s version of reconstruction to fit in with society. He's overcome his self-loathing and self-destruction to look for the sunny side of life and live there. In a way he's found freedom which is the pursuit of happiness. We all want that but we all don't have the courage to make it happen.
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This is a disappointing song about someone wanting to play it safe and not rock the boat so that they can go on with their comfortable life and not "get reborn a snail."
@epiwoosh nice way to get the opposite meaning, but I'm pretty sure that Shane's 'Sunny side of the street' is the opposite of not rocking the boat. Because that's usually what you do when you have a heart full of hate and a lust for vomit.
@nathan1149 I don't think so. To me it sounds like he's saying he's already been through enough shit, so he's tired and has finally decided he'll be content to play it safe so he doesn't have to go through it all again. But feel free to see it however you like.
Fair enough, but it's Shane's song, and a matter of record that he certainly didn't play it safe by any ordinary standard after the Hell's Ditch album it opened. Whether his music suffered as the result of his long term debauchery is another question, but there's no question that the debauchery continued. Perhaps alcohol and drug abuse is playing it safe for him, but usually not the rest of us.
I love this song. The lyrics remind me of the book The Stranger by philosopher/author Albert Camus. The title character has no real wants and accepts everything in his life as it happens. "It is true because it happened." Ironically, a line in the new Sheryl Crow song Soak Up the Sun has the same theme: "It's not having what you want. It's wanting what you've got." Punk band Face to Face also does a great version of this song.