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 know a guy who lives just for the weekends.
He says he's tired a lot.
He says there should be five days of weekend
instead of five days of work.
And I remind him we get old and retire.
Too old to do anything but golf.
When you're young you're in school or in the workforce.
Let's make old people work. That's a joke.
We got a job to do and this is it.
I know a girl who works in an office.
She says she has no time for herself.
She says other than that everything is fine, everything is fine.
I remind her everything's not quite fine.
Maybe it's OK or even worse.
Work should not control our every minute.
Eat to work. Sleep to work. Live to work. Work.
We have the best job ever. Yeah we really got lucky.
We're nobody's robot. We're nobody's monkey.
He says he's tired a lot.
He says there should be five days of weekend
instead of five days of work.
And I remind him we get old and retire.
Too old to do anything but golf.
When you're young you're in school or in the workforce.
Let's make old people work. That's a joke.
We got a job to do and this is it.
I know a girl who works in an office.
She says she has no time for herself.
She says other than that everything is fine, everything is fine.
I remind her everything's not quite fine.
Maybe it's OK or even worse.
Work should not control our every minute.
Eat to work. Sleep to work. Live to work. Work.
We have the best job ever. Yeah we really got lucky.
We're nobody's robot. We're nobody's monkey.
Lyrics submitted by PLANES
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interesting title for the song. very fitting though. i really like this song and i think it does say a lot about the problems with today's work driven society. nobody ever gets a chance to really relax and create a life for themselves. its funny because i can really hear people saying those quotes ("other than that everything else if fine") in everyday life.
unfortunately, the song offers no solution to these problems, but it still rocks!