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.
If your child ain't all he should be now
This girl could put him right
I'll show him what he could be now
Just give me one night
I'm the Gypsy
The acid Queen
Pay before we start
The Gypsy
I'm guaranteed
To tear your soul apart
Give us a room and close the door
Leave us for a while
Your boy won't be a boy no more
Young, but not a child
I'm the Gypsy
The acid Queen
Pay before we start
The Gypsy
I'm guaranteed
To tear your soul apart
Gather your wits and hold on fast
Your mind must learn to roam
Just as the Gypsy Queen must do
You're gonna hit the road
My work is done now look at him
He's never been more alive
His head it shakes his fingers clutch
Watch his body writhe
I'm the Gypsy
The acid Queen
Pay before we start
The Gypsy
I'm guaranteed
To break your little heart
If your child ain't all he should be now
This girl will put him right
I'll show him what he could be now
Just give me one night
I'm the Gypsy
The acid Queen
Pay before we start
The Gypsy
I'm guaranteed
To tear your soul apart
This girl could put him right
I'll show him what he could be now
Just give me one night
I'm the Gypsy
The acid Queen
Pay before we start
The Gypsy
I'm guaranteed
To tear your soul apart
Give us a room and close the door
Leave us for a while
Your boy won't be a boy no more
Young, but not a child
I'm the Gypsy
The acid Queen
Pay before we start
The Gypsy
I'm guaranteed
To tear your soul apart
Gather your wits and hold on fast
Your mind must learn to roam
Just as the Gypsy Queen must do
You're gonna hit the road
My work is done now look at him
He's never been more alive
His head it shakes his fingers clutch
Watch his body writhe
I'm the Gypsy
The acid Queen
Pay before we start
The Gypsy
I'm guaranteed
To break your little heart
If your child ain't all he should be now
This girl will put him right
I'll show him what he could be now
Just give me one night
I'm the Gypsy
The acid Queen
Pay before we start
The Gypsy
I'm guaranteed
To tear your soul apart
Lyrics submitted by oofus, edited by itsyourgirlgab
The Acid Queen Lyrics as written by Peter Townshend
Lyrics © Spirit Music Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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As explained by Townshend on the live DVD commentary, the Acid Queen is the woman referred to by the Hawker in Eyesight to the Blind. She is a prostitute, but unknown to the hawker, she also uses drugs and the suggestion is that she uses them on Tommy.
a lot
it paints a picture of someone ODing on acid...to me anyway
the acid queen is a charactor from the movie "tommy" she was the person who tries to help him cause he was deaf , dumb , and blind. they put him in a giant ball with needles pooking out the sides and they pumped acid into the ball and he starts goin nuts. really popular movie in its time. matt
I used to listen to the tommy record with my parents when i was litte and sing along and i remember looking at the pictures in the insert and there is a crazy picture of the acid queen and now looking back on it i remember liking the insert bc of the cool colors and i really didnt understand what this song was about nor what acid was...crazy
The Acid Queen is basically about using acid to trip out and try to cure Tommy. They made up all the needle machine stuff for the movie.
Yeah just to clarify, the record preceded the musical which preceded the movie.
ha ha ha! That's great. Kind of like when Reagan (among other presidential candidates) used "Born in the USA" by Springsteen as his campaign song, when really it was in actuality totally sarcastic and unpatriotic-as-it-gets.
But that's off the topic. The Acid Queen has basically been explained. Tina Turner rocks out in the musical version, by the way...
i love this song. yeah, it's (obviously) 'bout an acid trip.