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.
No sleep 'til
Brooklyn
Foot on the pedal
Never ever false metal
Engine running hotter than a boiling kettle
My job ain't a job
It's a damn good time
City to city, I've been running my rhymes
On location
Touring 'round the nation
Beastie Boys always on vacation
Itchy trigger finger
But a stable turntable
I do what I do best
Because I'm willing and able
Ain't no faking
Your money I'm taking
Going coast to coast to watch all the girlies shaking
While you're at the job working nine to five
The Beastie Boys at the Garden
Cold kickin' it live
No sleep 'til
Another plane
Another train
Another bottle in the brain
Another girl
Another fight
Another drive all night
Our manager's crazy
He always smokes dust
He's got his own room at the back of the bus
Tour around the world
You rock around the clock
Plane to hotel
Girls on the jock
We're trashing hotels like it's going out of style
Getting paid along the way
'Cause it's worth your while
Four on the floor Ad-Rock's out the door
MCA's in the back 'cause he's skeezin' with a whore
We got a safe in the trunk with money in a stack
With dice in the front and Brooklyn's in the back
(White boys got more rhymes)
No sleep 'til
No sleep 'til Brooklyn, no sleep 'til Brooklyn
Ain't seen the light since we started this band
MCA get on the mic, my man
Born and bred Brooklyn
The U.S.A.
They call me Adam Yauch
But I'm MCA
Like a lemon to a lime
A lime to a lemon
I sip the def ale with all the fly women
Limos, arenas and TV-shows
Autograph pictures and classy hoes
Step off Holmes
Get out of my way
Taxing little girlies from here to L.A.
Waking up
Before I get to sleep
'Cause I'll be rockin' this party eight days a week
No sleep 'til
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
No sleep 'til Brooklyn (yeah)
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Foot on the pedal
Never ever false metal
Engine running hotter than a boiling kettle
My job ain't a job
It's a damn good time
City to city, I've been running my rhymes
On location
Touring 'round the nation
Beastie Boys always on vacation
Itchy trigger finger
But a stable turntable
I do what I do best
Because I'm willing and able
Ain't no faking
Your money I'm taking
Going coast to coast to watch all the girlies shaking
While you're at the job working nine to five
The Beastie Boys at the Garden
Cold kickin' it live
No sleep 'til
Another plane
Another train
Another bottle in the brain
Another girl
Another fight
Another drive all night
Our manager's crazy
He always smokes dust
He's got his own room at the back of the bus
Tour around the world
You rock around the clock
Plane to hotel
Girls on the jock
We're trashing hotels like it's going out of style
Getting paid along the way
'Cause it's worth your while
Four on the floor Ad-Rock's out the door
MCA's in the back 'cause he's skeezin' with a whore
We got a safe in the trunk with money in a stack
With dice in the front and Brooklyn's in the back
(White boys got more rhymes)
No sleep 'til
No sleep 'til Brooklyn, no sleep 'til Brooklyn
Ain't seen the light since we started this band
MCA get on the mic, my man
Born and bred Brooklyn
The U.S.A.
They call me Adam Yauch
But I'm MCA
Like a lemon to a lime
A lime to a lemon
I sip the def ale with all the fly women
Limos, arenas and TV-shows
Autograph pictures and classy hoes
Step off Holmes
Get out of my way
Taxing little girlies from here to L.A.
Waking up
Before I get to sleep
'Cause I'll be rockin' this party eight days a week
No sleep 'til
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
No sleep 'til Brooklyn (yeah)
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
No sleep 'til Brooklyn
Lyrics submitted by Boonechic_21
No Sleep Till Brooklyn Lyrics as written by Rick Rubin Adam Keefe Horovitz
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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
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.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
"Four on the floor - Adrock's out the door M.C.A.'s in the back because he's skeezin' with a whore We got a safe in the trunk with money in a stack With dice in the front and Brooklyn's in the back"
someone told me years ago that this song was about 'the boys' goin to manhattan for prostitutes, and bringin em back over the brooklyn bridge to their crib (thus : no sleep till brooklyn). i don't think that is what it's really about, but it's kinda cool to imagine, lol.