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.
These are the days of the open hand
They will not be the last
Look around now
These are the days of the beggars and the choosers
This is the year of the hungry man
Whose place is in the past
Hand in hand with ignorance
And legitimate excuses
The rich declare themselves poor
And most of us are not sure
If we have too much
But we'll take our chances
'Cause God's stopped keeping score
I guess somewhere along the way
He must have let us all out to play
Turned his back and all God's children
Crept out the back door
And it's hard to love, there's so much to hate
Hanging on to hope
When there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above say it's much, much too late
Well, maybe we should all be praying for time
These are the days of the empty hand
Oh, you hold on to what you can
And charity is a coat you wear twice a year
This is the year of the guilty man
Your television takes a stand
And you find that what was over there is over here
So you scream from behind your door
Say, "What's mine is mine and not yours"
I may have too much but I'll take my chances
'Cause God's stopped keeping score
And you cling to the things they sold you
Did you cover your eyes when they told you
That he can't come back
'Cause he has no children to come back for
It's hard to love, there's so much to hate
Hanging on to hope when there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above say it's much too late
So maybe we should all be praying for time
They will not be the last
Look around now
These are the days of the beggars and the choosers
This is the year of the hungry man
Whose place is in the past
Hand in hand with ignorance
And legitimate excuses
The rich declare themselves poor
And most of us are not sure
If we have too much
But we'll take our chances
'Cause God's stopped keeping score
I guess somewhere along the way
He must have let us all out to play
Turned his back and all God's children
Crept out the back door
And it's hard to love, there's so much to hate
Hanging on to hope
When there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above say it's much, much too late
Well, maybe we should all be praying for time
These are the days of the empty hand
Oh, you hold on to what you can
And charity is a coat you wear twice a year
This is the year of the guilty man
Your television takes a stand
And you find that what was over there is over here
So you scream from behind your door
Say, "What's mine is mine and not yours"
I may have too much but I'll take my chances
'Cause God's stopped keeping score
And you cling to the things they sold you
Did you cover your eyes when they told you
That he can't come back
'Cause he has no children to come back for
It's hard to love, there's so much to hate
Hanging on to hope when there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above say it's much too late
So maybe we should all be praying for time
Lyrics submitted by oofus, edited by sean439198
Praying for Time Lyrics as written by George Michael
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Light Up The Sky
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Fast Car
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"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.
Gentle Hour
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
No Surprises
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Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Plastic Bag
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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.
Forethought: I think that many of George's songs were very superficial or situational depending on his relationship status, but this song showed he understood and saw the deeper roots of the problems regardless of the media and his own representation of shallowness and materialism. This has always been one of my favorites, if he could see the problems then everyone can.
This song is a clear interpretation of the greed and selfishness of humanity, the thoughtless actions that go on, and the media influence. "These are the days of the open hand...etc" is the first phrase of the song referring to everyone having enough but wanting more and greed progressing, getting worse. "Beggars and the choosers" is a phrase used in reference to people who have what they need but choose to want different or more because they can, not because they need. "The hungry man" phrase is a reference to those starving due to lack of compassion and people's ignorance to want and want regardless of what they already have creating deficit to others. It should be something already known because we surpassed the times of true hunger, but now it is a cause of greed. "The rich declare themselves poor etc" is in reference to greed and an insatiable appetite for materialism and money. George had his levels of materialism and want but he has been quoted with wanting to give up collecting money from the public and wanting to allow his music to be free because he didn't need any more money...this phrase in the song comments on the exact opposite, those who never have enough in their own mind regardless of who they hurt, what is right or wrong, and what problems it creates.
Aside from the hopelessness in the chorus line, the song also lays thought to the fact that the "wounded skies above say its much too late" referring to the problems with the ozone layer and the hole that was discovered over the Arctic and South American area in the late 80's. This was a new discovery then (song recorded in 1989) during a time when global warming was just coming to be pushed as a big problem and international agreements such as the Montreal Protocol where they were projecting to eliminate CFCs were being broadcasted to all saying we were damaging the ozone layer. The problems of humanity progressing negatively combined with the world being "wounded" were topics for the entire length of the song.
He does bring God into the song and that is a way to relate to so many of his listeners as well as his own history given his family, and father specifically, were Greek Cypriots where Orthodox Christianity dominated. His father played a large role in challenging George in his early years and making him work to be as great and famous as he became. Anyway, in most basic christian views, God taught to be kind, be generous, treat each other with respect, love they neighbor, do not covet, pretty much everything humanity has become the opposite of. Christian belief also states that God (specifically Jesus) will return for the final judgement and those who have lived the correct path will be given eternal life spiritually while the others will be cast into hell. The song states that he has given up and there are no good people left to come back for because humanity just keeps getting worse; God quits counting "keeping score" because there is so much wrong and so many people have deviated from the path of truth and righteousness (according to Christianity) so he turns his back and walks away because there is nothing left. (I am not saying George was christian or not but I'm sure given his family history it played some role in his growing up one way or another). This song is a reminder to people that we have strayed so far from what it means to be a good, kind, loving person that "there is no hope to speak of". Greed, anger, hatred, jealousy, envy, closed minds and many other negative progressions exist today and continue. This even effects the "good" in people because "its hard to love, there's so much to hate". "When will it stop" is the emotion that comes with it, the loss of faith in humanity.
The sad part is that this song was recorded in the fall of 1989 and released in 1990 on the Listen Without Prejudice album, but this is now 2017, almost 20 years later, and this song still applies...if not even more so now then ever before.
@sean439198 Thank you so much for the thorough explanation. I could never quite figure out what the wounded sky metaphor referred to, it makes perfect sense now.