“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
Ricky was a young boy
He had a heart of stone
Lived 9 to 5 and worked his
Fingers to the bone
Just barely out of school
Came from the edge of town
Fought like a switchblade
So no one could take him down
He had no money, ooh
No good at home
He walked the streets a soldier
And he fought the world alone
And now it's
Eighteen and life you got it
Eighteen and life you know
Your crime is time and it's
Eighteen and life to go
Eighteen and life you got it
Eighteen and life you know
Your crime is time and it's
Eighteen and life to go
Tequila in his heartbeat
His veins burned gasoline
It kept his motor runnin'
But he never kept it clean
They say he loved adventure
Ricky's the wild on
He married trouble
Had a courtship with a gun
Bang, bang! Shoot 'em up
the party never ends
You can't think of dying
When the bottle's your best friend
And now it's
Eighteen and life you got it
Eighteen and life you know
Your crime is time and it's
Eighteen and life to go
Eighteen and life you got it
Eighteen and life you know
Your crime is time and it's
Eighteen and life to go
"Accidents will happen"
They all heard Ricky say
He fired his six-shot to the wind
That child blew a child away
Eighteen and life you got it
Eighteen and life you know
Your crime is time and it's
Eighteen and life to go
Eighteen and life you got it
Eighteen and life you know
Your crime is time and it's
Eighteen and life to go
He had a heart of stone
Lived 9 to 5 and worked his
Fingers to the bone
Just barely out of school
Came from the edge of town
Fought like a switchblade
So no one could take him down
He had no money, ooh
No good at home
He walked the streets a soldier
And he fought the world alone
And now it's
Eighteen and life you got it
Eighteen and life you know
Your crime is time and it's
Eighteen and life to go
Eighteen and life you got it
Eighteen and life you know
Your crime is time and it's
Eighteen and life to go
Tequila in his heartbeat
His veins burned gasoline
It kept his motor runnin'
But he never kept it clean
They say he loved adventure
Ricky's the wild on
He married trouble
Had a courtship with a gun
Bang, bang! Shoot 'em up
the party never ends
You can't think of dying
When the bottle's your best friend
And now it's
Eighteen and life you got it
Eighteen and life you know
Your crime is time and it's
Eighteen and life to go
Eighteen and life you got it
Eighteen and life you know
Your crime is time and it's
Eighteen and life to go
"Accidents will happen"
They all heard Ricky say
He fired his six-shot to the wind
That child blew a child away
Eighteen and life you got it
Eighteen and life you know
Your crime is time and it's
Eighteen and life to go
Eighteen and life you got it
Eighteen and life you know
Your crime is time and it's
Eighteen and life to go
Lyrics submitted by numb
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
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.
Trouble Breathing
Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio
While the obvious connections with suicide or alcoholism could be drawn easily, more subtly this song could be about someone who views the world through a negative lens constantly and how as much as the writer tries to show the beauty in the world, this person refuses to see it. It's one or another between the rope and the bottle. There is no good option for this person. They can't see it. Skiba sings it in a kind of exasperated way like He's tired of hearing this negative view constantly and just allowing that person to continue feeling the way they feel knowing he can't do anything about it. You can hear it when he says maybe you're a vampire.
Another Love
Tom Odell
Tom Odell
I think the meaning is pretty clear. This person got really burned in a previous relationship, and because of this is unable to love and show care in his present one, even though he so badly wants to. It's lovely song, and very sad. You can really feel how defeated and frustrated he is with himself.
Somewhere Only We Know
Keane
Keane
Per the FAQ on Keane's website, Keane's drummer Richard Hughes, stated the following:
"We've been asked whether "Somewhere Only We Know" is about a specific place, and Tim has been saying that, for him, or us as individuals, it might be about a geographical space, or a feeling; it can mean something individual to each person, and they can interpret it to a memory of theirs... It's perhaps more of a theme rather than a specific message... Feelings that may be universal, without necessarily being totally specific to us, or a place, or a time..."
With the nostalgic sentiment and the overall tone of the song, I think Keane is attempting to express a Portuguese term known as 'saudade', which does not have a direct English translation but roughly means "that which we remember because it is gone."
i saw this on wikipedia 16.07.2010
"The song was written by guitarist Dave Sabo after he read a newspaper article about an 18 year old named Ricky who was sentenced to life imprisonment for shooting and killing his friend with a gun he thought was unloaded"
Could've been called One In The Chamber then.
I dont think 18 and life means he is 18 and is doing life in jail i think it means hes 18 and is trapped on that way of thinking for life because in the official video of it you see at the end that his cell door isnt closed and is wide open and he just sits there
Best song From Skid Row, ever. And I heard them all.
My uncle gave me a record of these guys like 10 yrs ago and gave me there tapes like 4 and i heard this song, it reminded me of my buddy, he just got out of school hardcore fucker, drank everynight, shot up alot, smoked crack dope, he was all into that shit, and tequila was his #1 drink, and one night we were sitting around a fire, and we all had a bottle of Jack Danniels and a beer can comes flying over the fence and we go and look to see who it was, and it was some fucking wiggers, so the dumb ass my buddy was starts chasing after them and he was gone for an hr so my other buddy wa slike where the fuck is he lets go check on him, we drove around for like 1 hr and we found him in a park fucking crying, he killed a fucking 14 yr old, he was 20 and yeah hes in jail till hes 90 and i dont think hes gonna make it, learn from a fools mistakes not your own
Hi OldSkool,<br /> I'm sorry to hear about your friend. The sad reality of alcohol and drugs is it can make the smartest man choose stupid and illogical choices. I'm 44 now,there was a time when I almost made a bad choice. I was in a bad situation, I decided I could take on three people. I fought my best and lost, horribly.<br /> I came back later that night(5:45AM with the full intent to do great bodily harm to anyone that was still there. Two of the guys were still there, passed out. Instead of commiting a crime, I simply left a sticky note where each person was passed out, It simply said: Bam! You could have woke up dead!<br /> Everyone should try to think before they make a bad life choice...cuz it really could be 18 and life to go!
Great story
18 and life - 18 years old, serving a life sentence. simples
@dalley93 Yep, basically.
You got that right edge. Skid Row was a damn good band. Ricky went to jail though. Thats what they meant by "18 and life." Its too bad though, he had his whole life in front of him, and he didn't get to live to see the things that we have now. Poor kid.
Too bad an awesome band like Skid Row will forever be associated with 80's hair. They deserve a much better fate. Really more in the category of Guns and Roses, and had they stuck around longer they probably would have given Gn'R a run for their money.
A song that will always be a classic and relavent to people's lives for years to come
When I personally heard this song for the first time, I figured it was about finishing high school, and now having the rest of your life waiting for you. Anticipating your unknown destiny and finding your identity's to speak. I relate it to Trapt's song "Still Frame". Watching the video and re-reading the lyrics, the song basically relates to a hard-life outsider (Ricky) who acted and lived tough, and that same recklessness got him a life sentence, with no chance to correct his naive youth-teenage lifestyle. Goes to show, some people don't get second chances in life.
You think this is one of those ordinary songs but its not people do not do not realize the song lyrics but this song is awesome