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.
Oh, let's go
Steve walks warily down the street
With the brim pulled way down low
Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet
Machine guns ready to go
Are you ready, hey, are you ready for this?
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat, yeah
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
How do you think I'm going to get along
Without you when you're gone?
You took me for everything that I had
And kicked me out on my own
Are you happy, are you satisfied?
How long can you stand the heat?
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna get you, too
Another one bites the dust
Hey
Oh, take it
Bite the dust
Kinda dusty
Hey
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust, ow
Another one bites the dust, hey-hey
Another one bites the dust, eh-eh
Ooh, shout out
There are plenty of ways that you can hurt a man
And bring him to the ground
You can beat him, you can cheat him
You can treat him bad and then leave him when he's down
But I'm ready, yes, I'm ready for you
I'm standing on my own two feet
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
Repeating to the sound of the beat, oh, yeah
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust, yeah
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
Ooh, shoot out
Hey-hey
All right
Steve walks warily down the street
With the brim pulled way down low
Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet
Machine guns ready to go
Are you ready, hey, are you ready for this?
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat, yeah
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
How do you think I'm going to get along
Without you when you're gone?
You took me for everything that I had
And kicked me out on my own
Are you happy, are you satisfied?
How long can you stand the heat?
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna get you, too
Another one bites the dust
Hey
Oh, take it
Bite the dust
Kinda dusty
Hey
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust, ow
Another one bites the dust, hey-hey
Another one bites the dust, eh-eh
Ooh, shout out
There are plenty of ways that you can hurt a man
And bring him to the ground
You can beat him, you can cheat him
You can treat him bad and then leave him when he's down
But I'm ready, yes, I'm ready for you
I'm standing on my own two feet
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
Repeating to the sound of the beat, oh, yeah
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust, yeah
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
Ooh, shoot out
Hey-hey
All right
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i always thought it was pretty obvious.
Steve just broke up with his girlfriend, (well she dumped him). Extremely depressed and angry, (perhaps drunk or high) he's on a killing rampage shooting bullets of out his gun to anyone around him on his way to his ex-girlfriend to shoot her.
is there really another way to explain it?
i found this on faqs.org/lyrics/Queen-Another-One-Bites-The-Dust.html
Another One Bites The Dust by Queen was released in 1980 and reached number 1 in the US charts and number 7 in the UK charts.
The lyrics to this song were inspired after the writer saw a documentary on the St. Valentines day Massacre.
If you don't know that it is quite hard to understand what the lyrics are about.
They describe a man walking silently down a street with his hat covering his face carrying a machine gun.
The words of the song are building up an atmosphere describing what is about to happen, is there going to be some kind if fight and if so who with, who will he start shooting?
The song then takes a twist when he starts singing about someone who has wronged him, a lover perhaps, who left him with nothing and with nowhere to live.
The song ends with bullets being fired and another one biting the dust so you can only imagine that he has gone looking for an ex lover and he has killed them for the way they treated him.
There is some controversy over this song because it is claimed that if it is played backwards you can hear the words 'Decide to smoke marijuana' several times quite clearly.
lol i tested the backwards marihuana myth.
I let 5 people hear it, NONE could make out any meaning. Then I let 7 more people hear it who I told before to look for fun to smoke marihuana.. 6 out 7 said they heared it. IT'S ALL bullshit, and psychological crap.
MYTH BUSTED!
I concur on that. For example, a few paranoid, gullible people thought in the '70s that KISS records were evil and contains backwards messages about Satan. I own a KISS record, played it backwards, and heard nothing audible. Myth dispelled.<br /> Also, if you got the stones and hard evidence of the whole marijuana reference, I'd love to hear it (no backmasking, no broken links, no nothing. Just an audible version of it that any normal person can hear.) Go on, I DARE you. And...GO.<br /> <br /> That is all.
@Blackadder The idea that Freddy Mercury would backmask that message in 1980 was always ridiculous.<br /> <br /> The original backmasking controversy was so played out by then that even ELO's increasingly silly joke messages had stopped; nobody was doing it anymore unless they had something really clever. (Of course people started again after the Satanic metal panic brought back the silly controversy, but that was still a few years in the future, and I don't think Freddy had a TARDIS.)<br /> <br /> Plus, if Freddy wanted to be subversive or provocative, it'd be as bombastic and over the top as everything he wrote, not a line as prosaic and clumsy as "Decide to smoke marijuana".<br /> <br /> Also, why would he tell people to smoke pot? He was on coke and booze constantly, and it was only a few months later that he told Bowie he hadn't smoked pot in years because all it does is dull the high.
Cut the shit with the drugs and the aids and the homosexuality. It's a tale of revenge. It's not that hard people. It's a rebelious rock n roll song because that's what rock n roll is ... rebelious.
Very true , the Bible states that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft , and some rock and roll as well as revenge is rebellion.
at this time there have been 180 comments put about this song. more than half of them say something about a secret message in the words. GO AWAY!!! this is awsome song, and your messin it up because of a conspiracy theory about marijuana! Why dont you all blog on a conspiracies website or somethin'?
I actually thought that the comments in here could be interesting... oh how wrong I was....
You're all wrong I'm afraid; the lyrics are inspired by the original Space Invaders arcade game - simple as that.
"Out of the doorway the bullets rip..." - moving out from behind the shield
"... to the sound of the beat" - remember how the game had that beat that got faster and faster in time with the missiles
"How do you think I'm going to get along Without you when you're gone" - what will you do when you've finished the game ?
"You took me for everything that I had And kicked me out on my own" - You've spent all your money on it & had to leave the arcade
"Another one bites the dust, and another one gone and another one gone etc ..." - well there were an awful lot of invaders on the screen
@glovemitten i buy this one ..sold!!
@glovemitten Probably not true, but yours is definitely the most moving interpretation of this song! :)
This has to be one of the best rock songs off all time.
Did all you losers know that if you recite Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquiy backwards that it says "Frank Sinatra is God!" please get a life! No, Hamlet does not work that way, but please take MY evil hidden message, not everything is planned. How many times have you said something that some one else took as a sex innuendo that wasn't meant as such? Plus, John Deacon (the author, no it was not Freddie) wrote simple songs, he admits to it, plus just look at the content. if you want to look for hidden meanings why don't you try maybe one of Freddie's songs, or Brian's especially, but John? plus if there's arguement over what it says? come now. Let's get passed the obsession with Drug innuendo and try to discuss music like mature law abiding people.
@Italian Phaethon Any fool knows all that backward masking is bullshit. (Accept for Pink Floyd (Goodbye Blue Sky), but that's obvious--and IAC not at all satanic.)<br /> <br /> That said, no one can tell me Turning Japanese is not about masturbation...I mean, come on...
All of the ideas that it's about marijuana are ridiculous...even if it does sound like that when played backwards, it was probably coincidential. Plus the power of suggestion may have something to do with it. People say, "It sounds like, 'It's fun to smoke marijuana' when played backwards" so when you play it backwards, you're looking for that phrase...if you hadn't been told otherwise, it might not sound so much like it. I dunno, I haven't actually heard it played backwards, I might be wrong, but I don't think it's about marijuana. And besides, I've heard that song lots of times, and I don't think any more of marijuana than I did before!
Sorry, I like to rant...so anyway, the meaning...not too deep, it just sounds like it's about violence on the streets is some places and how so many people are dying and how awful it is. Since John Deacon doesn't write terrible complex songs, I don't think it's about marriage, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was: "There are plenty of ways that you can hurt a man And bring him to the ground You can beat him You can cheat him You can treat him bad and leave him When he's down"
Just one question though...why do people think that so many Queen songs are a reference to Freddie's AIDS? A lot of these songs they think have to do with AIDS were a) written before Freddie new he had AIDS, b) written by another band member, or c) all of the above.
Ok, I'm done! :D