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.
I'm not one to say
Where my feelings are going when they wither away
Oh I pray to see another day
My heart's feeling like a needle lost in the hay
Restrained to meet again
Oh my friend do you think that we ever will?
Oh, I know we are free
The games are played with your life on the line
Some lose, you win if you keep on trying
I don't mind doing the time, I'm happier being alive
Now I know the means of my oppression were all lies
The only truth is your own
Most sacred lesson I'd ever learn
Oh, I know we are free
Yeah, yeah
Don't go, no
Don't look back
Just realize
I've been robbed, I've been fooled
I intend now to make my own rules
Dagger's edge cut the line
I've been down that road too many times
What's to fear? Fear no more
Show my conscience what fear's for
Now I know this is so real
What's done is done, so do as you will
I'm keeping alive, go on, no, don't look back
Just realize where you've gone
Where are you going to? No, life's not done with you
You've only just begun to live your life for you
Where my feelings are going when they wither away
Oh I pray to see another day
My heart's feeling like a needle lost in the hay
Restrained to meet again
Oh my friend do you think that we ever will?
Oh, I know we are free
The games are played with your life on the line
Some lose, you win if you keep on trying
I don't mind doing the time, I'm happier being alive
Now I know the means of my oppression were all lies
The only truth is your own
Most sacred lesson I'd ever learn
Oh, I know we are free
Yeah, yeah
Don't go, no
Don't look back
Just realize
I've been robbed, I've been fooled
I intend now to make my own rules
Dagger's edge cut the line
I've been down that road too many times
What's to fear? Fear no more
Show my conscience what fear's for
Now I know this is so real
What's done is done, so do as you will
I'm keeping alive, go on, no, don't look back
Just realize where you've gone
Where are you going to? No, life's not done with you
You've only just begun to live your life for you
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
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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.
No Surprises
Radiohead
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.
I couldn't agree more with what jengirl105 wrote. I would only add to that something that sticks out in it for me - and I have to point out a mistake in what's written above first because the real words are part of my point. The transcription above (at the time of my comment here) reads:
…I'm happier being alive Now I know the trust is your own most sacred lesson I've ever learned ...
I believe the text is wrong on a word or two and also missing quite a few words and, like other sites have it written - it should be:
…I'm happier being alive Now I know the means to my oppression were all lies… The only truth is your own most sacred lesson I've ever learned ...
the next line is "I know we are free" and so put that all together and to me he's describing an epiphany about the control we have on our destiny. I think that's what he means by free - we are not tied down by destiny unless we don't go meet up with at a place of our own choosing.
So - that's what has always stuck out in my mind when listening to it, but I probably never knew all the words but reading it now I see other thoughts through-out. Some seem a little disjointed or maybe I'm just missing a bigger picture. Like "I pray to see another day" and "I don't mind doing the time, I'm happier being alive" lines both seem very Taoist to me - in a good way. I guess maybe I could see the big picture - now typing about it. The ending is just pure energy - the metal version of a very good motivational speech. And that's what makes me see a connect back to the ~Taoism and so a big picture - just a good bit of positive philosophy. I've always thought metal was therapeutic - almost purely based in catharsis, haha - think about it (or wiki it and then think about it)
To me, this is one of the best songs ever. The music is incredible, the guitar parts are so fine, powerful, visceral, inspired, sweet - that's too many adjectives but it's true.