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.
The last DJ
Well you can't turn him into a company man
You can't turn him into a whore
And the boys upstairs just don't understand anymore
Well the top brass don't like him talking so much,
And he won't play what they say to play
And he don't want to change what don't need to change
There goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say, hey hey hey?
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
There goes the last DJ
Well some folks say they're gonna hang him so high
'Cause you just can't do what he did
There are some things you just can't put in the minds of those kids
As we celebrate mediocrity all the boys upstairs want to see
How much you'll pay for what you used to get for free
There goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say, hey hey hey?
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
And there goes the last DJ
Well he got him a station down in Mexico
And sometimes it'll kind of come in
And I'll bust a move and remember how it was back then
And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say, hey hey hey?
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice.
And there goes the last DJ
Well you can't turn him into a company man
You can't turn him into a whore
And the boys upstairs just don't understand anymore
Well the top brass don't like him talking so much,
And he won't play what they say to play
And he don't want to change what don't need to change
There goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say, hey hey hey?
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
There goes the last DJ
Well some folks say they're gonna hang him so high
'Cause you just can't do what he did
There are some things you just can't put in the minds of those kids
As we celebrate mediocrity all the boys upstairs want to see
How much you'll pay for what you used to get for free
There goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say, hey hey hey?
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
And there goes the last DJ
Well he got him a station down in Mexico
And sometimes it'll kind of come in
And I'll bust a move and remember how it was back then
And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say, hey hey hey?
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice.
And there goes the last DJ
Lyrics submitted by Irishred516
The Last DJ Lyrics as written by Tom Petty
Lyrics © Adria K Music
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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tom petty is one of the few people in the world that dont give a shit what radio stations think. there were stations that refused to play this song when he released it, so tom refused to play concerts in those areas. radio has gone straight to hell. there are no local stations anymore...its all pumped in from one mainframe station god knows where. a classic rock station around here says they'll never repeat a song between 9 AM and 5 PM...at 4:55 PM they played the Boss' "Born to Run"(great song, dont get me wrong), but at 5:01 PM they played it again. Back to back, but it wasnt between 9 and 5. Radio is bullshit.