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.
In a line at a cafe
I overheard a waitress say
'These cats is broke, I knows 'em
Through 'em out the doors and close 'em'
Still look saggy, for so low
This occupation's got to go
Up pulls the limo, up goes the thrill
The suits are picking up the bill
It's alright for them to tag along
It's just one bill their tagging on
I'll find some way to get along
The business suits to the rescue
So nice doing business with you
Do we really hate the clock
When we realize that 'Oh, their selling down for the deal'
The suits are picking up, the suits are picking up the bill
I cannot say from where I'm standing
My friends have passed out on the landing
Yes, one too many has left us high and dry
I've been feeling down, since the suits got back in town
I overheard a waitress say
'These cats is broke, I knows 'em
Through 'em out the doors and close 'em'
Still look saggy, for so low
This occupation's got to go
Up pulls the limo, up goes the thrill
The suits are picking up the bill
It's alright for them to tag along
It's just one bill their tagging on
I'll find some way to get along
The business suits to the rescue
So nice doing business with you
Do we really hate the clock
When we realize that 'Oh, their selling down for the deal'
The suits are picking up, the suits are picking up the bill
I cannot say from where I'm standing
My friends have passed out on the landing
Yes, one too many has left us high and dry
I've been feeling down, since the suits got back in town
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Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"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.
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
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
I think it's about a scam ! Go to the restaurant in the nicest clothes you've got, the suits come in in a limo - go up and shmooze with them a bit, to create the impression that you're with them. Then bail out, and stick them with the bill ! 'Its just one bill, they'll tack it on' Then hang out on the fire escape, drinking what you got left till you pass out ! Sounds like a night I wish I could have had with them !
I hadn't thought about that angle, you must be a very devious person ;) <br /> <br /> But "I've been feeling down, since the suits got back in town" makes me think there is a more permanent relationship with the suits. <br /> <br /> I do like your interpretation, though, and would also like to participate in that little bit of... um... "social engineering" with these guys!
FWIW, I think this is the Zipper's comment on the music biz.
Most pro musicians are broke as heck, but when you get picked up by a lable, the biz dudes ("Suits" being an anachronistic slang for "business person") pay your expenses. But they still want to hang out and party with the band.
In the end, the narrator expresses remorse that, though they've been burned in the past and now they have carte blanche, he misses the old days (possibly because he and his friends are overdoing it, or because they need the Suits in order to do it).
Otherwise, it about business dudes who want to party with these guys and basically buy their friendship.
YMMV
Best modern swing band EVER. Very raw and authentic, these guys are the punk rockers of swing. I never get tired of them, and am glad they're still around, even if it does seem take ages between album releases.
What an awesome song. These guys are flat broked, and it's almost like they're saying that their imaginary friends are going to pay for them. Ha!!
It's about wealthy business men who show up as these guys are being escorted out of the restaurant (btw rjbucs28, you forgot "get 'em outta here" after "throw 'em out the door and close 'em", that's my favorite line lol) and offer to pick up their tab. It's amazing. Stuff like that should happen everyday.