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.
There once was a musical troupe
A pickin' singin' folk group
They sang the mountain ballads
And the folk songs of our land
They were long on musical ability
Folks thought they would go far
But political incompatibility led to their downfall
Well, the one on the right was on the left
And the one in the middle was on the right
And the one on the left was in the middle
And the guy in the rear was a Methodist
This musical aggregation toured the entire nation
Singing the traditional ballads
And the folk songs of our land
They performed with great virtuosity
And soon they were the rage
But political animosity prevailed upon the stage
Well, the one on the right was on the left
And the one in the middle was on the right
And the one on the left was in the middle
And the guy in the rear burned his driver's license
Well the curtain had ascended
A hush fell on the crowd
As thousands there were gathered to hear the folk songs of our land
But they took their politics seriously
And that night at the concert hall
As the audience watched deliriously
They had a free-for-all
Well, the one on the right was on the bottom
And the one in the middle was on the top
And the one on the left got a broken arm
And the guy on his rear, said, "Oh dear"
Now this should be a lesson if you plan to start a folk group
Don't go mixin' politics with the folk songs of our land
Just work on harmony and diction
Play your banjo well
And if you have political convictions keep them to yourself
Now, the one on the left works in a bank
And the one in the middle drives a truck
The one on the right's an all-night deejay
And the guy in the rear got drafted
A pickin' singin' folk group
They sang the mountain ballads
And the folk songs of our land
They were long on musical ability
Folks thought they would go far
But political incompatibility led to their downfall
Well, the one on the right was on the left
And the one in the middle was on the right
And the one on the left was in the middle
And the guy in the rear was a Methodist
This musical aggregation toured the entire nation
Singing the traditional ballads
And the folk songs of our land
They performed with great virtuosity
And soon they were the rage
But political animosity prevailed upon the stage
Well, the one on the right was on the left
And the one in the middle was on the right
And the one on the left was in the middle
And the guy in the rear burned his driver's license
Well the curtain had ascended
A hush fell on the crowd
As thousands there were gathered to hear the folk songs of our land
But they took their politics seriously
And that night at the concert hall
As the audience watched deliriously
They had a free-for-all
Well, the one on the right was on the bottom
And the one in the middle was on the top
And the one on the left got a broken arm
And the guy on his rear, said, "Oh dear"
Now this should be a lesson if you plan to start a folk group
Don't go mixin' politics with the folk songs of our land
Just work on harmony and diction
Play your banjo well
And if you have political convictions keep them to yourself
Now, the one on the left works in a bank
And the one in the middle drives a truck
The one on the right's an all-night deejay
And the guy in the rear got drafted
Lyrics submitted by autpaxautbellum37
The One on the Right Is on the Left Lyrics as written by Jack Clement
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The catchy thing about this lyric that no one seems to have snapped to yet, is that the left right & center wording is ambiguous. Applying political meaning can go either way. "The one on the right is on the left" could mean either that the guy was standing on the right side of the stage and was politically liberal(left), OR that he was politically conservative(right) and was standing on the left of the stage. So you can get many different interpretations depending on how you assign meaning. Its similar to those pictures that show two different images depending on whether you notice the the solids or the voids. This is a very clever semantic puzzle. The only line that's NOT ambiguous in this way, is the guy in the rear. No wonder there are so many differing interpretations in the comments so far.
Maybe this was intentional...??? You can make the song mean whatever you want it to mean. People who argue politics are arguing two different opinionated views of the same fact, each refusing to see what the other sees.
I like to interpret the ending of the song in the ironic way: each guy ends up doing the opposite of what one might expect. The one on the left( the liberal) ends up working in a bank, in finance, a solidly conservative job. The one on the right, the conservative, turns into a late-night rock-n-roll radio personality, probably grows his hair long & smokes a lot of weed. The centrist becomes a trucker....whatever that means. Maybe it means sitting on the fence leads nowhere. Except I know truckers listen to a lot of NPR and talk radio, and you never know WHAT their politics might be, they're all over the map. And the guy in the rear - I see him as a kind of pacifist hippie protester - he gets drafted and has to learn to fight beside the ones he protested against.