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.
This life is, harder, so much harder
You say that life has so much weight it wears you down
Higher, your so much higher
40 stories high is such a long way down
You can run, run into the middle
Or you can be still, lean into the ledge
Or you can fall hard as you feel it giving away
So much insane a deep black hole
The sun will come and warm your soul
As fast as light the speed of sound
One life, one love, down down down
Harder, it's so much harder
You blame it on your friend, you say she let you down
Angel another angel
You blame it on your bitch, you say she let you down
So much insane a deep black hole
The sun will come and warm your soul
As fast as light the speed of sound
One life one love, never let them take it away
Never let them take it away
Higher, your so much higher
40 stories high is such a long way down
So much insane a deep black hole
The sun will come and warm your soul
As fast as light the speed of sound
One life, one love, never let them take it away
One life, one love, never let them take it away
One life, one life one love
One life, one life one love
You say that life has so much weight it wears you down
Higher, your so much higher
40 stories high is such a long way down
You can run, run into the middle
Or you can be still, lean into the ledge
Or you can fall hard as you feel it giving away
So much insane a deep black hole
The sun will come and warm your soul
As fast as light the speed of sound
One life, one love, down down down
Harder, it's so much harder
You blame it on your friend, you say she let you down
Angel another angel
You blame it on your bitch, you say she let you down
So much insane a deep black hole
The sun will come and warm your soul
As fast as light the speed of sound
One life one love, never let them take it away
Never let them take it away
Higher, your so much higher
40 stories high is such a long way down
So much insane a deep black hole
The sun will come and warm your soul
As fast as light the speed of sound
One life, one love, never let them take it away
One life, one love, never let them take it away
One life, one life one love
One life, one life one love
Lyrics submitted by judaskissidismiss
40 Stories Lyrics as written by
Lyrics © JOHN ROBERT RICHARDS
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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It sounds to me like he's bashing suicide (40 stories higher...down, down, down...lean into the ledge). Life is hard, and sometimes you want to just give up and cash in. He also makes excuses for himself: blame it on the angel, blame it on your friend, etc.
Actually I think he's singing about a friend that's struggling in life. "You say in life there's so much weight it drags you down".
In the 2nd verse, he's singing about how his friend is blaming her problems on others.
The prechorus seems to say she has two choices. Deal with it or end it (suicide).
Then the chorus is saying life is unpredictable.
Independent of the lyrics, it's a great start to this album. It kind of shows that Dishwalla's back and rockin'. In fact the first 5 tracks really flow together well. Unfortunately tho it seems that J.R.'s gone solo (he's got a myspace profile, myspace.com/vocaltrix) and the band's on a long hiatus.
Interesting take on the song, jbisasky. I agree more with Eyecon, but you shed a new light on it...interesting. I do agree that this album was rocking though. I hope JR's solo stuff is awesome. I've only heard First Christmas as of yet...