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The Edge of America Lyrics
Walk the edge of America
Concrete beach to scrape my hand
Inside the subway stinking fear and shame
Becomes the violent breath.
Vigilantes out on dawn patrol
But now there's nothing left to hide
I'm just a number on the metal fence
Which marks the great divide.
Sing it...
Hey boy, give your dreams a rest
If you're tired of searching this is where it ends
There's nothing left to lose
Nothing to protest
Learn to love your anger now
Anger here is all you possess.
Welcome to the edge.
Below the towers of the citadel
Seems someone overlooked the cost.
Forgotten soldier of Paradise
Now Paradise is lost.
Recognition never realized
Salvation lost among the crowd
So tell me here beside the sterile sea
Where is your nation now?
And we say...
Hey boy, give your dreams a rest
If you're tired of searching this is where it ends
There's nothing left to lose
Nothing to protest
Learn to love your anger now
Anger here is all you possess.
Welcome to the edge.
Concrete beach to scrape my hand
Inside the subway stinking fear and shame
Becomes the violent breath.
Vigilantes out on dawn patrol
But now there's nothing left to hide
I'm just a number on the metal fence
Which marks the great divide.
Hey boy, give your dreams a rest
If you're tired of searching this is where it ends
There's nothing left to lose
Nothing to protest
Learn to love your anger now
Anger here is all you possess.
Welcome to the edge.
Seems someone overlooked the cost.
Forgotten soldier of Paradise
Now Paradise is lost.
Recognition never realized
Salvation lost among the crowd
So tell me here beside the sterile sea
Where is your nation now?
Hey boy, give your dreams a rest
If you're tired of searching this is where it ends
There's nothing left to lose
Nothing to protest
Learn to love your anger now
Anger here is all you possess.
Welcome to the edge.
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I see this as the antithesis of Rio. I see this as the disillusionment of Duran Duran. Someone once criticized this song as not being as good a song about America as Bruce Springsteen's songs. Well maybe that's because Bruce Springsteen takes the American standpoint whereas this is an outsider's point of view. It's not supposed to be about America, I don't believe. It's supposed to be about the grand dream the band had, the illusion of perfection, being smashed. There is the line "So tell me here beside the sterile sea..." This seems to be a direct reference to Rio, Duran Duran's tribute to America. But it wasn't America, like I said, it was the dream and The Edge of America is about the loss of that dream. At least that's what I think. I love the line "Salvation lost among the crowd". That says it for me too. And "Now Paradise is lost". Paradise was all an illusion. It was not at all about the truth, it was about the naive belief in perfection and then the realization of the lie.
I think that this song is about the underclass of America, how America is supposed to be the land of opportunity and prosperity, yet so many Americans live in such abject poverty misery and are forgotten by the rest, including how decrepit the society became ("Inside the subway stinking fear and shame Becomes the violent Breathe") . I'm not sure if "I'm just a number on a metal fence" refers to being a statistic in slum-housing, prison, or both.
"Learn to love your anger now, anger here is all you possess"
I do not know why, I am completely off Duran Duran. I used to love them.
I do not know why, I am completely off Duran Duran. I used to love them.