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.
Smooth it out
This is a story about the drifter
Who waited through the worst for the best in crosstown
Who never planned on havin' so dick
Why me, huh?
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright now (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
Some get a little and some get none
Some catch a bad one and some leave the job half done
I was one who never had and always mad
Never knew my dad, mother fuck the fag
Where anyway I didn't pick up, flipped the clip up
Too many stick-ups, 'cause niggas had the trigger hic-ups
I couldn't get a job, nappy hair was not allowed
My mother couldn't afford us, she had to throw me out
I walked the strip, with this here clip, who wanna hit?
I had to eat, this money's good as spent
I'm doin' braids, I wasn't paid enough
I kept 'em long 'cause I couldn't afford a haircut
I got laughed at, I got chumped, I got dissed
I got upset, I got a tec and a banana clip
Was down to throw the led to any tellin' crackhead
I'm still livin' broke, so a lot of good it would've did
Or done, if not for bad luck, I would have none
Why did I have to live a life of such a bad one
Why when I was a kid and played I was a sad one
And always wanted to live like this or that one
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright now (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
A ghetto bastard, born next to the projects
Livin' in the slums with bums, I said now why treach
Why do I have to be like this? momma said I'm priceless
So I am all worthless, starved, that's just what being nice gets
Sometimes I wish I could afford a pistol then, though
To stop the hell, I would've ended things a while ago
I ain't have jack but a black hat and knapsack
Four squad stolen in cars in a blackjack
Drop that, and now you want me to rap and give?
Say somethin' positive? well positive ain't where I lived
I lived right around a corner from west hell
Two blocks from south shit, it was in a jail cell
The sun never shone on my side of the street, see
And only once or twice a week I would speak
I walked alone, my state of mind was usually home
I couldn't keep a girl, they wanted kids for cause of chrome
Some life, if you ain't wear gold your style was old
And you got more juice than dope for every bottle sold
Hell no, I say there's gotta be a better way
But hey, never gamble in that game that you can't play
I'm slowin' and flowin' and goin' in on and knowin' not now
How will I do it, how will I make it? I won't, that's how
Why me, huh?
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright now (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
My third year into adulthood, and still a knucklehead
I'm better off dead, huh, that's what my neighbor said
I don't do jack but fightin', lightin' up the streets at night
Playin' hide and seek with a machete seeking freddy's wife
Some say I'm rollin' on, nothin' but a dog now
I answer that with a tech, who wanna bow-wow?
'cause I done been through more shit within the last week
Than a fly flowin' in doo-doo on the concrete
I been a deadbeat, dead to the world and dead wrong
Since I was born that's my life, oh you don't know this song?
So don't say jack, and please don't say you understand
All that man to man talk can just walk down
If you ain't live you couldn't feel it, so kill it, skillet
And all that talk about it won't help it out, now will it?
And ill town fell like I stuck-up props, got shot
Don't worry, I hit by a, flurry, and his punk-ass dropped
But I'm the one who has been labeled as an outcast
In teacher's schools, I'm the misfit child and outlast
But that's cool with the bull, smack 'em backwards
That's what you get for fuckin' with a ghetto bastard
If you ain't ever been to the ghetto
Don't ever come to the ghetto
'cause you ain't understand the ghetto
And stay the fuck out of the ghetto
Why me?
(alright)
This is a story about the drifter
Who waited through the worst for the best in crosstown
Who never planned on havin' so dick
Why me, huh?
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright now (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
Some get a little and some get none
Some catch a bad one and some leave the job half done
I was one who never had and always mad
Never knew my dad, mother fuck the fag
Where anyway I didn't pick up, flipped the clip up
Too many stick-ups, 'cause niggas had the trigger hic-ups
I couldn't get a job, nappy hair was not allowed
My mother couldn't afford us, she had to throw me out
I walked the strip, with this here clip, who wanna hit?
I had to eat, this money's good as spent
I'm doin' braids, I wasn't paid enough
I kept 'em long 'cause I couldn't afford a haircut
I got laughed at, I got chumped, I got dissed
I got upset, I got a tec and a banana clip
Was down to throw the led to any tellin' crackhead
I'm still livin' broke, so a lot of good it would've did
Or done, if not for bad luck, I would have none
Why did I have to live a life of such a bad one
Why when I was a kid and played I was a sad one
And always wanted to live like this or that one
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright now (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
A ghetto bastard, born next to the projects
Livin' in the slums with bums, I said now why treach
Why do I have to be like this? momma said I'm priceless
So I am all worthless, starved, that's just what being nice gets
Sometimes I wish I could afford a pistol then, though
To stop the hell, I would've ended things a while ago
I ain't have jack but a black hat and knapsack
Four squad stolen in cars in a blackjack
Drop that, and now you want me to rap and give?
Say somethin' positive? well positive ain't where I lived
I lived right around a corner from west hell
Two blocks from south shit, it was in a jail cell
The sun never shone on my side of the street, see
And only once or twice a week I would speak
I walked alone, my state of mind was usually home
I couldn't keep a girl, they wanted kids for cause of chrome
Some life, if you ain't wear gold your style was old
And you got more juice than dope for every bottle sold
Hell no, I say there's gotta be a better way
But hey, never gamble in that game that you can't play
I'm slowin' and flowin' and goin' in on and knowin' not now
How will I do it, how will I make it? I won't, that's how
Why me, huh?
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright now (alright)
Everything's gonna be alright (alright)
My third year into adulthood, and still a knucklehead
I'm better off dead, huh, that's what my neighbor said
I don't do jack but fightin', lightin' up the streets at night
Playin' hide and seek with a machete seeking freddy's wife
Some say I'm rollin' on, nothin' but a dog now
I answer that with a tech, who wanna bow-wow?
'cause I done been through more shit within the last week
Than a fly flowin' in doo-doo on the concrete
I been a deadbeat, dead to the world and dead wrong
Since I was born that's my life, oh you don't know this song?
So don't say jack, and please don't say you understand
All that man to man talk can just walk down
If you ain't live you couldn't feel it, so kill it, skillet
And all that talk about it won't help it out, now will it?
And ill town fell like I stuck-up props, got shot
Don't worry, I hit by a, flurry, and his punk-ass dropped
But I'm the one who has been labeled as an outcast
In teacher's schools, I'm the misfit child and outlast
But that's cool with the bull, smack 'em backwards
That's what you get for fuckin' with a ghetto bastard
If you ain't ever been to the ghetto
Don't ever come to the ghetto
'cause you ain't understand the ghetto
And stay the fuck out of the ghetto
Why me?
(alright)
Lyrics submitted by awakenpunk
Everything's Gonna Be Alright Lyrics as written by Dennis Thomas Claydes Smith
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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That's what you get for fuckin' with a ghetto bastard