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.
Today is the day the earth stood still
We looked into the sky and saw a light headed straight for the horizon
That's when we looked to each other
As if we knew that the time was right when we left our homes
Now that we are all here at the same time
We can give thanks and praise as we merge into one mind
There are many roads and places within ourselves
That we need to get to One love
An alturistic mission with one last chance to save the day
This is the final test to choose wisely my friends A B C D
We follow the heat of our motor to keep time and space
This is a death race
Because if there are no tommorrows then tonight must never come
We're not trying to reinvent the wheel we're just here to steer our machine
It came from the east early this morning
Burning a streak of fire
Now stretching from sea to sea
To the western horizon
It's picking up speed as we step on the pedal
The sky is falling - we've heard this before
Babylon is falling - oh come on, we've heard that one before
If the fallout is here this might be the last time the sun will fall
So we better start listening
We looked into the sky and saw a light headed straight for the horizon
That's when we looked to each other
As if we knew that the time was right when we left our homes
Now that we are all here at the same time
We can give thanks and praise as we merge into one mind
There are many roads and places within ourselves
That we need to get to One love
An alturistic mission with one last chance to save the day
This is the final test to choose wisely my friends A B C D
We follow the heat of our motor to keep time and space
This is a death race
Because if there are no tommorrows then tonight must never come
We're not trying to reinvent the wheel we're just here to steer our machine
It came from the east early this morning
Burning a streak of fire
Now stretching from sea to sea
To the western horizon
It's picking up speed as we step on the pedal
The sky is falling - we've heard this before
Babylon is falling - oh come on, we've heard that one before
If the fallout is here this might be the last time the sun will fall
So we better start listening
Lyrics submitted by thienosaurus
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