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.
I been through your nursery rhyme
I been through your nursery rhyme
I took all your nickels and dimes
But you left me cold
You wouldn’t let me hold
On longer than it took to go
I don’t care if I die
I don’t even care if I’m in a wheelchair
Or in a bed
Unable to move
For all I know
It’s better than what I did today
You lead me on
You bring me up
And then you take away my floor
I’m standing
I’m trying to stand
Somehow you push me down
You let me up and have me on a shoulder
Tell me go on go ahead on
And then you push me down
Down
But I know, I know you want to let me up
Another time
And I don’t know why
Sometimes I think maybe
You let me up just to push me down
You let me feel good
Just to let me feel bad
And it was OK
It was so OK
But now I’m slippin’
You gave me one thing
You took away two
I don’t know
Oh, what you’re trying to do
Am I going down the wrong road
Am I doing the wrong thing
Please let me know
Please tell me loud
I want to know
I’m asking please
Let me know
Let me know the right way
Oh, is there a right way
And I know
Yes I know
That there’s a wrong way
I saw today
But you showed me before
That I can lose
All the faith I had
That I can be
So small
That I can lose
All I got
All my faith
All my hope
Where does it go
And you can’t tell me any little thing
Because I feel
I feel
So bad
You can be happy
You can laugh laugh laugh
But I take a look
I see the Chinese
I see the Japanese
They’re laughing and joking
Having a good time
I see people in the paper
I see the models
Oh what a person
I see them walking down the street
They look so good
But I can’t have it
I’m locked up
I’m inside this thing
And I can’t
Oh no I cant
I can’t get out
I can’t take what I want
I can see it
Oh I can see it
But it’s not mine
You build me up
You show me these things
You push me down
You say forget it
You can’t have anything
You just stay down
I say let me up
Please let me up
You gotta let me up
You pushed me down
Down on the ground
I can’t be here
I can’t be here
Please make a change
Help me live
I want to give
I want to do
I want to have your life
I want to have your life
Give me your life
Let me up
I know you can let me up
You don’t have to keep me down
You don’t have to
You don’t have to
You don’t have to keep me down
Keep these things
Away from me
These bad things
Away from me
I wanna be right
I’m willing to live a routine
I’m willing to exercise my day
I’m willing to give up
Hah, I’m willing
Oh I’m willing
You’ve got to let me up
You know I’ll do anything but
Don’t push me down
Don’t push me down
You make me wonder
What should I do
Should I come out
Yeah, should I leave this thing
I can do it
I can do it
Is that what you want
I don’t think so
But you can change my mind
You can change my mind
You can have me
Have all of me
All but, let me up
Let me up
Give me a chance
Don’t push me down
Don’t push me down
And you know I
I know, I can’t ever
Push you down
I can’t ever
Let you up
You got it all
You got it all
Give me some
Give me some of your life
I want your life
I want your life
I’m willing to pay
Pay the price
Out of my life
Take what it costs
You got it all
You always had it all
So take it all
You know you got it
Yeah I’ll live on
I’ll live on
And I see the Chinese
I see the beautiful people
I want them
But I don’t need them
I don’t need them
You know what I need
I need you
Give me your life
Give me your life
Take mine
Take my life
You got it
It’s always been yours
Always been yours
You got my life
You got it
Give me yours
Give me your life
Give me your life
Give me your life
I need your life
I need your life
I need your life
So what do I do
Just what do I do
You’d better show me
Show me
Don’t push me down
Don’t push me down
Yeah, yeah I know
You can push me down
You can push me down
You can crush me
You can snuff me out
I don’t care
I don’t care if I die
I don’t care if I’m in a wheelchair
I don’t care if I’m in a bed
And I can’t even move
Hey, would it be worse than today
You can pick me up
Please pick me up
Oh please
Pick me up
Please
Oh please
Pick me up
You can pick me up
Don’t push me down
Don’t push me down
I feel bad
I feel bad
I been here before
I’ve had your nursery rhymes
I’ve had your nickels and dimes
I had your good times
I had your lovely people
All over me
I liked it
Now they’re all gone
Now I’m alone
But you got me still
Yeah you got me still
You let me move around
But you got me still
And you know it
And you let me up
But then you go and push me down
And you hurt me
And times you hurt me bad
And I’ve got one fear
In my life
And that fear is that I’m slippin’
I’m slipping
And I see it
And I feel it
And I know it
And I know, it doesn’t have to be this way
Tell me what I’m doing wrong
Tell me
Tell me what I’m doing wrong
Because I want to be right
I want to be good
I don’t want to be bad
I know some people like to be bad
And they sing about being bad
And they say “I’m bad”
You know, I want to be good
I want to be right
I want to be good and right
I don’t want to have to fight and lose
Please let me win
Let me win this war
I’m on your side
I’m on your side
What else I gonna do
You push me down
You let me up
I don’t want to be down
I don’t want to be down
Please
Please
Let me up
Let me win
Let me get this war taken care of
I’ll be on your side
Where else am I gonna be
Uhh, I love you
I surely do
If you want me down
I’ll be on the ground
But let me feel
Like I’m not losing ground
Let me win
Let me be on top somehow some way
I don’t need to be conventional
Let me up
Let me up
Oh please let me up
You know it’s been so long
It’s been so long
I’m trying to remember
It’s not easy
I see myself slipping
I don’t want to slip
Let me up
Let me up
I need to be up
I need to be right
I’m willing to work
Ah, work, work
I’m willing to work
I love you
I love you
Ahh, I love you
I love you
Please let me win
Let me win
Somehow let me win
I need to win
Let’s not have any misunderstanding
I need to win
I’m asking, please don’t push me down
I need to win your love
And I’ll do anything
I don’t know if I’m hurting myself
I surely hope not
But I feel like I may be slipping
I want some help
So I don’t have to go down
’Cause I see the Chinese and the Japanese
Laughing, talking, acting just like animals
Why can’t I be like an animal
Take care of myself the right way
Sure would be good nice
Sure
Let me ask you
Another time
Treating me right
Treating me right
I got some kind of feeling I’m not being treated right
I don’t know if I’m not treating myself right
Or you’re not treating me right
But I’m slipping
And I don’t want to be slipping
I want to move on
I want to create
I want to be ahead
I want to win
I want to love
I want to feel like I’m moving and doing things right
But oh I don’t feel too good about it
Why not
Why don’t I feel good
Hey I don’t know about other people
I don’t know what they do
I don’t know if they feel right
Sometimes they look like they feel just fine and I don’t know
I been through your nursery rhyme
I took all your nickels and dimes
But you left me cold
You wouldn’t let me hold
On longer than it took to go
I don’t care if I die
I don’t even care if I’m in a wheelchair
Or in a bed
Unable to move
For all I know
It’s better than what I did today
You lead me on
You bring me up
And then you take away my floor
I’m standing
I’m trying to stand
Somehow you push me down
You let me up and have me on a shoulder
Tell me go on go ahead on
And then you push me down
Down
But I know, I know you want to let me up
Another time
And I don’t know why
Sometimes I think maybe
You let me up just to push me down
You let me feel good
Just to let me feel bad
And it was OK
It was so OK
But now I’m slippin’
You gave me one thing
You took away two
I don’t know
Oh, what you’re trying to do
Am I going down the wrong road
Am I doing the wrong thing
Please let me know
Please tell me loud
I want to know
I’m asking please
Let me know
Let me know the right way
Oh, is there a right way
And I know
Yes I know
That there’s a wrong way
I saw today
But you showed me before
That I can lose
All the faith I had
That I can be
So small
That I can lose
All I got
All my faith
All my hope
Where does it go
And you can’t tell me any little thing
Because I feel
I feel
So bad
You can be happy
You can laugh laugh laugh
But I take a look
I see the Chinese
I see the Japanese
They’re laughing and joking
Having a good time
I see people in the paper
I see the models
Oh what a person
I see them walking down the street
They look so good
But I can’t have it
I’m locked up
I’m inside this thing
And I can’t
Oh no I cant
I can’t get out
I can’t take what I want
I can see it
Oh I can see it
But it’s not mine
You build me up
You show me these things
You push me down
You say forget it
You can’t have anything
You just stay down
I say let me up
Please let me up
You gotta let me up
You pushed me down
Down on the ground
I can’t be here
I can’t be here
Please make a change
Help me live
I want to give
I want to do
I want to have your life
I want to have your life
Give me your life
Let me up
I know you can let me up
You don’t have to keep me down
You don’t have to
You don’t have to
You don’t have to keep me down
Keep these things
Away from me
These bad things
Away from me
I wanna be right
I’m willing to live a routine
I’m willing to exercise my day
I’m willing to give up
Hah, I’m willing
Oh I’m willing
You’ve got to let me up
You know I’ll do anything but
Don’t push me down
Don’t push me down
You make me wonder
What should I do
Should I come out
Yeah, should I leave this thing
I can do it
I can do it
Is that what you want
I don’t think so
But you can change my mind
You can change my mind
You can have me
Have all of me
All but, let me up
Let me up
Give me a chance
Don’t push me down
Don’t push me down
And you know I
I know, I can’t ever
Push you down
I can’t ever
Let you up
You got it all
You got it all
Give me some
Give me some of your life
I want your life
I want your life
I’m willing to pay
Pay the price
Out of my life
Take what it costs
You got it all
You always had it all
So take it all
You know you got it
Yeah I’ll live on
I’ll live on
And I see the Chinese
I see the beautiful people
I want them
But I don’t need them
I don’t need them
You know what I need
I need you
Give me your life
Give me your life
Take mine
Take my life
You got it
It’s always been yours
Always been yours
You got my life
You got it
Give me yours
Give me your life
Give me your life
Give me your life
I need your life
I need your life
I need your life
So what do I do
Just what do I do
You’d better show me
Show me
Don’t push me down
Don’t push me down
Yeah, yeah I know
You can push me down
You can push me down
You can crush me
You can snuff me out
I don’t care
I don’t care if I die
I don’t care if I’m in a wheelchair
I don’t care if I’m in a bed
And I can’t even move
Hey, would it be worse than today
You can pick me up
Please pick me up
Oh please
Pick me up
Please
Oh please
Pick me up
You can pick me up
Don’t push me down
Don’t push me down
I feel bad
I feel bad
I been here before
I’ve had your nursery rhymes
I’ve had your nickels and dimes
I had your good times
I had your lovely people
All over me
I liked it
Now they’re all gone
Now I’m alone
But you got me still
Yeah you got me still
You let me move around
But you got me still
And you know it
And you let me up
But then you go and push me down
And you hurt me
And times you hurt me bad
And I’ve got one fear
In my life
And that fear is that I’m slippin’
I’m slipping
And I see it
And I feel it
And I know it
And I know, it doesn’t have to be this way
Tell me what I’m doing wrong
Tell me
Tell me what I’m doing wrong
Because I want to be right
I want to be good
I don’t want to be bad
I know some people like to be bad
And they sing about being bad
And they say “I’m bad”
You know, I want to be good
I want to be right
I want to be good and right
I don’t want to have to fight and lose
Please let me win
Let me win this war
I’m on your side
I’m on your side
What else I gonna do
You push me down
You let me up
I don’t want to be down
I don’t want to be down
Please
Please
Let me up
Let me win
Let me get this war taken care of
I’ll be on your side
Where else am I gonna be
Uhh, I love you
I surely do
If you want me down
I’ll be on the ground
But let me feel
Like I’m not losing ground
Let me win
Let me be on top somehow some way
I don’t need to be conventional
Let me up
Let me up
Oh please let me up
You know it’s been so long
It’s been so long
I’m trying to remember
It’s not easy
I see myself slipping
I don’t want to slip
Let me up
Let me up
I need to be up
I need to be right
I’m willing to work
Ah, work, work
I’m willing to work
I love you
I love you
Ahh, I love you
I love you
Please let me win
Let me win
Somehow let me win
I need to win
Let’s not have any misunderstanding
I need to win
I’m asking, please don’t push me down
I need to win your love
And I’ll do anything
I don’t know if I’m hurting myself
I surely hope not
But I feel like I may be slipping
I want some help
So I don’t have to go down
’Cause I see the Chinese and the Japanese
Laughing, talking, acting just like animals
Why can’t I be like an animal
Take care of myself the right way
Sure would be good nice
Sure
Let me ask you
Another time
Treating me right
Treating me right
I got some kind of feeling I’m not being treated right
I don’t know if I’m not treating myself right
Or you’re not treating me right
But I’m slipping
And I don’t want to be slipping
I want to move on
I want to create
I want to be ahead
I want to win
I want to love
I want to feel like I’m moving and doing things right
But oh I don’t feel too good about it
Why not
Why don’t I feel good
Hey I don’t know about other people
I don’t know what they do
I don’t know if they feel right
Sometimes they look like they feel just fine and I don’t know
Lyrics submitted by ButNeverOutgunned
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