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.
Henry Greene
You could die, it might be easier but
There's no one who'll ever want to take your life
Because you're there and you exist for a reason
So far away
You're the standard and you're a picture
And everyone wants to be like you - so unafraid
And everyone wants to be like you - so unashamed
But you know last night I tried to do it
Only got halfway
Seems like the world is always pushing me away
But that's not true
So why are spotlights always on you?
When ideas inside of us
Mean so much more than words from your mouth
So why do we do this?
Armies fight and they die so that
I'll have the right to ignorant dreams
Sometimes the caves fall in on me
Sometimes you all spoil my party
Sometimes the picture's terribly wrong
Sometimes things are fucking wonderful
Most of the time, you know I can dream
With extremes pushed out of my mind
So from now on I gues it's just me
Somewhere in between
Those ideals and reality and keeping clean
And you know I'll try again tomorrow to say something
And I'll walk past the television - just yells in my face
And it's so rude - tells me what to want
And what to do
Real people could be so nice
So let's all just give them a try -
Why make it so hard?
Armies fight and they die so that
I'll have the right to ignorant dreams
Most of the time, you know I can dream
With extremes pushed out of my mind
You could die, it might be easier but
There's no one who'll ever want to take your life
Because you're there and you exist for a reason
So far away
You're the standard and you're a picture
And everyone wants to be like you - so unafraid
And everyone wants to be like you - so unashamed
But you know last night I tried to do it
Only got halfway
Seems like the world is always pushing me away
But that's not true
So why are spotlights always on you?
When ideas inside of us
Mean so much more than words from your mouth
So why do we do this?
Armies fight and they die so that
I'll have the right to ignorant dreams
Sometimes the caves fall in on me
Sometimes you all spoil my party
Sometimes the picture's terribly wrong
Sometimes things are fucking wonderful
Most of the time, you know I can dream
With extremes pushed out of my mind
So from now on I gues it's just me
Somewhere in between
Those ideals and reality and keeping clean
And you know I'll try again tomorrow to say something
And I'll walk past the television - just yells in my face
And it's so rude - tells me what to want
And what to do
Real people could be so nice
So let's all just give them a try -
Why make it so hard?
Armies fight and they die so that
I'll have the right to ignorant dreams
Most of the time, you know I can dream
With extremes pushed out of my mind
Lyrics submitted by shrodes
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