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.
The scent of flowers in the crowded street
A lonely bell singing for passing feet
“You may not come in here
(You may not come in here)
Sweaty time, dirty time to stand
Watch out mouth, hard argument
You may not come in here
(You may not come in here)”
Hey, fold your flag out a steer(?) (fold your flag)
Hoist it up high to make it real (hoist it high)
A canvas bag to fit it all (a canvas bag)
Hands suspended all, needs to bend and crawl
Well, whose land are you standing on?
Lines, lines, lines
Poor man’s ice cream
Poor man’s ice cream
And this is so, so, so real
You can see that, shining in the gutter
It’s right over there
(no, it’s not over here)
Then which way are you supposed to fear?
A full set of broken teeth to bear
It’s right over there
(no, it’s not over here)
They built a wall out of bricks (built a wall)
Made it real long, made sure everyone could see it (made it real long)
A message write and this (a message write)
“This is not your home
You do not belong here”
Well, whose land are you standing on?
They’re na-na-na-na-knocking on your door
Well, whose land are you standing on?
They’re na-na-na-na-knocking on your store
What were you dreaming of?
Yeah, what were you dreaming of?
Poor man’s ice cream
Poor man’s ice cream
What do you want from us?
Yeah, what do you want from us?
Poor man’s ice cream
Poor man’s ice cream
What were you dreaming of?
Yeah, what were you dreaming of?
Poor man’s ice cream
Poor man’s ice cream
A lonely bell singing for passing feet
“You may not come in here
(You may not come in here)
Sweaty time, dirty time to stand
Watch out mouth, hard argument
You may not come in here
(You may not come in here)”
Hey, fold your flag out a steer(?) (fold your flag)
Hoist it up high to make it real (hoist it high)
A canvas bag to fit it all (a canvas bag)
Hands suspended all, needs to bend and crawl
Well, whose land are you standing on?
Lines, lines, lines
Poor man’s ice cream
Poor man’s ice cream
And this is so, so, so real
You can see that, shining in the gutter
It’s right over there
(no, it’s not over here)
Then which way are you supposed to fear?
A full set of broken teeth to bear
It’s right over there
(no, it’s not over here)
They built a wall out of bricks (built a wall)
Made it real long, made sure everyone could see it (made it real long)
A message write and this (a message write)
“This is not your home
You do not belong here”
Well, whose land are you standing on?
They’re na-na-na-na-knocking on your door
Well, whose land are you standing on?
They’re na-na-na-na-knocking on your store
What were you dreaming of?
Yeah, what were you dreaming of?
Poor man’s ice cream
Poor man’s ice cream
What do you want from us?
Yeah, what do you want from us?
Poor man’s ice cream
Poor man’s ice cream
What were you dreaming of?
Yeah, what were you dreaming of?
Poor man’s ice cream
Poor man’s ice cream
Lyrics submitted by LouiseB
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I think the lyric goes...
"They forged a flag our of steel"
I think the lyric goes...
"They forged a flag out of steel"
I think it has something to do with the Berlin Wall or just being on the bad end of segregation. The "flag out of steel" and "they built a wall out of bricks, made it real long, made sure that everyone could see it" is what made me think about the Berlin wall/the Iron Curtain. A lot of it seemed to be about living in a hard time ("A canvas bag to fit it all"), watching out for the government ("they" and "we" are distinct from each other), and being confused ("yeah what do you want from us?"). "Lines, lines, lines," "which way are you supposed to fear," "this is not your home, you do not belong," "you may not come in here," and "whose land are you standing on?" are all like declaring a side or more like being assigned to a side.
when i first heard this song i thought of the europeans coming to the americas and the conflicts between the natives and the europeans because of the line "whose land are you standing on?" i still think that now that i've actually read the lyrics.
This song is definetly underrated. Its freaking amazing
I definitely see parallels to the immigration debate here, how we draw arbitrary boundaries between people, how difficult it is to say who the land "truly" belongs to as others were here first.