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.
In my dreams in the emptiest places
Where we walked to forget our culture,
Gas stations appeared at night
So gleaming we can't see the sky
For the fluorescent lights
Shining on our faces
And there was no one there to sell
And there was no one there to buy
And there's no reason except for growth
And a legacy of empty buildings
In my dreams amusement parks
Appeared in my backyard
And they funded an initiative
To preserve the rural way of life
Through fees on parking lots
And there was no one there to sell
And there was no one there to buy
And there's no reason except for growth
And a legacy of empty buildings
But for now there are no businesses for miles
But where the city extends its legs
There's a footprint of what's going to be
And there was no one there to sell
And there was no one there to buy
And there's no reason except for growth
And a legacy of empty buildings
Where we walked to forget our culture,
Gas stations appeared at night
So gleaming we can't see the sky
For the fluorescent lights
Shining on our faces
And there was no one there to sell
And there was no one there to buy
And there's no reason except for growth
And a legacy of empty buildings
In my dreams amusement parks
Appeared in my backyard
And they funded an initiative
To preserve the rural way of life
Through fees on parking lots
And there was no one there to sell
And there was no one there to buy
And there's no reason except for growth
And a legacy of empty buildings
But for now there are no businesses for miles
But where the city extends its legs
There's a footprint of what's going to be
And there was no one there to sell
And there was no one there to buy
And there's no reason except for growth
And a legacy of empty buildings
Lyrics submitted by concreteblues
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From the CD booklet:
"The doctor was thinking: All this fantastic effort - giant machines, road networks, strip mines, conveyor belt, pipelines, slurry lines, loading towers, railway and electric train, hundred-million-dollar coal burning power plant, ten thousand miles of high tension towers and high-voltage power lines; the devastation of the landscape, the destruction of Indian grazing lands, Indian shrines, and Indian burial grounds; the poisoning of the last big clean air reservoir in the forty-eight contiguous United States, the exhaustion of precious water supplies- all that ball-breaking labor and all that backbreaking expense and all that heartbreaking insult to land and sky and human heart for what? Why, to light the lamps of Phoenix suburbs not yet built, to run the air conditioners of San Diego and Los Angeles, to illuminate shopping-center parking lots at two in the morning, to power aluminum plants, magnesium plants, vinyl-chloride factories and copper smelters, to charge the neon tubing that makes the meaning (all the meaning there is) of Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Tucson, Salt Lake City, the amalgamated metropoli of southern California, to keep alive that phosphorescent putrefying glory (all the glory there is left) called Down Town, Night Time, Wonderville, U.S.A."
*Edward Abbey - Monkey Wrench Gang