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.
Hear you got your troubles or so I've been told
Maybe just a couple but I'm not quite sold
I'm indifferent to the difference 'tween tomorrow and today
Less an indiscretion than a lesson I've been paid
The stages of recovery can signify your age
Like rings around a stump
That's something I know a little bit about, child
Maybe it's been getting a little bit crazy
I don't wanna be complaining, complaining, oh
All my friends go to bed dreaming up a reason they should weep
And all my friends go to the ends of the earth for secrets they don't wanna keep
Well, this is my confession: yes, yes
This is me confessin': god bless
The sad and selfish--stay helpless
'Cause I've always been stronger than that
All the weight of the world on my back
It's just love, selfish love
Love, selfish love
I've got nothing to confess, yes
I've got nothing to confess, yes
It is too easy to be scared sometimes, I'm not gonna lie
And I don't understand
It's like the whole world is jumping off a bridge
And you don't want to be the one
Standing on the ledge
All my friends go to the ends of the earth for secrets they don't wanna keep
Well, this is my confession: yes, yes
This is me confessin': god bless
The sad and selfish--stay helpless
'Cause I've always been stronger than that
All the weight of the world on my back
It's just love, selfish love
Love, selfish love
I've got nothing to confess, yes
I've got nothing to confess, yes
Maybe just a couple but I'm not quite sold
I'm indifferent to the difference 'tween tomorrow and today
Less an indiscretion than a lesson I've been paid
The stages of recovery can signify your age
Like rings around a stump
That's something I know a little bit about, child
Maybe it's been getting a little bit crazy
I don't wanna be complaining, complaining, oh
All my friends go to bed dreaming up a reason they should weep
And all my friends go to the ends of the earth for secrets they don't wanna keep
Well, this is my confession: yes, yes
This is me confessin': god bless
The sad and selfish--stay helpless
'Cause I've always been stronger than that
All the weight of the world on my back
It's just love, selfish love
Love, selfish love
I've got nothing to confess, yes
I've got nothing to confess, yes
It is too easy to be scared sometimes, I'm not gonna lie
And I don't understand
It's like the whole world is jumping off a bridge
And you don't want to be the one
Standing on the ledge
All my friends go to the ends of the earth for secrets they don't wanna keep
Well, this is my confession: yes, yes
This is me confessin': god bless
The sad and selfish--stay helpless
'Cause I've always been stronger than that
All the weight of the world on my back
It's just love, selfish love
Love, selfish love
I've got nothing to confess, yes
I've got nothing to confess, yes
Lyrics submitted by andchimeras, edited by thepianodoesntknowshit
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
Hayalperest
This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Some of the lyrics are off here. I think it should be "the stages of recovery can signify your age, like rings around a stump." Then, "all my friends go to bed dreaming up a reason they should weep." And,"God bless the sad and selfish, stay helpless."
And in an interview Patrick said, "You know, a lot of people ask me why I don't have a Twitter. It's sad that people really go out of their way to tell everyone everything about themselves. Our country has verbal diarrhea. It's really sad -- there's no mystery, no surprise. "Love Selfish Love" is just about that. It would be nice to go on a first date with somebody and not be able to know everything about them from their MySpace or Facebook profile. There's no first impressions anymore. You go to a job interview and they'll probably Google you. It's a shame -- people should play it a little closer to the chest as far as what information they release to the world. If I'm angry about something I'm not going to take to my Twitter. The whole record explores that idea."
Thanks! Editing :)
As I mentioned on another song, I love Patrick's ability to point out society's flaws. This song is all about that.
"And all my friends go to the ends of the earth for secrets they don't wanna keep." Everyone seems to think that they need to know everyone else's business. Gossip, gossip, gossip. People can't get enough of it. They want to know all your dirty little secrets, but they don't want to keep them to themselves, they want to be the one who gets to broadcast it.
"It's like the whole world is jumping off a bridge and you don't want to be the one standing on the ledge." People are sheep. No one knows how to make their own decisions or just be their own person anymore. People are doing that ? Well, you'd better do it too.
Those are just the two lines from the song that really stand out to me. n_n Love it !
My Interpretation hear you got your troubles or so I've been told maybe just a couple but I'm not quite sold I'm indifferent to the difference 'tween tomorrow and today less an indiscretion than a lesson I've been paid the stages of recovery can signify your age like rings around a stump
-I believe This talks mainly about how he believes everyone around him exploits thereselves about there troubles, and there problems into society, in referance to twitter. and how there's a drama or problem marked like rings around a stump each day.
all my friends go to bed dreaming up a reason they should weep and all my friends go to the ends of the earth for secrets they don't wanna keep
-Added notes. The idea that love can be so controlling and it can make even the most desperate crave just the idea of not being loenly, and indulging in not being selfish. what's brought across as a final message is don't remain like everybody else, and don't be like everybody else because your scared that your be alone, stay who you are. and remained unscared.
=)
To me this song is about someone who is trying to have something wrong. There is a girl that is trying so despretly hard to be like me, she's taken up listening to the same music i do. she used to be this nice christen girl but now she's a wanna be emo(I'm not emo btw)who is listening to music, that just a few months ago said i was going to hell for listening to. i love the line "stay helpless"
This is only my personal interpretation here, but I have an odd feeling he's kind of expressing his disbelief towards Pete Wentz's 'honesty' in his lyrics:
"Hear you got your troubles or so I've been told Maybe just a couple but I'm not quite sold" -obviously everyone hears about Pete's problems but Patrick isn't quite convinced.
"All my friends go to bed dreaming up a reason they should weep" -he feels like Pete kind of dreams up why he should be depressed in the way he is.
"And all my friends go to the ends of the earth for secrets they don't wanna keep" -Pete acts like he doesn't want to have these 'secrets' but tries so hard to make them for himself.
"Well, this is my confession: yes, yes This is me confessin': god bless The sad and selfish--stay helpless" -here he is confessing - the sad and selfish (Pete acts so depressed but is a massive media whore) stay helpless (it's not that you can't be helped, but you won't let anyone help you).
Anyway, not really an in depth interpretation but this is what I always think of when I hear this song, maybe it reflects the fall out (hey hey) between Pat and Pete.
I'm a massive fan of Fall Out Boy and Patrick by the way so please don't think this is some personal attack.