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.
Ciphers in front of The Apollo as a shorty
Now I got a clip full of hollows in the .40
Louis, Guccis, every now and then Mauris
I take too long to come back, send for me
Know how to work it, big things pop on the underground circuit
Maintain 'til it surface
The nerve of these peasants
Treat a rap budget like a bird how I stretch it
Think they get the message
Waters, Dutchies, lot of herb in a session
So-called tough guys, herbs with aggression
Put your thoughts all over the curb with the Wesson
What used to be superb now is depressing
Negative energy
Generated from the snakes and the centipedes
You will remember me
I just get the storm started
Cold-blooded, warm-hearted
Either way you on target
Move to the side, let the lane merge
The gun's like fried rice, who want they brain stirred?
Enter the limelight, lemon drop-top off of crime life
Always see the crew in the hindsight
Yeah
American sedan, the shooters got Berettas in their hand
This is Mafia, veterans'll plan
Word to the tape on the brick, this is raw
I'm in the 4x4, 8 plus 8 in the clip
The hustling Harry Potter, shaking the brick
Ice in the bracelet give the Matrix a glitch
And my car's like a spaceship
Got gold in my Nike checks
Jordans got ice in the laces
Pants got a gun where the waist is
It's basic, shirt smell like herb smoke
Chirp, yo, Chirp back
Let me know who getting murked, though
Yeah, we getting money, nigga
Who getting work, though
And I got the Kush, nigga
I got the Purple, move squares
'Cause we got a hold on the circle
Kill you or hurt you, whatever's a virtue
Beat you like ya parents when you breaking your curfew
Homie, live life to the death
We gonna make it to the top, just one more step
Get this money, it don't matter if it's cash or check
We gonna make it to the top, just one more step
Big houses, cars and jewels that's wet
We gonna make it to the top, just one more step
To the family, friends, whole life is set
We gonna make it to the top, just one more step, one more step
Yo, living my life, what's left of it
Don't try to go to jail but if you do make the best of it
If you crash into a bullet then it ain't no estimate
It's a money-back guarantee, my nigga
Death's a definite
This is audio crack, guess who's cheffing it
Jadakiss and SP, do this effortless
Gun play make you do whatever son say
If the Lord send you a flight, the ticket is one-way
Put that work in when you young, you get power
The money don't match the running it get sour
Still rep the hood to the death
A promise is only good if it's kept
Niggas'll kill you for less
Silence is golden, go 'head, keep dozing
The window of opportunity keeps closing
We gon' see if you really a clutch baller
A cell is small, but a casket is much smaller
Burn out 30 a set shit, 60 a Key shit
That's street shit, Jada & P shit
Lambos, hoopties, shooters and groupies
Montclair, D-Squared, Emilio Pucci
Long trips, short trips, making me nauseous
Court shit, gave them Jews money for Porsches
Made a couple mil' for the small shit
We rap and keep raw, so we on some street lore-Forbes shit
Wall still spin, upgraded the floor flip
Ain't touch it, ain't see it, ain't hear about it
If it's money gone, believe we gon' care about
Send some niggas to your crib, take the air up out it
Leave some blood up in it
Listen, fam, the Lam's the color of toast
The seats is like butter in it
No hammers in the club, box cutter in it
Long money and big checks
Get popped in the chest, face, wig, neck
Tre Pound, Sig, Tec
Play the game, get a plane if ya ship wreck
Learn from the best if you ain't learn shit yet
Yeah muthafucka
Homie, live life to the death
We gonna make it to the top, just one more step
Get this money, it don't matter if it's cash or check
We gonna make it to the top, just one more step
Big houses, cars and jewels that's wet
We gonna make it to the top, just one more step
To the family, friends, whole life is set
We gonna make it to the top, just one more step, one more step
Now I got a clip full of hollows in the .40
Louis, Guccis, every now and then Mauris
I take too long to come back, send for me
Know how to work it, big things pop on the underground circuit
Maintain 'til it surface
The nerve of these peasants
Treat a rap budget like a bird how I stretch it
Think they get the message
Waters, Dutchies, lot of herb in a session
So-called tough guys, herbs with aggression
Put your thoughts all over the curb with the Wesson
What used to be superb now is depressing
Negative energy
Generated from the snakes and the centipedes
You will remember me
I just get the storm started
Cold-blooded, warm-hearted
Either way you on target
Move to the side, let the lane merge
The gun's like fried rice, who want they brain stirred?
Enter the limelight, lemon drop-top off of crime life
Always see the crew in the hindsight
Yeah
American sedan, the shooters got Berettas in their hand
This is Mafia, veterans'll plan
Word to the tape on the brick, this is raw
I'm in the 4x4, 8 plus 8 in the clip
The hustling Harry Potter, shaking the brick
Ice in the bracelet give the Matrix a glitch
And my car's like a spaceship
Got gold in my Nike checks
Jordans got ice in the laces
Pants got a gun where the waist is
It's basic, shirt smell like herb smoke
Chirp, yo, Chirp back
Let me know who getting murked, though
Yeah, we getting money, nigga
Who getting work, though
And I got the Kush, nigga
I got the Purple, move squares
'Cause we got a hold on the circle
Kill you or hurt you, whatever's a virtue
Beat you like ya parents when you breaking your curfew
Homie, live life to the death
We gonna make it to the top, just one more step
Get this money, it don't matter if it's cash or check
We gonna make it to the top, just one more step
Big houses, cars and jewels that's wet
We gonna make it to the top, just one more step
To the family, friends, whole life is set
We gonna make it to the top, just one more step, one more step
Yo, living my life, what's left of it
Don't try to go to jail but if you do make the best of it
If you crash into a bullet then it ain't no estimate
It's a money-back guarantee, my nigga
Death's a definite
This is audio crack, guess who's cheffing it
Jadakiss and SP, do this effortless
Gun play make you do whatever son say
If the Lord send you a flight, the ticket is one-way
Put that work in when you young, you get power
The money don't match the running it get sour
Still rep the hood to the death
A promise is only good if it's kept
Niggas'll kill you for less
Silence is golden, go 'head, keep dozing
The window of opportunity keeps closing
We gon' see if you really a clutch baller
A cell is small, but a casket is much smaller
Burn out 30 a set shit, 60 a Key shit
That's street shit, Jada & P shit
Lambos, hoopties, shooters and groupies
Montclair, D-Squared, Emilio Pucci
Long trips, short trips, making me nauseous
Court shit, gave them Jews money for Porsches
Made a couple mil' for the small shit
We rap and keep raw, so we on some street lore-Forbes shit
Wall still spin, upgraded the floor flip
Ain't touch it, ain't see it, ain't hear about it
If it's money gone, believe we gon' care about
Send some niggas to your crib, take the air up out it
Leave some blood up in it
Listen, fam, the Lam's the color of toast
The seats is like butter in it
No hammers in the club, box cutter in it
Long money and big checks
Get popped in the chest, face, wig, neck
Tre Pound, Sig, Tec
Play the game, get a plane if ya ship wreck
Learn from the best if you ain't learn shit yet
Yeah muthafucka
Homie, live life to the death
We gonna make it to the top, just one more step
Get this money, it don't matter if it's cash or check
We gonna make it to the top, just one more step
Big houses, cars and jewels that's wet
We gonna make it to the top, just one more step
To the family, friends, whole life is set
We gonna make it to the top, just one more step, one more step
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
One More Step Lyrics as written by Brian Holland Levar Coppin
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.