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.
This whiskey sour, amateur hour
Raise your glass and toast your friends
Some day we will fight again, well
Your enemies, your tragedies
Pocket knives and rusty chains
Where in the hell is the old gang, yeah?
And all the losers
Can't even win for losing
And the beginners
Don't even know what song they're singing
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
Alright
This broken scene is turning green
Brass knuckles left in the rain
Death wish kids among the living
I want to ride on the divided
Anything but the mainstream
Where the fuck is your old gang, man?
And all the losers
Can't even win for losing
And the beginners
Don't even know what song they're singing
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
So long
Didn't even say goodnight
So long
There's nowhere to go
When you're hiding in plain sight
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
Raise your glass and toast your friends
Some day we will fight again, well
Your enemies, your tragedies
Pocket knives and rusty chains
Where in the hell is the old gang, yeah?
And all the losers
Can't even win for losing
And the beginners
Don't even know what song they're singing
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
Alright
This broken scene is turning green
Brass knuckles left in the rain
Death wish kids among the living
I want to ride on the divided
Anything but the mainstream
Where the fuck is your old gang, man?
And all the losers
Can't even win for losing
And the beginners
Don't even know what song they're singing
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
So long
Didn't even say goodnight
So long
There's nowhere to go
When you're hiding in plain sight
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
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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
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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."
When We Were Young
Blink-182
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American Town
Ed Sheeran
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Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
I think it relates to 90's punk rock (a.k.a. the type of music Green Day does) where they're kinda saying that the punk rock scene has dried up and they feel like they're the only ones left. Like the independence movement among teens of the time had died as those teens grew up and became adults and moved into mainstream society like everyone else had. With it the music they listened to died as well or the bands sold out and went mainstream. So now Billie's kind of saying that he feels like the last gang in town, because all the losers (everyone else) can't even win for losing (sold out or died off), and everyone who's just joining the scene now is only doing it because it's cool, not because they actually believe in the same things.