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 boys set a fire out in the field
And they burnt down the crops and their father's yield
And the men stood speechless at the sight
And the boys stood staring right by their side
Some boys set a fire way out on the hill
And the dead wood caught and it's burning still
And the people stand and they all hold hands
And they sing together
We will shake hands with the devil and fate
We'll bow to the keeper at the gate
We will pray forgiveness for all that we've done
Realize then we could never have won
Some boys set a fire out in the trees
The wind turned to furnace, set fire the leaves
The smoke was the warning lost in the breeze
We are all born with the same disease
Some boys set a fire way out on the hill
And the dead wood caught and it's burning still
And the people stand and they all hold hands
And they sing together
We will shake hands with the devil and fate
We'll bow to the keeper at the gate
We will pray forgiveness for all that we've done
Realize then we could never have won
There's a riot on the streets of England
There's a riot on the streets of England
There's a riot on the streets of England
Tonight
Our lives will never be the same
We will never forget this day
The sins of our fathers, turned us to the pyre
We set the mountain on fire
We will shake hands with the devil and fate
We'll bow to the keeper at the gate
We will pray forgiveness for all that we've done
Realize then you should never have won
There's a riot on the streets of England
There's a riot on the streets of England
There's a riot on the streets of England
Tonight
There's a riot on the streets of England
There's a riot on the streets of England
There's a riot on the streets of England
Tonight
And they burnt down the crops and their father's yield
And the men stood speechless at the sight
And the boys stood staring right by their side
Some boys set a fire way out on the hill
And the dead wood caught and it's burning still
And the people stand and they all hold hands
And they sing together
We will shake hands with the devil and fate
We'll bow to the keeper at the gate
We will pray forgiveness for all that we've done
Realize then we could never have won
Some boys set a fire out in the trees
The wind turned to furnace, set fire the leaves
The smoke was the warning lost in the breeze
We are all born with the same disease
Some boys set a fire way out on the hill
And the dead wood caught and it's burning still
And the people stand and they all hold hands
And they sing together
We will shake hands with the devil and fate
We'll bow to the keeper at the gate
We will pray forgiveness for all that we've done
Realize then we could never have won
There's a riot on the streets of England
There's a riot on the streets of England
There's a riot on the streets of England
Tonight
Our lives will never be the same
We will never forget this day
The sins of our fathers, turned us to the pyre
We set the mountain on fire
We will shake hands with the devil and fate
We'll bow to the keeper at the gate
We will pray forgiveness for all that we've done
Realize then you should never have won
There's a riot on the streets of England
There's a riot on the streets of England
There's a riot on the streets of England
Tonight
There's a riot on the streets of England
There's a riot on the streets of England
There's a riot on the streets of England
Tonight
Lyrics submitted by baleu
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Light Up The Sky
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"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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Radiohead
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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.
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