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.
I've been a dirty bastard
But I will clean my act up
I wanna stop doin' bad
I wanna meet your mom and dad
Is that an unpretending little happy ending?
This a grande finale
Whoa oh oh oh oh
Rolling snare drums echo
Whoa oh oh oh oh
The rain sounds like applause
Yeah-ah-ah
I finally found you
The one that I've been waitin' for
I finally found what
I'd already stopped lookin' for
I've been a dirty bastard
But I will clean my act up
I wanna stop doin' bad
I wanna meet your mom and dad
Whoa oh oh oh oh
Rolling snare drums echo
Whoa oh oh oh oh
The rain sounds like applause
I finally found you
The one that I’ve been waitin' for
I finally found what
I’d already stopped lookin' for
Whoa oh oh oh oh
Rolling snare drums echo
Whoa oh oh oh oh
The rain sounds like applause
Yeah-ah
I finally found you
The one that I’ve been waitin' for
I finally found what
I’d already stopped lookin' for
I finally found what
I'd already stopped lookin' for
But I will clean my act up
I wanna stop doin' bad
I wanna meet your mom and dad
Is that an unpretending little happy ending?
This a grande finale
Whoa oh oh oh oh
Rolling snare drums echo
Whoa oh oh oh oh
The rain sounds like applause
Yeah-ah-ah
I finally found you
The one that I've been waitin' for
I finally found what
I'd already stopped lookin' for
I've been a dirty bastard
But I will clean my act up
I wanna stop doin' bad
I wanna meet your mom and dad
Whoa oh oh oh oh
Rolling snare drums echo
Whoa oh oh oh oh
The rain sounds like applause
I finally found you
The one that I’ve been waitin' for
I finally found what
I’d already stopped lookin' for
Whoa oh oh oh oh
Rolling snare drums echo
Whoa oh oh oh oh
The rain sounds like applause
Yeah-ah
I finally found you
The one that I’ve been waitin' for
I finally found what
I’d already stopped lookin' for
I finally found what
I'd already stopped lookin' for
Lyrics submitted by Fayiirah
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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."
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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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“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.
Studio Killer's "Grande Finale" explores a moment when someone in a relationship believes that—against the odds—everything moving forward will be perfect and full of wonder. It's a bittersweet moment, because it's suggested that future is unlikely.
The singer, addressing their (his/her) beloved, states: "I've been a dirty bastard / but I will clean my act up." It suggests the singer has been abusive, but intends to cease their bad behavior. The singer imagines a future of loving bliss: "This is a Grande Finale." Even something normally characterized as somber (rainfall) is instead imagined as celebratory drums and applause.
The singer comes across as sincere in their message; they characterize their beloved as ideal: "The one that I'd been waiting for." They don't want to do harm, or lose the beloved they address the song to, because "I finally found what / I'd already stopped looking for."
The double-message here is that this is a moment of imagined bliss. . . the grandiose vision will (likely) not come true. "It's not an unpretending / Little happy ending / This is a Grande Finale." What's the opposite of pretending? -- Reality. Truth. It's not a [b]real[/b] happy ending (a real happy ending here is characterized as 'little,' lesser) but an imagined one. Instead of something real, the singer requires something monumental and perhaps unobtainable. Maybe that love will not be everything they imagined. Maybe they will not manage their goal of "stop doin' bad," in the relationship.
It's a beautiful song, set in the moment of idealized hope for the future. And it's open to interpretation. . . maybe the singer will find the grand joy they envision, maybe they will not. This is a bittersweet moment, a moment locked in time envisioning a happy ending, a "Grande finale," before the long trek of reality ahead fulfills or dashes the singer's aims.