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.
Once upon a time
A record company had A&R people in
It who would take a chance, make a decision
Use their gut reaction, sign a group
And see what
They could do with it okay? That was, whoa
A long time ago it's not that
Way anymore all decisions about
Who get signed and what happens
To the record are made
By these drooling little midrange
Accountants and everything is
Based on the numbers games in there
And the taste of the accountants is what
Is ruling the mass media it's all
Just the dollars and cents of exchange and
If you wanna make music that you
Believe in, the chances of doing it on
A major label basis are nil
Because they're all so frightened everybody's
There trying to protect their
Job and it's easy - it's easier to look like
A wise executive by saying no
To something if it's
Just the most minutely fringe-oid
In terms of content
No
The horrible part of it is
The artists who are
Feeding this ecological chain stop
Making songs they believe
In and start making product that
They know will be
Airable and they change the style of what
They're doing to fit within
The narrow framework that
Is the contemporary accepted
Norm for suitable, radio-sounding music and
Anything that comes outside of
That norm doesn't go
On the air, you don't hear about it
You don't know about it
Right now there's probably
Hundreds of artists in the
United States making
Great sounds and great music
You'll never hear
It you'll never find out about it
A record company had A&R people in
It who would take a chance, make a decision
Use their gut reaction, sign a group
And see what
They could do with it okay? That was, whoa
A long time ago it's not that
Way anymore all decisions about
Who get signed and what happens
To the record are made
By these drooling little midrange
Accountants and everything is
Based on the numbers games in there
And the taste of the accountants is what
Is ruling the mass media it's all
Just the dollars and cents of exchange and
If you wanna make music that you
Believe in, the chances of doing it on
A major label basis are nil
Because they're all so frightened everybody's
There trying to protect their
Job and it's easy - it's easier to look like
A wise executive by saying no
To something if it's
Just the most minutely fringe-oid
In terms of content
No
The horrible part of it is
The artists who are
Feeding this ecological chain stop
Making songs they believe
In and start making product that
They know will be
Airable and they change the style of what
They're doing to fit within
The narrow framework that
Is the contemporary accepted
Norm for suitable, radio-sounding music and
Anything that comes outside of
That norm doesn't go
On the air, you don't hear about it
You don't know about it
Right now there's probably
Hundreds of artists in the
United States making
Great sounds and great music
You'll never hear
It you'll never find out about it
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
Drooling Midrange Accountants on Easter Hay Lyrics as written by Frank Vincent Zappa
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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