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.
[Verse One] [B.O.B]:
Soon as I enter
You know who it is-a
It's the representer from the east side of Atlanta
That's known as Decatur
I got my own lane but I can't see the road
My rear view mirror's full of haters
Wouldn't wanna be ya
It's me they cannot battle
Yes I'm a mothership and you a boat without no paddle
Yes I am what they after
I'm a natural born disaster
I'm the reason your momma tell you not hang with rappers
But your momma is a minister and I'm her favorite rapper
Probably cause she found out that my daddy was a pastor
I wonder what she's after
But don't get it confused
There's no surprise, it's just another day in my shoes
[Chorus]:
Every other city we go
Every other city we go
It's just a different day with the same shit
It's just a different day with the same shit
Every other city we go
Every other city we go
Things just ain't what I used to know
Things just ain't what I used to know
[Verse Two] [B.O.B]:
Yeah, well these niggas salty
High blood pressure
If you got that sodium, nigga I got that pepper (Dr. Pepper)
Don't step up, please fall back
Y'all can't ball, all y'all are wack
Haters need hugs, you thugs need love
And groupies fall in holes that gold diggers dug
These niggas cynical cause I'm on there medicinal
Why they so sensitive, I guess they on their menstruals
I don't need no pencil though be consider a general
Regardless of my genre yes, I'm flawless man, in general
When I'm in the club
Girls be jigging on they tippy toes
So she take me in like her vitamins and minerals
You ain't on my signal, you analogue, I'm digital
Grand Hustle champion, someone turn my anthem on
When my jam come on, God damn I blow straight up, I am a bomb
Leaping over barriers like this was a triathlon
[Chorus]:
Every other city we go
Every other city we go
It's just a different day with the same shit
It's just a different day with the same shit
Every other city we go
Every other city we go
Things just ain't what I used to know
Things just ain't what I used to know
[Verse Three] [Donnis]:
Now I'm the everyday topic
I'm under the microscope so I'm feeling microscopic
My shit was fading to black
Niggas thought I was Gothic
But made it to the next step like recovering alcoholics
I bounce back like a Snoop Deville with hydraulics
Ain't +Nuthin' But A G-Thang+
Nigga I'm the king of pain
Veins filled with Novocaine
So I ain't even feeling y'all
I ain't even hearing y'all
Fingernails on a blackboard
They say the pen is way mightier than the sword
So I'm a spaz out to get inside the mental ward
Get my Grammy Awards
Til your faith is restored by the lord of this rap shit
Niggas got it backwards
Let's line up all the factors
Grew up in the hood but was raised in the burbs
Real pops wasn't there
So the military made me a man
And they told me, put my dreams in the can
But I still made it here, damn
[Chorus]:
Every other city we go
Every other city we go
It's just a different day with the same shit
It's just a different day with the same shit
Every other city we go
Every other city we go
Things just ain't what I used to know
Things just ain't what I used to know
Soon as I enter
You know who it is-a
It's the representer from the east side of Atlanta
That's known as Decatur
I got my own lane but I can't see the road
My rear view mirror's full of haters
Wouldn't wanna be ya
It's me they cannot battle
Yes I'm a mothership and you a boat without no paddle
Yes I am what they after
I'm a natural born disaster
I'm the reason your momma tell you not hang with rappers
But your momma is a minister and I'm her favorite rapper
Probably cause she found out that my daddy was a pastor
I wonder what she's after
But don't get it confused
There's no surprise, it's just another day in my shoes
[Chorus]:
Every other city we go
Every other city we go
It's just a different day with the same shit
It's just a different day with the same shit
Every other city we go
Every other city we go
Things just ain't what I used to know
Things just ain't what I used to know
[Verse Two] [B.O.B]:
Yeah, well these niggas salty
High blood pressure
If you got that sodium, nigga I got that pepper (Dr. Pepper)
Don't step up, please fall back
Y'all can't ball, all y'all are wack
Haters need hugs, you thugs need love
And groupies fall in holes that gold diggers dug
These niggas cynical cause I'm on there medicinal
Why they so sensitive, I guess they on their menstruals
I don't need no pencil though be consider a general
Regardless of my genre yes, I'm flawless man, in general
When I'm in the club
Girls be jigging on they tippy toes
So she take me in like her vitamins and minerals
You ain't on my signal, you analogue, I'm digital
Grand Hustle champion, someone turn my anthem on
When my jam come on, God damn I blow straight up, I am a bomb
Leaping over barriers like this was a triathlon
[Chorus]:
Every other city we go
Every other city we go
It's just a different day with the same shit
It's just a different day with the same shit
Every other city we go
Every other city we go
Things just ain't what I used to know
Things just ain't what I used to know
[Verse Three] [Donnis]:
Now I'm the everyday topic
I'm under the microscope so I'm feeling microscopic
My shit was fading to black
Niggas thought I was Gothic
But made it to the next step like recovering alcoholics
I bounce back like a Snoop Deville with hydraulics
Ain't +Nuthin' But A G-Thang+
Nigga I'm the king of pain
Veins filled with Novocaine
So I ain't even feeling y'all
I ain't even hearing y'all
Fingernails on a blackboard
They say the pen is way mightier than the sword
So I'm a spaz out to get inside the mental ward
Get my Grammy Awards
Til your faith is restored by the lord of this rap shit
Niggas got it backwards
Let's line up all the factors
Grew up in the hood but was raised in the burbs
Real pops wasn't there
So the military made me a man
And they told me, put my dreams in the can
But I still made it here, damn
[Chorus]:
Every other city we go
Every other city we go
It's just a different day with the same shit
It's just a different day with the same shit
Every other city we go
Every other city we go
Things just ain't what I used to know
Things just ain't what I used to know
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
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
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"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.
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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.