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.
What’s so wrong with the day job
When the hours you work are just not enough?
What’s so wrong with the day job
That you readily work for free?
What’s so wrong with the day job
That you’re obliged to work in your private time?
What’s so wrong with the day job
That you neglect your friends and family?
What’s so wrong with the day job
Where’s there’s a mentality that’s out of date?
What’s so wrong with the day job
Where the expectation is that you’ll work late?
What’s so wrong with the day job
That it impacts on your emotional health?
What’s so wrong with the day job
When your private life belongs to somebody else…?
Work dulls the senses, work dulls the mind
I need Enlightenment of the Common kind
Work dulls the senses, work swallows time
Keeps me humdrum and toeing the line
Work dulls the senses, work dulls my brain
Restricts my thinking and exploits my grace
Work fools the senses into thinking Life is fine
Though my clannad may differ and my conscience never lies
Work dulls the senses, work dulls the mind
Emotional hell and eternal crime-in-all:
Dulls my shine.
Work dulls the senses, work dulls my shine
There’s no prize in heaven once the contract’s signed –
Dulls my shine.
Dulls my senses, dulls my mind.
Dulls my shine.
When the hours you work are just not enough?
What’s so wrong with the day job
That you readily work for free?
What’s so wrong with the day job
That you’re obliged to work in your private time?
What’s so wrong with the day job
That you neglect your friends and family?
What’s so wrong with the day job
Where’s there’s a mentality that’s out of date?
What’s so wrong with the day job
Where the expectation is that you’ll work late?
What’s so wrong with the day job
That it impacts on your emotional health?
What’s so wrong with the day job
When your private life belongs to somebody else…?
Work dulls the senses, work dulls the mind
I need Enlightenment of the Common kind
Work dulls the senses, work swallows time
Keeps me humdrum and toeing the line
Work dulls the senses, work dulls my brain
Restricts my thinking and exploits my grace
Work fools the senses into thinking Life is fine
Though my clannad may differ and my conscience never lies
Work dulls the senses, work dulls the mind
Emotional hell and eternal crime-in-all:
Dulls my shine.
Work dulls the senses, work dulls my shine
There’s no prize in heaven once the contract’s signed –
Dulls my shine.
Dulls my senses, dulls my mind.
Dulls my shine.
Lyrics submitted by epiwoosh
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
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.