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.
Harry was a rich young man
Who would become a priest
He dug up his dear father
Who was recently deceased
He did it with tarot cards
And a mystically attuned mind
And shortly there
And after he did find
Jeanie was a spoiled young brat
She thought she knew it all
She smoked mentholated cigarettes
And she had sex in the hall
But she was not my kind
Or even of my sigh
The kind of animal
That I would be about
Woh-woh-woh, you keep hangin' round me
And I'm not so glad you found me
You're still doing things that I gave up years ago
Oh-woh-woh-woh, you keep hangin' round me
And I'm not so glad you found me
You're still doing things that I gave up years ago
All right now
Ah-huh-huh
Kathy was a bit surreal
She painted all her toes
And on her face she wore dentures
Clamped tightly to her nose
And when she finally spoke
Her twang her glasses broke
And no one else could smoke
While she was in the room
Hark the herald angels sang
And reached out for a phone
And plucking it with a knife in hand
Dialed long distance home
But it was all too much
Sprinkling angel dust
To AT&T
Who didn't wish you well
Oh, but you keep hangin' round me
And I'm not so glad you found me
You're still doing things that I gave up years ago
Ho-ho-ho-ho, you keep hangin' round me
And I'm not so glad you found me
You're still doing things that I gave up years ago
Hangin' round
Hangin' round, that's all you're doing baby
Hangin' round
Hangin' round, ooohhh
Hangin' round
Hangin' round
Hangin' round
Hangin' round
Who would become a priest
He dug up his dear father
Who was recently deceased
He did it with tarot cards
And a mystically attuned mind
And shortly there
And after he did find
Jeanie was a spoiled young brat
She thought she knew it all
She smoked mentholated cigarettes
And she had sex in the hall
But she was not my kind
Or even of my sigh
The kind of animal
That I would be about
Woh-woh-woh, you keep hangin' round me
And I'm not so glad you found me
You're still doing things that I gave up years ago
Oh-woh-woh-woh, you keep hangin' round me
And I'm not so glad you found me
You're still doing things that I gave up years ago
All right now
Ah-huh-huh
Kathy was a bit surreal
She painted all her toes
And on her face she wore dentures
Clamped tightly to her nose
And when she finally spoke
Her twang her glasses broke
And no one else could smoke
While she was in the room
Hark the herald angels sang
And reached out for a phone
And plucking it with a knife in hand
Dialed long distance home
But it was all too much
Sprinkling angel dust
To AT&T
Who didn't wish you well
Oh, but you keep hangin' round me
And I'm not so glad you found me
You're still doing things that I gave up years ago
Ho-ho-ho-ho, you keep hangin' round me
And I'm not so glad you found me
You're still doing things that I gave up years ago
Hangin' round
Hangin' round, that's all you're doing baby
Hangin' round
Hangin' round, ooohhh
Hangin' round
Hangin' round
Hangin' round
Hangin' round
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar, edited by ThomasAlic, labhead
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I just listened to Hangin Round Acoustic Demo. Between Jeanny and Cathy, there is a Raymond. It goes like this: "Raymond was a stranger who had come from ports unknown. He had no hair upon his head, so he did not use a comb. But desperately wished for it, and every day did bathe, and when at last he found himself his dirt was cleanly saved." Too weird for the mainstream version I guess....
Just a guess, but this song came out in 1972, the year LR turned 30...time to grow up, right? By that time he'd probably lost quite a few friends to drugs (e.g., Edie Sedgwick OD'd in 1971). The song is probably meant to be ambiguous: you can take it simply and literally, as a complaint about living people from his past, or more sadly, as a sort of mock complaint about the ghosts of those people who won't leave him alone; maybe he found those people silly and annoying when they were alive, and yet he still finds himself thinking about them from time to time and even missing them. It's that little bit of complexity that makes his lyrics so good.
Why has no one commented? This is a good song! The lyrics are catchy and the sound is a bit 'pop', but it's naughty too-- sex in the hall! wild!
Reminds me of some buggers I know. =P Love this song.
I guess no one has commented because they do not know what the song means. Me neither, actually. I guess about a few buggers who won't leave him alone.
yeah I guess he's being bugged by... the people he describes in the song? The guy who dug up his dad? That's fucked. Made me think of pet sematary, then I thought that the whole song would be about that. A bit of a stretch but what if the chorus is sarcastically dead people [in general, or a person], who gave up living and wants some peace but people brought him back to life and kept hangin' round him. And the people in the chorus are either people that die or that end up bringing somebody back to life. haha I bet I'm way off, was fun anyway.
Just a guess, but this song came out in 1972, the year LR turned 30...time to grow up, right? By that time he'd probably lost quite a few friends to drugs (e.g., Edie Sedgwick OD'd in 1971). The song is probably meant to be ambiguous: you can take it simply and literally, as a complaint about living people from his past, or more sadly, as a sort of mock complaint about the ghosts of those people who won't leave him alone; maybe he found those people silly and annoying when they were alive, and yet he still finds himself thinking about them from time to time and even missing them. It's that little bit of complexity that makes his lyrics so good.
A funny song about being surrounded by annoying people. Relatable. Rip Loulou