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.
Well she's up against the register with an apron and a spatula
Yesterday's deliveries, tickets for the bachelors
She's a moving violation from her conk down to her shoes
Well, it's just an invitation to the blues
And you feel just like Cagney, she looks like Rita Hayworth
At the counter of the Schwab's drugstore
You wonder if she might be single, she's alone and likes to mingle
Got to be patient, try and pick up a clue
She said How you gonna like 'em, over medium or scrambled?
'Cause any way's the only way, be careful not to gamble
On a guy with a suitcase and a ticket getting out of here
In a tired bus station and an old pair of shoes
'Cause it ain't nothing but an invitation to the blues
But you can't take your eyes off her, get another cup of java
It's just the way she pours it for you, joking with the customers
Mercy mercy, Mr. Percy, there ain't nothing back in Jersey
But a broken-down jalopy of a man I left behind
And the dream that I was chasing, a battle with booze
And an open invitation to the blues
But she used to have a sugar daddy and a candy-apple Caddy
And a bank account and everything, accustomed to the finer things
He probably left her for a socialite, and he didn't love her 'cept at night
And then he's drunk and never even told her that he cared
So they took the registration, and the car-keys and her shoes
And left her with an invitation to the blues
Cause there's a Continental Trailways leaving local bus tonight, good evening
You can have my seat, I'm sticking round here for a while
Get me a room at the Squire, the filling station's hiring
Knock kneed here every night, what the hell have I got to lose?
Got a crazy sensation, go or stay? Now I gotta choose
And I'll accept your invitation to the blues
Yesterday's deliveries, tickets for the bachelors
She's a moving violation from her conk down to her shoes
Well, it's just an invitation to the blues
And you feel just like Cagney, she looks like Rita Hayworth
At the counter of the Schwab's drugstore
You wonder if she might be single, she's alone and likes to mingle
Got to be patient, try and pick up a clue
She said How you gonna like 'em, over medium or scrambled?
'Cause any way's the only way, be careful not to gamble
On a guy with a suitcase and a ticket getting out of here
In a tired bus station and an old pair of shoes
'Cause it ain't nothing but an invitation to the blues
But you can't take your eyes off her, get another cup of java
It's just the way she pours it for you, joking with the customers
Mercy mercy, Mr. Percy, there ain't nothing back in Jersey
But a broken-down jalopy of a man I left behind
And the dream that I was chasing, a battle with booze
And an open invitation to the blues
But she used to have a sugar daddy and a candy-apple Caddy
And a bank account and everything, accustomed to the finer things
He probably left her for a socialite, and he didn't love her 'cept at night
And then he's drunk and never even told her that he cared
So they took the registration, and the car-keys and her shoes
And left her with an invitation to the blues
Cause there's a Continental Trailways leaving local bus tonight, good evening
You can have my seat, I'm sticking round here for a while
Get me a room at the Squire, the filling station's hiring
Knock kneed here every night, what the hell have I got to lose?
Got a crazy sensation, go or stay? Now I gotta choose
And I'll accept your invitation to the blues
Lyrics submitted by yuri_sucupira, edited by HahnFurst, Mellow_Harsher, alerique, Stoo
Invitation to the Blues Lyrics as written by Thomas Alan Waits
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, JALMA MUSIC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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OK, this has been one of my favorite songs for 25+ years, and I just today figured out that I might have been misinterpreting one of the lyrics. When she says, "There ain't nothing back in Jersey but a broken-down jalopy of a man I left behind" I have always assumed she was referring to an actual car. But when I heard the song today I realized it's probably a metaphor; she's referring to her ex- as a "broken-down jalopy of a man". I'm not usually so literal-minded! I can't believe this great little poetic turn of a phrase has tricked and evaded me for all these years.
@writerly I had always heard that line as the protagonist describing himself as a broken down jalopy of a man who left jersey after failing his dreams and crawling inside a bottle. <br /> He’s a drifter now and ended up at Shwab’s Drugstore with a bus ticket heading west, until he ‘fell in love’ with the waitress and decided to stay.
@writerly I though it was him describing himself and therefore not having any particular motivation to go back to his life in Jersey... you could be right too of course! :)
@writerly this may help clear up a little the line Bout about a broken down jals him singing not her he left Jersey and you're right it's a metaphor of broken down man and a natyle with the booze<br /> <br /> A couple of<br /> Impt mistakes in the lyrics fishes I can eat here every night not not need every night