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.
There are those
Spend the night
Under bridges
Over by the river
Down in the park
Through the winter
But there's a house
That I know
Safe and warm
And no one ever goes there
Down where the priests
Bless the wine
She's been born into the wrong time
She keeps nonsense on her mind
She's a poet she's a builder
She's as bored as bored can be
She's a have not she's a know all
She knows just how to say yes
She's skating frozen chaos
'Til the no good gods are dead
But sometimes in the dead of night
Woken by the city lights
She wonders how she keeps alive...
This is the girl who
Lost the house which
Paid to the man who
Put up the rent and
Threw out the girl to
Feather his own sweet home
She's a clueless social climber
Likes the wrong side of the bed
She's a pick-me-up and she's a
Drink-to-me
In the company of friends
She's tried every variation
She's so common, she's so cold
She's homesick for a future
Can't stomach what she's told
On every street in every town
All her days are up and down
At home among the
Lost-and-founds...
This is the girl who
Lost the house which
Paid to the man who
Put up the rent and
Threw out the girl to
Feather his own sweet home
Here's the good Samaritan
Looks away and carries on
Spend the night
Under bridges
Over by the river
Down in the park
Through the winter
But there's a house
That I know
Safe and warm
And no one ever goes there
Down where the priests
Bless the wine
She's been born into the wrong time
She keeps nonsense on her mind
She's a poet she's a builder
She's as bored as bored can be
She's a have not she's a know all
She knows just how to say yes
She's skating frozen chaos
'Til the no good gods are dead
But sometimes in the dead of night
Woken by the city lights
She wonders how she keeps alive...
This is the girl who
Lost the house which
Paid to the man who
Put up the rent and
Threw out the girl to
Feather his own sweet home
She's a clueless social climber
Likes the wrong side of the bed
She's a pick-me-up and she's a
Drink-to-me
In the company of friends
She's tried every variation
She's so common, she's so cold
She's homesick for a future
Can't stomach what she's told
On every street in every town
All her days are up and down
At home among the
Lost-and-founds...
This is the girl who
Lost the house which
Paid to the man who
Put up the rent and
Threw out the girl to
Feather his own sweet home
Here's the good Samaritan
Looks away and carries on
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
The Big Issue Lyrics as written by Allen Whalley Alice Nutter
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is the text for this song that was ommitted from the North American version of the "Tubthumper" CD:
It's plain mathematics: for the rich to get richer, some of us have to stay poor. But in 'I'm alright Jack' England, reason is in short supply. Everything is blamed on the individual. You lost your job! Lazy bastard! You lost your home! You inadequate bastard! Blaming homelessness on the homeless is as stupid as blaming poverty on the poor.
Shelter estimates that there are 1,928,300 homeless people in the UK, while the Empty Homes Agency estimates that there are 820,000 empty properties in the UK. Figures from The Big Issue
"It (begging) is not acceptable to be out there on the street. There is no justification for it these days. It is a very offensive problem to many people... We think aggressive begging is a menace. Action has been taken against aggressive begging for some time and will continue." --John Major, May 28 1994
"We do not want people begging on the streets... I often drop my kids off in the morning at King's Cross and it's quite a frightening place. I'm saying we have to make our streets safe for people." --Tony Blair, Jan 6, 1997
"Those among you who have the good fortune to enjoy shelter, warmth and the comfort of a good home, I would ask you to consider just one thing: what would you do if you saw your wife and children condemned to live for years in a single room? I know what you would do. You would move heaven and earth to get something done, and if you knew there were large numbers of empty places which could be used you would protest against it by every means within your power, and so would I. That is what we have done... I, with thousands of other Londoners, want to see something better for our people, and what we claim for ourselves we feel it our duty to find for anyone else." --From Ted Bramley's obituary, by Margot Heinemann, 1991 (Ted Bramley played a leading role in the organising of the squatters' movement, when (in 1946) hundreds of families took over empty blocks of luxury flats, demanding that local councils use their powers to requisition all such empty properties. He was tried with four others at the Old Bailey on a catch-all charge of 'conspiracy to incite trespass', where he conducted his own political defence; challenging the crowded court with the above characteristic personal appeal to heart and conscience. The defendants were found guilty, but surprisingly were only bound over instead of the prison sentences they expected; and the requisitioning of homes for the homeless notably increased.)
"(There's) a hidden army which is squatting or living in unsuitable bed and breakfast accomodation. A national inquiry commissioned by charities suggested that there may be 250,000 people aged 17-25 alone in this group." --The Guardian
"It was only in the aftermath of Jack Straw's speech in Autumn 1995, urging a crackdown on aggressive beggars, winos and 'squeeze merchants' as part of a New York police style 'Zero Tolerance' campaign, that there was serious cabinet discussion about government policy. Michael Howard, the home secretary, pushed to update the vagrancy laws with what became known in Whitehall as the "sluice 'em down" policy to force beggars off the streets." --The Guardian January, 1997
"Since 1979, spending on housing has been more than halved, and fewer houses are being built today in Britain since at any time since the Second world War. Put another way: in 1975 equal amounts were being spent on defence and housing; in 1984 five times as much was spent on military services and on war material. Britain no longer has a national housing programme. While this policy has created more and more homeless people, a phenomenon has emerged. It is the British-Welfare State bank rolling the exploiters of the homeless and the unemployed to the extent of more than £120 million a year. This windfall now enriches owners of so-called hotels and hostels, most of them squalid, where victims of the recession are sent by local authorities and by the Department of Health and Social Security. These are the workhouses of the late twentieth century." --From "Heroes", John Pilger
"Shelter announced their 'NATIONAL HOMELESSNESS WEEK' in Febuary '96. They asked the public to 'wear a badge or send a postcard to aid the homeless'. JUSTICE? in Brighton responded with their own self-help campaign against homelessness; they opened a squatted Estate Agency. Its window displayed empty properties complete with helpful information: "Three bedrooms, nice garden, window open at the back". The Labour Brighton Council rushed an eviction order through the courts, so that an Eviction Notice was served on the building within hours of opening." --Paraphrased from Schnews, Brighton