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.
I been long, a long way from here
Put on a poncho and played for mosquitoes
And drank 'til I was thirsty again
We went searchin', through thrift store jungles
Found Geronimo's rifle, Marilyn's shampoo
And Benny Goodman's corset and pen
Well, okay, I made this up
I promised you I'd never give up
If it makes you happy
It can't be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?
You get down, real low down
You listen to Coltrane, derail your own train
Well, who hasn't been there before?
I come 'round, around the hard way
Bring you comics in bed, scrape the mold off the bread
And serve you French toast again
Well, okay, I still get stoned
I'm not the kind of girl you'd take home
If it makes you happy
It can't be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?
If it makes you happy
It can't be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?
We've been far, far away from here
Put on a poncho and played for mosquitoes
And everywhere in between
Well, okay, we get along
So what if right now, everything's wrong?
If it makes you happy
It can't be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?
If it makes you happy
It can't be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?
Put on a poncho and played for mosquitoes
And drank 'til I was thirsty again
We went searchin', through thrift store jungles
Found Geronimo's rifle, Marilyn's shampoo
And Benny Goodman's corset and pen
Well, okay, I made this up
I promised you I'd never give up
If it makes you happy
It can't be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?
You get down, real low down
You listen to Coltrane, derail your own train
Well, who hasn't been there before?
I come 'round, around the hard way
Bring you comics in bed, scrape the mold off the bread
And serve you French toast again
Well, okay, I still get stoned
I'm not the kind of girl you'd take home
If it makes you happy
It can't be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?
If it makes you happy
It can't be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?
We've been far, far away from here
Put on a poncho and played for mosquitoes
And everywhere in between
Well, okay, we get along
So what if right now, everything's wrong?
If it makes you happy
It can't be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?
If it makes you happy
It can't be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar
If It Makes You Happy Lyrics as written by Sheryl Suzanne Crow Jeffrey Robert Trott
Lyrics © Anthem Entertainment, Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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I think this song is about an abusive relationship or an unhappy relationship, and the girl is trying to convince herself and others that she is happy in this unhealthy relationship. The first two verses before chorus are talking about all the things she made up to tell her friends, all the "stories" she supposedly had to share involving her and her boyfriend, but in reality none of that actually happened. They never really did any of the things she said she did but she was just trying to convince her friends that this was a great relationship and she was genuinely happy. I think the chorus is her talking to herself or her friends trying to knock sense into her. She's pretty depressed and yet she talks about how great her relationship is, but in reality it is making her feel worse. They are questioning why she is so sad if this relationship makes her so happy. The third verse (after chorus) is talking about how she is getting really depressed. She is trying to justify it by saying "everyone has been here before, I'll be better soon." She realizes since she stayed in this bad relationship she "derailed her own train", as in it is her fault. The fourth verse is either talking about how she does everything for this guy and he treats her like crap and doesn't do anything in return, or she has made everything right and then she went back to him again. By this I mean, she scraped the mold off the bread (broke up with him), again to try to make things better. However, she has to keep doing it again and again because she keeps running back to him. Hope that makes sense? She admits that she still does "bad" things like getting stoned and she really isn't the kind of person a guy would want to take home or to show his parents? Confused on that verse a bit.