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.
Under my thumb
The girl who once had me down
Under my thumb
The girl who once pushed me around
It's down to me
The difference in the clothes she wears
Down to me, the change has come
She's under my thumb
And ain't it the truth babe?
Under my thumb
It's a squirmin' dog who's just had her day
Under my thumb
A girl who has just changed her ways
It's down to me
Yes it is
The way she does just what she's told down to me
The change has come
She's under my thumb
Ah, ah, say it's alright
Under my thumb
Is a Siamese cat of a girl
Under my thumb
She's the sweetest, hm, pet in the world
It's down to me
The way she talks when she's spoken to
Down to me, the change has come
She's under my thumb
Ah, take it easy babe
Yeah
It's down to me, oh yeah
The way she talks when she's spoken to
Down to me, the change has come
She's under my thumb
Yeah, it feels alright
Under my thumb
Her eyes are just kept to herself
Under my thumb, well I
I can still look at someone else
It's down to me, oh, that's what I said
The way she talks when she's spoken to
Down to me, the change has come
She's under my thumb
Say, it's alright
Say it's all
Say it's all
Take it easy babe
Take it easy babe
Feels alright
Take it, take it easy babe
The girl who once had me down
Under my thumb
The girl who once pushed me around
It's down to me
The difference in the clothes she wears
Down to me, the change has come
She's under my thumb
And ain't it the truth babe?
Under my thumb
It's a squirmin' dog who's just had her day
Under my thumb
A girl who has just changed her ways
It's down to me
Yes it is
The way she does just what she's told down to me
The change has come
She's under my thumb
Ah, ah, say it's alright
Under my thumb
Is a Siamese cat of a girl
Under my thumb
She's the sweetest, hm, pet in the world
It's down to me
The way she talks when she's spoken to
Down to me, the change has come
She's under my thumb
Ah, take it easy babe
Yeah
It's down to me, oh yeah
The way she talks when she's spoken to
Down to me, the change has come
She's under my thumb
Yeah, it feels alright
Under my thumb
Her eyes are just kept to herself
Under my thumb, well I
I can still look at someone else
It's down to me, oh, that's what I said
The way she talks when she's spoken to
Down to me, the change has come
She's under my thumb
Say, it's alright
Say it's all
Say it's all
Take it easy babe
Take it easy babe
Feels alright
Take it, take it easy babe
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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Ed Sheeran
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
American Town
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Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Listened to these lyrics closely for the first time recently. Ashamed to say I enjoyed or supported and even attended Stones concert now. Clearly advocating emotional and physical abuse. With "injury by a male partner" being the number one cause of injury to women ages 15 to 44, with 1 of 3 women experience partner abuse at any given time, with men receiving stiffer sentences for abusing strangers than their own partners, it is time to say this is not socially acceptable, AT ALL. That extends to not supporting viewpoints like these, no matter how great the beat or melody. Ive been a fan, but I'll be thinking differently on it now. Partner abuse is not joke. And "looking the other way" is as good as condoning it, saying it's ok. Do you realize that it is only as recently as 1990 that we are SEMI-routinely even ENFORCING partner abuse laws in our country? Be part of the solution, not the problem.
Good song. Better points. It was San Diego that enacted the first laws assuring the arrest of any spouse/significant other if the other person showed any sign of injury. There became no question; if there was injury, an arrest had to be made on spot. The rest of the country took notice and the laws began to change rather quickly, thankfully. The song, though, seems to have more to do with emotional abuse, which of course cannot be regulated by law.
The song is offensive towards women and misogynistic. You don't have to be a woman to realize that. It sucks because until I started studying sociology and becoming media literate this was one of my favorite stones songs =(
Tiff, <br /> <br /> What many people fail to read in these lyrics is the lyrics at the beginning of the song which are:<br /> "Under my thumb <br /> The girl who once had me down <br /> Under my thumb <br /> The girl who once pushed me around."<br /> <br /> I am a male who is an advocate for abused women either physically, mentally, or both. There is never a time when any type of abuse is acceptable. Mick Jagger said in a 1998 interview that this song was written as a joke in response to a female that he dated at one time that as the beginning of the song states "Once had him down, once pushed him around" so he wrote the song as if the shoe was on the other foot but it was a joke and it never happened.<br /> People that take this song to serious don't realize the fact's for one and two, are looking for something to bash anyone about regarding anti-feminism lyrics, etc. You could do that with just about any song by any band, by a male singer or a female singer. It's all in what you want to take from a song and how far you want to take it. Are they role models? No, and I don't think the Stones ever pretended to be. <br /> What I find ironic is when a male writes a song like this it is viewed as a song that condones abuse, etc. When a woman writes a song like this most times she is held in high regards for finally breaking free from the cycle of abuse and so on. As I mentioned I am a male and I was in an abusive relationship for nearly 7 years both physical and mental but I was the one who was abused. So that goes both ways but of course woman are the ones abused more often than men, but when a man admits he's been abused he takes a lot of flack from friends, etc. and little support is available for him.<br /> My point is if you don't like a song you don't have to listen to it. Make sure you know what it's about and why it was written. And enjoy music, it's a great escape.<br /> <br />
Tiff did ever heard a cover of this song by Tina Turner? Did you know she was victim of domestic violence? Is thumb down for you. And while you -and sociologist, media literate bkennedy- bitch out online about a 1960's song RIGHT NOW hundred of Nigerian children are being kidnapped, raped and murdered. If Africa is to far for your political correctness, watch your next door neighbor, maybe he or she has a 10 years a sex slave in the basement.
@tiffgilbert did you forget your meds?