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.
My life is changing in so many ways
I don't know who to trust anymore
There's a shadow running through my days
Like a beggar going from door to door
I was thinking that maybe I'd get a maid
Find a place nearby for her to stay
Just someone to keep my house clean
Fix my meals and go away
A maid
A man needs a maid
A maid
It's hard to make that change
When life and love turns strange
And old
To give a love, you gotta live a love
To live a love, you gotta be "part of"
When will I see you again?
While ago somewhere I don't know when
I was watching a movie with a friend
I fell in love with the actress
She was playing a part that I could understand
A maid
A man needs a maid
A maid
A man needs a maid
When will I see you again?
I don't know who to trust anymore
There's a shadow running through my days
Like a beggar going from door to door
I was thinking that maybe I'd get a maid
Find a place nearby for her to stay
Just someone to keep my house clean
Fix my meals and go away
A maid
A man needs a maid
A maid
It's hard to make that change
When life and love turns strange
And old
To give a love, you gotta live a love
To live a love, you gotta be "part of"
When will I see you again?
While ago somewhere I don't know when
I was watching a movie with a friend
I fell in love with the actress
She was playing a part that I could understand
A maid
A man needs a maid
A maid
A man needs a maid
When will I see you again?
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Watch this shit on Live At Massey Hall, it's a beautiful suite from A Man Needs a Maid to Heart of Gold. and this is far from sexist, the opposite i think. it's exposing his weakness for women..you get a sense that he is heartbroken in this song because of woman, now all he wants is the woman without the emotional distress-someone to cook, clean, etc..as sexist as it sounds it's just the opposite.
One thing about Young I find so funny is that his songs are really as close as we get to knowing Young. He always throws in line that might be directed to his own life (ex cortez the killer "and I know she's living there, and she loves me to this day") that makes his songs so personal and great. But once he stops singing, he is kind of like this mystery.. a man who stays quiet on his ranch. a respectable old man full of mysteries but lets down a guard when he sings that lets all kinds of people in..amazing
i agree man there is nothing sexist about it. Neil is one of the artist you have to read between the lines with ive always got the feeling that this song was about not wanting to be alone.
it sounds like his wife left him or something, and doesn't want to fall in love anymore (and at the same time wants her back)...but he was so dependent on this woman and knows it.
Bob Dylan liked this song, I've heard...
There is no question the song is about a failed relationship. The give away is at the end when he wonders when he will ever see "her" again. He is expressing frustration at the difficulty in human relationships. The music expresses a melancholy mood. The challenge is to make a relationship work. The maid is a symbol of a substitute woman that gives him everything else he needs to function except genuine human connection-- which is just too painful and too risky to actually experience. He is thinking that it would be "easier" than a genuine relationship if he just had this woman who came over and did everything that he needed or wanted out of a human relationship (except love) and then just go away. It's a very sad, sad song, and is meant to express a pathetic point of view. I have heard over the years that women libbers think the song is a diss of women. Absolutely not. If anyone is getting dissed, it's Neil dissing himself for being unable to handle a genuine relationship with a female partner. It is not a suggestion in any way that women are somehow subordinate to men.
As a flaming feminist, I absolutely agree.
@tpk56 Fantastic, yes I couldn't agree more with what you say and you said it very well.
this is beautiful and fantastic
A man needs someone to help clean up the mess he's made of his life, fumbling around by himself. ;)
@artslut I don't see that at all, although that's a popular sitcom trope, and assumption amongst people in general (that Men are stumbling around this planet until a woman takes pity and cleans him up) - it's a romantic notion, and has nothing at all to do with real life...or the lyrics to the song for that matter.
@artslut I don't see that at all, although that's a popular sitcom/standup trope (I'm looking at you, Chris Rock), and assumption amongst people in general (that Men are stumbling around this planet until a woman takes pity and cleans him up) - it's a romantic notion, and has nothing at all to do with real life...or the lyrics to the song for that matter.<br /> <br /> BTW, i know you winked, my comment was more for those who might come later and agree with your tongue in cheek comment.
Feminists the world over have misinterpreted this song since 1972
This song is about depression. He has lost the one he loves. Basically he wants to do nothing. He doesn't want to talk to anyone or see any one. He just wants someone to clean his house, fix his meals and go away. Nothing sexist about this.
There are times when you, by any reason, feel you can't get the ideal love you are longing for and then bitterly give it up: the ideal is impossible to reach, this awareness makes you suffer, so in order not suffer you will downgrade the relation man-woman (source of pain) to just something practical and useful for daily routines, depriving it from any shade of sentiment that might remind you of love and make you suffer again. Please read the modified lyrics below, imagine the singer is a woman and then say if it can't be referred to women as well (and so to all human beings - so please women libbers don't fell dissed!!!).
My life is changing in so many ways I don't know who to trust anymore There's a shadow running thru my days Like a beggar going from door to door.
I was thinking that I may get a handyman Find a place nearby for him to stay. Just someone to keep my garden clean, do odd-jobs and go away.
A handyman, a woman needs a handyman. A handyman.
It's hard to make that change When life and love turns strange. And old.
To give a love, you gotta live a love. To live a love, you gotta be "part of" When will I see you again?
A while ago somewhere I don't know when I was watching a movie with a friend. I fell in love with the actor He was playing a part that I could understand.
A handyman, a woman needs a handyman. A handyman.
the lyrics to this song are great especially, "someone to keep my house clean/fix my meals and go away"... i don't really have any idea what this song is about though. like most neil songs.
yeah theres a little history behind this one. first of all neil had been bedridden for awhile around the time this was written and had needed a maid. second of all, that part about fell in love with the actress is a reference to carrie snodgrass neils first wife and mother of his son zeke (see the song "new mama"). he saw her playing a maid in a movie and arranged to meet her. it is a great song isn't it?