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.
When the lights go down in the city
And the sun shines on the bay
Ooh, I want to be there in my city
Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
So you think you're lonely
Well my friend, I'm lonely too
I wanna get back to my city by the bay
Ooh, ooh, oh-oh
It's sad, oh there's been mornings
Out on the road without you
Without your charms
Oh-oh, my, my, my, my, my, my
Ooh, ooh, oh-oh
When the lights go down in the city
And the sun shines on the bay
Ooh, I want to be there in my city
Ooh-oh-oh (oh, oh, ooh-oh)
When the lights go down in the city
And the sun shines on the bay
Ooh, I want to be there in my city
Ooh-oh-oh (oh, oh, ooh-oh)
(Oh, oh, ooh-oh)
And the sun shines on the bay
Ooh, I want to be there in my city
Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
So you think you're lonely
Well my friend, I'm lonely too
I wanna get back to my city by the bay
Ooh, ooh, oh-oh
It's sad, oh there's been mornings
Out on the road without you
Without your charms
Oh-oh, my, my, my, my, my, my
Ooh, ooh, oh-oh
When the lights go down in the city
And the sun shines on the bay
Ooh, I want to be there in my city
Ooh-oh-oh (oh, oh, ooh-oh)
When the lights go down in the city
And the sun shines on the bay
Ooh, I want to be there in my city
Ooh-oh-oh (oh, oh, ooh-oh)
(Oh, oh, ooh-oh)
Lyrics submitted by WhT LytEniN
Lights Lyrics as written by Neal Joseph Schon Stephen Ray Perry
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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i always associated it with Green BAY, seeing as how it says city by the BAY duhh -Kevin
yes! thank you fellow wisconsin person of awesomeness!<br /> <br /> lol, but seriously, thanks to you i will now and forever be reminded of the great state of wisconsin.
Journey's best.
go ahead. argue.
and, yes, it is about San Fran, but I'd like to think it's about my home town, sea-town.
and computwiz - Journey is not a singer. journey is a band. Steve Perry is a singer. for a band. called journey. shoots
I used to listen to this song every mourning on the ride to my daycare. And to me it's about Seattle. Thats my city, but now it had a greater meaning when I was all the way out in butt fucking Iraq fight a war. I come back in August 2003. Hey friends does that give a good enough instight for a great song.
This is a great song...one of my favorites. Joyrney is a good band. And with regards to that Los Angeles comment...I, too, must laugh. Everybody knows that San Francisco is the city by the bay.
@zacster He said it's definitely about LA but had to change the name when he got called to join the band. He wrote this song before he joined Journey<br /> <br /> hollywoodreporter.com/news/journeys-steve-perry-joins-eels-711540
actually, compuwiz is kinda right...Steve Perry originally wrote this song about LA, then had to change it when he joined Journey to make it about San Fran cuz that's where the rest of Journey was from...i got your back compuwiz!!
hell yeah CT man. I have great memories of hearing this song on the radio while driving up I-91 throught hartford. Not a city by the bay in any means, but its still a good feeling.
YES THIS SONG IS ABOUT SAN FRANSICO, NOT LOS ANGELES! A really great memory I have of this song is when I was a kid me and my family flew to San Fransico. It was at like 2:00 in the morning when the plane was about the hit the runway, and they played this song during the landing process. Since the airport is right in the bay, MAN the sight of the Golden Gate Bridge lit up with this song playing was so beatuiful, and at the same time so emontional. Passengers were crying, it definatley is something I will remember for ever. This song always cheers me up because it makes me think of that time. Steve Perry has a powerful, and heart touching voice.
This would be a great story, if you could actually see the GG bridge from the Airport!
The fact that one single radio standard Journey song could incite such heated debate is a major source of entertainment for me at this moment.
Sure, I am easily amused. Just as Compuwiz19 is positively weird. Whats next? The assertion by FaRvELvR1992 that its about green bay? Oh, wait. wouldnt want to give anyone any ideas...
Probably my favorite Journey song (just an inch above Separate Ways).
I always love thinking about how with a few judicious changes to the lyrics, it could really be a song about wanting to go home to any city. Yeah, I know it's about San Francisco, but it's nice to imagine it could be about Tampa, New York City, or even Hell, Michigan if one felt like it. That's how universal the sensibility it invokes is.
Even though this is about San Francisco, it was written in Los Angeles, where the band had relocated. Steve Perry explained in an interview with Joe Benson of Arrow 93.1 FM: "I had the song written in Los Angeles almost completely except for the bridge and it was written about Los Angeles. It was 'when the lights go down in the city and the sun shines on LA.' I didn't like the way it sounded at the time. And so I just had it sitting back in the corner. Then life changed my plans once again, and I was now facing joining Journey. I love San Francisco, the bay and the whole thing. 'The bay' fit so nice, 'When the lights go down in the city and the sun shines on the bay.' It was one of those early morning going across the bridge things when the sun was coming up and the lights were going down. It was perfect."
'City by the Bay' IS synonymous with San Francisco(Bay Area) and that's where Steve is from but this song can be interpreted as anyone's 'city by the bay'.