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.
She stuck a cell phone camera right into my face
With a flick of my wrist I filled her nose fulla mace
The cops wanted to know what was wrong with me
Didn't give me a chance to explain it, see
It ain't her fault for bein careless
It ain't her fault for bein brainless
It ain't her fault for bein hopeless
But it's my fault for bein famous
I'm at the LAX just a-checkin my bag
When up comes a little paparazzi scumbag
I took a laptop slapped him up the side his head
The cops wanted to know why I left him for dead
It ain't his fault for bein nameless
It ain't his fault for bein thoughtless
It ain't his thought for bein shameless
But it's my fault for bein famous
(Let her go, boy)
I had a sweet old lady walk up to me
Wanted to get a photograph for her grandson to see
And as the digital camera lit up the place
She unloaded a chrome 45 in my face
But it ain't her fault for bein ruthless
Ain't her fault for bein toothless
Ain't her fault for bein blameless
But it's my fault for bein famous
(Ah, one more, we can get it better than that, honey)
With a flick of my wrist I filled her nose fulla mace
The cops wanted to know what was wrong with me
Didn't give me a chance to explain it, see
It ain't her fault for bein careless
It ain't her fault for bein brainless
It ain't her fault for bein hopeless
But it's my fault for bein famous
I'm at the LAX just a-checkin my bag
When up comes a little paparazzi scumbag
I took a laptop slapped him up the side his head
The cops wanted to know why I left him for dead
It ain't his fault for bein nameless
It ain't his fault for bein thoughtless
It ain't his thought for bein shameless
But it's my fault for bein famous
(Let her go, boy)
I had a sweet old lady walk up to me
Wanted to get a photograph for her grandson to see
And as the digital camera lit up the place
She unloaded a chrome 45 in my face
But it ain't her fault for bein ruthless
Ain't her fault for bein toothless
Ain't her fault for bein blameless
But it's my fault for bein famous
(Ah, one more, we can get it better than that, honey)
Lyrics submitted by hugmecolin
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At the beginning of the song Jack is untrusting of people (or fans) and does what he can to get them away. He gets bashed for it because he's famous and apparently that means he needs to be a saint. No one cares that the people were being stupid to begin with. Then he tries to please them and gets shot for it.
I usually don't care for bands doing songs about being famous, but The White Stripes do it in a fun, creative way, so I don't mind.
The first two verses are what he'd like to do to annoying fans and the third verse is why.
People want everything from celebrities, but when they push-away from fans..Look out!
am i the only one who doesn't like Jack complaining about being famous?
Sure their are good reasons to complain but why put it in song.
I think "Cash grab" and "honey" are far superior B-sides
music is how he express's himself. So you can say he just whining or you can look at like this is him sharing a bit of how he feels and thinks. Music is like painting a picture of yourself, each song is like a brush stroke, that reveals a small part of you. And your not going to like everysingle thing about someone, buts who they are and we shouldnt critize a small part of them just becuase we personally dont like it. This song represents a small part Jack.
I think you all need to stop taking this song so seriously and remember Jack has a good sense of humour.
This song was inspired by Jack White going on a rant to Chicago Q101 dj Electra because the station was playing "Icky Thump" before it had a wide release. He was acting childish and told her that it was his fault for being famous. While the song isn't directly about that incident if you look at the chorus he could be talking to her, which would be sad because she is great and also I think he should be a bigger man instead of crying about getting radio spins because fans are excited. The song is fun though, and I do like it.