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.
Proud swagger out of the schoolyard
Waiting for the world's applause
Rebel without a conscience
Martyr without a cause
Static on your frequency
Electrical storm in your veins
Raging at unreachable glory
Straining at invisible chains
And now you're trembling on a rocky ledge
Staring down into a heartless sea
Can't face life on a razor's edge
Nothings what you thought it would be
All of us get lost in the darkness
Dreamers learn to steer by the stars
All of us do time in the gutter
Dreamers turn to look at the cars
Turn around and turn around and turn around
Turn around and walk the razor's edge
Don't turn your back
And slam the door on me
It's not as if this barricade
Blocks the only road
It's not as if you're all alone
In wanting to explode
Someone set a bad example
Made surrender seem all right
The act of a noble warrior
Who lost the will to fight
And now you're trembling on a rocky ledge
Staring down into a heartless sea
Done with life on a razor's edge
Nothings what you thought it would be
All of us get lost in the darkness
Dreamers learn to steer by the stars
All of us do time in the gutter
Dreamers turn to look at the cars
Turn around and turn around and turn around
Turn around and walk the razor's edge
Don't turn your back
And slam the door on me
No hero in your tragedy
No daring in your escape
No salutes for your surrender
Nothing noble in your fate
Christ, what have you done?
All of us get lost in the darkness
Dreamers learn to steer by the stars
All of us do time in the gutter
Dreamers turn to look at the cars
Turn around and turn around and turn around
Turn around and walk the razor's edge
Turn around and walk the razor's edge
Turn around and walk the razor's edge
Don't turn your back
And slam the door on me
Waiting for the world's applause
Rebel without a conscience
Martyr without a cause
Static on your frequency
Electrical storm in your veins
Raging at unreachable glory
Straining at invisible chains
And now you're trembling on a rocky ledge
Staring down into a heartless sea
Can't face life on a razor's edge
Nothings what you thought it would be
All of us get lost in the darkness
Dreamers learn to steer by the stars
All of us do time in the gutter
Dreamers turn to look at the cars
Turn around and turn around and turn around
Turn around and walk the razor's edge
Don't turn your back
And slam the door on me
It's not as if this barricade
Blocks the only road
It's not as if you're all alone
In wanting to explode
Someone set a bad example
Made surrender seem all right
The act of a noble warrior
Who lost the will to fight
And now you're trembling on a rocky ledge
Staring down into a heartless sea
Done with life on a razor's edge
Nothings what you thought it would be
All of us get lost in the darkness
Dreamers learn to steer by the stars
All of us do time in the gutter
Dreamers turn to look at the cars
Turn around and turn around and turn around
Turn around and walk the razor's edge
Don't turn your back
And slam the door on me
No hero in your tragedy
No daring in your escape
No salutes for your surrender
Nothing noble in your fate
Christ, what have you done?
All of us get lost in the darkness
Dreamers learn to steer by the stars
All of us do time in the gutter
Dreamers turn to look at the cars
Turn around and turn around and turn around
Turn around and walk the razor's edge
Turn around and walk the razor's edge
Turn around and walk the razor's edge
Don't turn your back
And slam the door on me
Lyrics submitted by shed27, edited by Rush4Peace
The Pass Lyrics as written by Gary Lee Weinrib Neil Elwood Peart
Lyrics © Anthem Entertainment
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
This whole song is to do with teen suicide, but what I find from it too is that Neil is saying that life is really tough and there is alot of hurt and rejections in life thats what I get when he says "all of us get lost in the darkness" and "It's not as if this barricade blcoks the only road". Meaning that yeah life is tough and there will be a lot of tough incidents that you face, but life is worth living, don't give up on life because it is worth fighting for. This song helped me threw a breakup with my girlfriend after four years, I was really down in the dumps.
this song has a powerfull positive message and has saved my life on more than one ocasion for me it speaks to myADHD ""static on my frequency electrical storm in my heart". and the feelings of anxious insecurity "standing on a rocky ledge stareing out at a heartless sea" a DEbt of gratitude to Rush and there insight (i am not a teen am in my late fourties livin on the land in a small town that noone can pronounce. i have a fabulous garden
incredible song. rush likes to announce this as one of their favorites in concert. it sounds like its about someone who, coming out of high school, thought the world would be handed to him, then realized it wouldnt and is now contemplating suicide, maybe jumping off a building or something, and the speaker is telling them to turn around and come back.
"some reason this sounds like its about neil pearts daughter who died in a car crash when she was only 19. it might have been written before that though. im not positive. but that seems to fit"
no, it was written so long before they both died. But this song seems more against suicide rather than literally being about it. It seems to mostly say keep on pushing when times are at the worst
Possibly the most amazing rock song ever written. This song is about the journey that is life that we all face, the choices that we make, and dealing with the results of those decisions. While the final dark ending for the main character is obvious (Christ, What Have You Done), the lyrics are yet full of optimism & hope for those who choose to struggle on in life, despite the problems & setbacks we all experience. The main character in the song seems to almost have been sacrificed so that the rest of us might be inspired to keep the flame burning.
I get Effin goose bumps every time I hear it.
It's just the new year, now. Over the past few days, radio stations in my area have been runnin the usual "Top 100 Rock Songs". I hear " Gimme 3 steps" I hear "Satisfaction" Not a whisper of The Pass. It kinda made me sad on New Years Day.....
stairway to heaven..please...the pass is better than the top 1000 on any list...only rush fans get it...makes me sad when i hear this song...sadder when i dont
To me one of the interesting things about Rush is that when I listened to them in my early teens, I loved a number of songs.
As I grew older I discovered that Peart wrote some profound lyrics that I could often relate to. I also discovered how diverse and complex Lee and Lifeson's arrangements were. I appreciated Rush even more, and I discovered a whole new set of great Rush songs, this being one of them.
Rush's best song in my view. This is not to be taken literally, it is about emotional decisions and how the choices you make turn out. A work of genius.
definately suicide, kind of a wierd topic for neil peart to write about. but " someone set a bad example, made surrender seem alright" is pretty dead on.
The song is written about the epidemic of teenage suicide. As Neil peart says "It still brings a tear to my eye to play that song, I think that's one of our better crafted ones lyrically and musically".
very strong both musically and lyrically, both upbeat and melancholic, further proof, if it were ever needed that Rush are the best band ever.
@Razormasticator Is it "epidemic of teenage suicide" or is it an epidemic of abusive and selfish parenting? Kids get blamed for everything. And no one asks to be born in this mess.
The foremost thing needed to be understood about this song is that it is /figurative/. It is not about suicide. It is, as was said above, about struggling with difficult emotional issues that arose due to poor judgement.
I am almost certain that the speaker and the person being spoken to are in fact the same person. It is someone speaking to himself or herself.
They are saying (to themselves), "Look. You started out with a poor idea of what the world was like, and made some bad decisions as a result. Now look where you are. And you just want to lie down and not do anything about it? This happens to everyone once-in-a-while; what seperates the successful from the unsuccessful is what you make of the situation. Will you tremble in fear and inaction when the time comes to act? Or will you apply your mind and improve the situation? Not to act is /ethical/ suicide. Don't turn your back on yourself.