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.
Elevator goin' up
In the gleaming corridors of the fifty-first floor
The money can be made if you really want some more
Executive decision, a clinical precision
Jumping from the windows, filled with indecision
I get good advice from the advertising world
Treat me nice, party girl
Koke adds life where there isn't any
So freeze, man, freeze
It's the pause that refreshes in the corridors of power
When top men need a top up long before the happy hour
Your snakeskin suit and your alligator boot
You won't need a launderette, you can take 'em to the vet!
I get my advice from the advertising world
"Treat me nice", says the party girl
Koke adds life where there isn't any
So freeze, man, freeze
Koka Kola advertising and cocaine
Strolling down the Broadway in the rain
Neon light sign says it
I read it in the paper, they're crazy
Yeah, suit your life, maybe so
In the White House, I know
All over Berlin, they do it for years
And in Manhattan
Coming through the door is a snub nose forty four
What the barrel can't snort it can spatter on the floor
Your eyeballs feel like pinballs
And your tongue feels like a fish
You're leapin' from the windows sayin'
"Don't get me none of this!"
Koke adds life, advertising world
"Treat me nice", says the party girl
Koke adds life where there isn't any
So freeze, man, freeze
Hit the deck
In the gleaming corridors of the fifty-first floor
The money can be made if you really want some more
Executive decision, a clinical precision
Jumping from the windows, filled with indecision
I get good advice from the advertising world
Treat me nice, party girl
Koke adds life where there isn't any
So freeze, man, freeze
It's the pause that refreshes in the corridors of power
When top men need a top up long before the happy hour
Your snakeskin suit and your alligator boot
You won't need a launderette, you can take 'em to the vet!
I get my advice from the advertising world
"Treat me nice", says the party girl
Koke adds life where there isn't any
So freeze, man, freeze
Koka Kola advertising and cocaine
Strolling down the Broadway in the rain
Neon light sign says it
I read it in the paper, they're crazy
Yeah, suit your life, maybe so
In the White House, I know
All over Berlin, they do it for years
And in Manhattan
Coming through the door is a snub nose forty four
What the barrel can't snort it can spatter on the floor
Your eyeballs feel like pinballs
And your tongue feels like a fish
You're leapin' from the windows sayin'
"Don't get me none of this!"
Koke adds life, advertising world
"Treat me nice", says the party girl
Koke adds life where there isn't any
So freeze, man, freeze
Hit the deck
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More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
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.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
I agree with most everyone above. However, I don't think the meaning of the song has much to do with coca-cola the drink or the company, other than it's a good fit lyrically and ties in to the coporate world.
To me, the core meaning of the song is an observation on being or becoming a career oriented person. I think the song describes the commitment required to being or becoming a high-power executive (or politician)... ie. The money can be made if you really want some more But often that commitment requires you to go against who you really are... ie. Executive decision-a clinical precision Jumping from the windows-filled with indecision And that people lose themselves (their "life") in that world, and they resort to drugs to give them excitement or an escape from it... ie. Coke adds life where there isn't any I don't understand the last verse or the "freeze, man freeze" parts, the only thing I think is the subject of the song was sick of his whole work-drugs-work-drugs world and "went postal".
Im not saying im right, but what i get from this song is that the advertising world controls what we do eat and drink... just like the radio and mtv controls what becomes the next hit POP song... (just my interpretation)
The fact that Joe and the gang made the song to sound like a catchy advertising jingle may distract you from what the song is really about, which is what everyone before me has already said...
...Not much more I can add.
In general I agree with the other posters; the song has a few different subtexts all woven together with cocaine being the common theme:
The last line of the chorus ("freeze, man, freeze") and the last verse about the snub-nose .44 don't seem to fit at first, but they do make sense. The way I see it, he's saying you're getting robbed by coke-heads either way, whether one is coming through your door with a pistol, or you're paying for some product because advertising told you to. Every commercial you see is telling you to freeze and give up your money.
This song is about coked up execs being a^^holes... "It's the pause that refreshes in the corridors of power, When top men need a top up long before the happy hour." I used to work for a major corp. and it was the same situation. GOD I HATE COKE HEADS!!!!
@Bird On A Wire For a long time, I did work in Silicon Valley where part of the job was to interact and socialize with senior execs (CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, COOs, mostly). Some are names you'd recognize. Quite a large proportion of them were sociopaths, and quite a lot were cokeheads too. Where those groups overlapped, it was especially toxic. I went to after-work parties where there were bowls full of cocaine on coffee tables. These people were sharks when sober. They were even more obnoxious after a few lines. I share your sentiment: I despise cokeheads. <br /> <br /> Now I work with scientists at a research facility. It no longer feels like I'm a handler in the venomous reptile house at the zoo.
i like micks backing vocals in this. very soft and soothing.
How does it remind ANYONE of American Psycho???
It reminds the first poster of American Psycho. And me...
"The pause that refreshes" is an old Coke slogan.
@superviv The narrator of the song finds it funny that Coca-Cola ads also advertise cocaine. And high levels of the advertising industry, among others, runs on cocaine. <br /> <br /> "So freeze!"-- referencing the numbing effect of coke.
"Coke adds life" is another Coca-Cola slogan. I think the point in drawing the connection between the two cokes is to show that people buy them for the same basic reason - they have been tricked into believing it will make their lives more exciting.
"Your snakeskin suit and your alligator boot You won't need a launderette, you can send them to the vet!" has to be one of the more underrated lines in the clash history