van Zandt was born as Steven Lento in Winthrop, Massachusetts. His mother, Mary Lento, remarried when he was young and Steven took the last name of his stepfather, William Van Zandt. The family moved from Massachusetts to Middletown Township, New Jersey when he was seven.
Van Zandt subsequently became a songwriter and producer for fellow Jersey shore act Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes in the mid- to late-1970s, penning their signature song "I Don't Wanna Go Home", co-writing other songs for them with Springsteen, and producing their most-acclaimed record, Hearts of Stone. As such, Van Zandt became a key contributor to the Jersey Shore sound. Van Zandt then went on to share production credits on the classic Springsteen albums Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, and Born in the U.S.A..
Van Zandt has produced a number of other records, including an uncredited effort on the Iron City Houserockers' Have A Good Time (But Get Out Alive). Less successful was his work on Lone Justice's second album Shelter, which was a career-ending flop for the Los Angeles cowpunk band.
In 2004, he contributed the song "Baby Please Don't Go" to Nancy Sinatra's self-titled album
Van Zandt officially left the E Street Band in 1984 (Springsteen's song "Bobby Jean" is said to be inspired by the split) and has been involved in numerous solo musical projects and collaborations since then, ranging from soul music to hard rock to world music. In particular, he released four albums in the 1980s and one in 1999, sometimes fronting an on-and-off group known as Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul. Van Zandt has written that these albums are each elements in a five-part concept cycle. The first of them, 1982's white soul Men Without Women, earned the most critical praise (Jay Cocks of TIME magazine dubbed it one of the ten best albums of the year), while its follow-up, 1984's Voice of America, did the best on the U.S. albums chart, although none of them were much of a commercial success. With Voice of America, his music became explicitly political, with the central theme being opposition to Ronald Reagan-era American foreign policy.
Continuing his involvement in issues of the day, in 1985 he created the music-industry activist group Artists United Against Apartheid as an action against the Sun City resort in South Africa. Forty-nine top recording artists, including Springsteen, U2, Bob Dylan and Run DMC, collaborated on a song called "Sun City" in which they pledged they would never perform at the resort. The effort was modestly successful. In 1987 he released the album Freedom - No Compromise, which continued the political messaging in an even more strident fashion. Some U.S. appearances in that year as opening act for U2's arena-and-stadium Joshua Tree Tour continued in the same vein – Oliver North was labelled a "criminal motherfucker" – but were not well-received by audiences, who found the sound overbearing and the performances lacking musicality. Both the record and his concerts were more popular in Europe, however. Little Steven's fourth album, 1989's Revolution, attracted little attention.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Van_Zandt
Forever
Little Steven Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You turn your cheek you get slapped
I take the punches I can't slip
And I give it right back
Even if I win girl, you know it really won't mean too much
What I want baby most of all is the only thing I can't touch
Would you pick up the pieces if I stumble and fall
If my world falls apart could you keep it together
If I can't have you I don't want no one at all
Just because I'm so quiet
Just because I don't cry
The hardest lesson to learn girl
Is how to take it inside
There's leather and jewels to soothe me
But it really isn't what I need
There's an aching hurt inside of me
And it's the kind of thing you don't see
If I give you my heart would you love me forever
Would you pick up the pieces if I stumble and fall
If my world falls apart could you keep it together
If I can't have you I don't want no one at all
Now the years are unwinding
But I still feel the hurt
I've been fighting my whole life
For the privilege to work
Now I've stopped and looked around me
There's nobody left to blame
If I don't have you to hold me girl
All of my work's in vain
If I give you my heart would you love me forever
Would you pick up the pieces if I stumble and fall
If my world falls apart could you keep it together
If I can't have you I don't want no one at all
The song 'Forever' by Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul is a melancholic love song that opens with the declaration that the singer learned at a young age that if he turns his cheek, he will get slapped. The lyrics suggest that the singer has faced many battles in his life and has learned to take punches without slipping. The singer is willing to fight back but knows that winning doesn't really mean too much because the only thing he wants he can't touch. The chorus emphasizes that the singer wants love that is forever, one that will stick by him through thick and thin, and he doesn't want anyone else if he can't have the one he loves.
The second verse of the song talks about the singer's acceptance of the difficult lessons of life. He may not cry or talk much, but he knows how to take things inside, and it's the hardest lesson to learn. Material things such as leather and jewels may soothe him, but they are not what he needs. There is an aching hurt inside him, and no one can see it. The last verse implies that the singer has worked hard his whole life and now realizes that the only thing that really matters is love, and if he doesn't have it, then all his work is in vain.
Line by Line Meaning
I learned when I was a young boy
At a young age, I already learned that standing up for myself could result in receiving unwanted attacks.
You turn your cheek you get slapped
Choosing to ignore or show kindness to someone who wronged you could often lead to more harm.
I take the punches I can't slip
I take the blows that come my way, sometimes without the ability to avoid them beforehand.
And I give it right back
I don't let people walk all over me without retaliation.
Even if I win girl, you know it really won't mean too much
Even if I succeed or win, it won't matter if I don't have the one thing I truly want.
What I want baby most of all is the only thing I can't touch
The one thing I desire the most is intangible, and therefore out of my grasp.
If I give you my heart would you love me forever
If I were to give you my heart, would you promise to love me unconditionally for eternity?
Would you pick up the pieces if I stumble and fall
Would you be there to help me pick myself up when I inevitably make mistakes or fail?
If my world falls apart could you keep it together
If everything in my life fell apart, would you be able to keep me grounded and sane?
If I can't have you I don't want no one at all
If I can't be with you, then I don't want to be with anyone else in the world.
Just because I'm so quiet
My silence doesn't always mean contentment or lack of emotion.
Just because I don't cry
Just because I don't show outward signs of emotion doesn't mean I'm not hurting deeply inside.
The hardest lesson to learn girl
The most challenging lesson I've had to learn is how to manage my emotions internally.
Is how to take it inside
The ability to process and handle difficult emotions internally is a hard-won skill.
There's leather and jewels to soothe me
Material possessions may bring momentary comfort, but they don't truly satisfy emotional needs.
But it really isn't what I need
What I truly require is something much deeper than shallow material possessions.
There's an aching hurt inside of me
There's a deep, emotional pain within me that I haven't been able to fully address.
And it's the kind of thing you don't see
This emotional pain is not visible to others and is often overlooked or ignored.
Now the years are unwinding
As I grow older and time passes, I become more aware of the things that truly matter to me.
But I still feel the hurt
Despite the passage of time, the emotional pain I feel hasn't dissipated.
I've been fighting my whole life
I've always had to fight for my place and my values in life.
For the privilege to work
Working hard and having a purpose in life is a privilege that shouldn't be taken for granted.
Now I've stopped and looked around me
As I reflect on my life, I'm realizing that something important is missing.
There's nobody left to blame
I've come to the realization that I can no longer blame others for my unhappiness.
If I don't have you to hold me girl
If I can't be with the one I love, there's no one else who can make me happy.
All of my work's in vain
Everything I've worked hard for in life feels meaningless without love and companionship.
Lyrics © DistroKid, BMG Rights Management, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: John B Williams
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
ruhuone
Why does this not hit more than a million hits. This is a true gem!
ClassicTVMan1981X
First things first: the song only hit #63 on the charts during Christmas 1982.
Suzanne Taylor
This song has the perfect energy.It starts slow gets full beat,and goes back around actually a couple times.It is ear candy.
Steven Van Zandt
Thanks for following my page,thank you for the support and love ❤️ I really appreciate you. I’ll love to honor you by dropping me your personal information for a private conversation if that’s ok by you..
sparky12u
agreed
Wolfram Hohmann
When the album "Men without Women" came our during my university days it completely blew me away. The songwriting, the arrangements, the performance of all these wonderful musicians gathered on this album...
On the inner sleves you could see photographs that obviously were taken from a movie. I read, that the short film Steven had produced in paralel to the making of the album were shown in some assorted art house theaters and then...got lost. I wished so much I could see the entire film.
JVeev
The arrangement of this song is fantastic- but that is expected from any piece that bears Steven’s name. What a classic 👍🏼👍🏼
Crime Hound
This is what I miss about the downfall of what was MTV in it's original form. Music I never would have been exposed to ever. Songs like this, or Maria McKee and Lone Justice and their music.
Sleazychen 😈
I Agree, The Best Years Was Between 1981 - 1991, My Favourites Was The First 4 Years, It Felt Like A Indie Channel, Had A Lot Of The Underground Bands, Yet, There Was The Popular Bands Too, The Best Part Of Headbangers Ball In My Opinion 120 Minutes, Basement Tapes, Headbangers Ball, Heavy Metal Mania, Saturday Night Concert, Hard 30, And Closet Classics 🤘🏻
Muffs 55mercury
The 80s were a decade of promotion. The original MTV was a huge part of that.