Lyrics to
Back On The Borderline

This version of Back On The Borderline was released by Midnight Oil in 1979.

Our About Midnight Oil page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Back On The Borderline from 1979 as well as all of the other lyrics from Midnight Oil that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Midnight Oil or about the 1970s in general.

From the bar to the bedroom I’m swimming in the neon
Lighted pictures of a redhead, plasticoated hot on
And sometimes when that mirror shows
The smile of disbelief
Stained signature of nightmares
They’re stolen by the thief

I’m back on the borderline
Yes I’m back on the borderline

By the end make a bet and only place is laminex
Laugh a lot cry a lot salt and pepper supper sex
And sometimes when that magic of the moment
Fails the test
In retrospect that diamond day
Did not make second best
And sometimes when a thousand voices
Tell you that you’re wrong
A saint in any form
Becomes a sinner all along

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Midnight Oil has released many songs over the years besides Back On The Borderline. Midnight Oil released songs from 1978 to 2002 spanning across albums like Midnight Oil, Head Injuries, Bird Noises, Place Without A Postcard, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Red Sails In The Sunset, Species Deceases, Diesel And Dust, Blue Sky Mining, Earth And Sun And Moon, Breathe, Redneck Wonderland, and Capricornia. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Midnight Oil.

If you're a fan of 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1979 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Back On The Borderline by Midnight Oil

When you decide to study the lyrics to Back On The Borderline, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1979 song by Midnight Oil. Some of the lyrics to Back On The Borderline have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Midnight Oil and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Back On The Borderline if you take apart the structure of the words. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Back On The Borderline" means the words set to the music of Back On The Borderline, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Midnight Oil. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Back On The Borderline and the lyrics to Back On The Borderline are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Midnight Oil who came here looking just for the lyrics to Back On The Borderline, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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