Album: Skid Row (1989)

Charted: 12 4

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• Ricky was a young boy
  He had a heart of stone
  Lived nine to five and worked his fingers to the bone
  
  Just barely out of school
  Came from the edge of town
  Fought like a switchblade so no one could take him down
  
  He had no money, oh
  No good at home
  He walked the streets a soldier
  And he fought the world alone and now it's
  
  Eighteen and life you got it
  Eighteen and life you know
  Your crime is time and it's
  Eighteen and life to go
  Eighteen and life you got it
  Eighteen and life you know
  Your crime is time and it's
  Eighteen and life to go
  
  Tequila in his heartbeat
  His veins burned gasoline
  It kept his motor runnin'
  But he never kept it clean
  
  They say he loved adventure
  Ricky's the wild one
  He married trouble
  Had a courtship with a gun
  
  Bang, bang, shoot 'em up
  The party never ends
  You can't think of dying when the bottle's your best friend
  And now it's
  
  Eighteen and life you got it
  Eighteen and life you know
  Your crime is time and it's
  Eighteen and life to go
  Eighteen and life you got it
  Eighteen and life you know
  Your crime is time and it's
  Eighteen and life to go
  
  Accidents will happen
  They all heard Ricky say
  He fired his six-shot to the wind
  That child blew a child away
  
  Eighteen and life you got it
  Eighteen and life you know
  Your crime is time and it's
  Eighteen and life to go
  Eighteen and life you got it
  Eighteen and life you know
  Your crime is time and it's
  Eighteen and life to go, yeah
  Oh oh Writer/s: DAVID MICHAEL SABO, RACHEL BOLAN SOUTHWORTH
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 32

• Sherrie from FloridaI love Skid Row and i love heavy metal. It is still sad to think that Sebastian Bach is not in the band anymore. Now the band sucks.
• Andy from AlabamaListen to Stonewall Jackson Life to go, written by George Jones
• Madhatter from HellSlave to the Grind isn't a hitless album. One big hit, iirc, is Monkey Business.
• Tracy from Waukesha WiI have a daughter that loves this song actually all their songs. When she saw the video she said to me mom you are not supposed to mess around with guns, especially when drinking! Another mom that I met in the park heard what she told me and said you let her watch that I told that mom yes at least as you heard she understands what happens if you play with guns. She got the gist of the song.
• Brittany from NyThat’s a lie. My sister Shanne won a teen magazine song writing contest about my father who killed someone in a knife fight playing pool. Such bs she had the song rights and everything where she had to sign it over. All she got was autographs and to meet these douchebags. The guitarist is a scumbag liar just trying to claim fame. Such a shame. Can’t even give credit where credit is due. Pathetic. That’s why they’re a washed up band.
• Anthony from DesertYou can find Sebastian in the GWAR movie SkulHedFace. As he is getting the Jiizmoglobin extracted from his head by Glomco for agreeing to sell his artistry into mediocracy, the countdown announces the levels as 22, 20, 18 and Life To Go.
• Heather from Atlanta@Madalyn from Greensburg, Pa ~ but in the video they showed "Ricky" hold up a gun and shoot his friend. Personally I think they goofed in the video because it doesn't match up with the lyrics regarding the shooting being an accident ("accidents will happen, they all heard Ricky say") because in the video Ricky aimed his gun point blank at his friend and pulled the trigger after his friend apparently challenged him to shoot him by opening his jacket and appeared to be saying something like "come on" . It sure didn't look like an accident! It looked like a very deliberate act. I know it's just a video from 100 years ago (haha, that's how it FEELS anyway).
  
  Oh and @ Mike from Brooklyn..... P.S. ~ in the lyrics where he said "he fired his six shot to the wind", I thought it was "he fired his six shot through the wimp" lmao.
• Heather from Atlanta@Mike from Brooklyn I don't know how old these comments are.... I just ran across this tonight... so I don't know if you'll see this comment. But I gotta say, your comment had me laughing so hard I literally had to wait a few moments before I was able to type again.... "18 and life retarded".....ooooh my Lord *tears in my eyes*! Thank you! You have no idea how much I needed that laugh!
• Louis from Ky@Tayla Jade, this is far from that. Dave Sabo wrote the lyrics to this about his brother who was basically his father figure from 2-7 (father was not really part of his life since the age of 2), his brother went off to vietnam when he was 7 and returned at 9. He was never the same. The lyrics didnt exactly pan out so he came up with a similar story that folks could relate to, 18 and life. Thats a fact. He told his story about this in his interview. you can find it on youtube as a matter of fact.
• Frankie from Sunset Strip, Los AngelesThis song rocks, the live version from wembley 1991 is amazing. if you watch the music video, it makes sense what it's about.
• Jarvis from London, UkMaggie from San Fran - no, "skid row" is a much older expression, which means you are out of money and out of luck. It comes from the days when workers dragged logs; you were sent 'down skid road' when you were fired, but has since had a much broader meaning. It can also mean an impoverished area of town (this may be the use in America; in British English it usually just means a person has fallen on very hard times as in 'I'm on skid row'.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn July 2nd 1989, "18 and Life" by Skid Row entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #91; and on September 17th, 1989 it peaked at #4 (for 1 weeks) and spent 17 weeks on the Top 100...
  It reached #6 in Canada.
• Resty Mervin Ponio from Marikina City, PhilippinesFor me, 18 and life means that kids beyond 18 y.o wastes their life, sometimes killing their friends.
• Tayla Jade from Perth, AustraliaActually this song is about a girl that is my mums best friend its about how s--t her life was coz she was a roadie for skidrow and dont tell me otherwise
• Willie from Scottsdale, AzJust to echo what's already been suggested, "18 and life to go" is somewhat metaphorical. The kid was 18 years old when he shot his friend. So on one level, he will spend a considerable amount of time in prison, dependent on good behavior, etc. . He also has the rest of his natural life to contemplate the thing he did to his friend.
• Ciara from Ses, Beninhe kills his best friend in the video for some reason cant remember sebastian is so cute
• Matt from Seminole, Okhaha. in other words, i agree with aaron
• Matt from Seminole, OkMy guess is that the lyrics "18 and life to go" mean he is 18 with life in prison "to go". meaning "only 18 and already charged with life". Unless the lyrics were just wrote wrong.
• Amanda from Sheffield, United KingdomMadalyn, the lyrics say "had a courtship with a gun". I would think that means he shot hom with a gun, not a syringe.
• Natasha from Athens, Ohi love this song to death my dad used to play it for me.
• Tyler from Toms River, NjThe local was in Toms River, New Jersey, his friend is now paralized for life from the neck down
• Luke from Manchester, EnglandAAron, you are correct - I should f**king know that (there's a punk band called 25 ta life)
• Ronnie from Cincinnati, OhDont know how long these post have been up but it is now 11-17-07 and I remember when I first heard this song, I was sitting in the local state little shop of horros if you know what I mean. This cat who was up on A range for a manslaughter bit use to play this song on his guitar and was actually very good, he taught me how to play this song and thats how I got into guitar...who says you cant learn anything in prison..
• Kris from Wichita, Kswell aaron it isn't technically manslaughter. If it's ruled as "accidental" then it becomes a new ball game. but who cares this is a place to talk about songs on criminal law. if i wanna talk about court i'll go to Harvard
• Maxx from Stonigton, Ctit got it's name because the kid who shot his friend was 18 and got a life sentence
  
• Teodoros from Stockholm, United StatesI just wanna say that i think this song rocks but it's kinda sad
  
• Maggie from San Francisco, Cadid skid row get their name from Little Shop of Horrors?
• Aaron from Orefield, PaYes just to let you know luke, the penalty for first degree manslaughter is 25 to life not 18...the kid was 18 when he shot his friend, thats why he's 18 and has life to go
• Luke from Manchester, EnglandHe got put in jail because 18 to life is the minimum sentence you get for shooting and killing a fellow human being.
• Luke from Manchester, Englandsorry, 18 is minimum and life is the maximum, it's normally called "18 to life"
• Madalyn from Greensburg, Payea mike really... personally i thought they were talking about a kid taking heroin...and he gave his friend heroin and he died...if he 'accidently' shot him with a gun would they really put him in jail for life? Thats why i think they were referring to heroin.
• Mike from Brooklyn, NyFor the longest time, I thought the lyrics were "18 and life retarded, 18 and life to go." Since then, I've found the real lyrics, but I still like my version better.
  ~Mike, Brooklyn, NY

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