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Life Is A Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)

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Marc S. Glasser

unread,

Aug 20, 1996, 3:00:00 AM8/20/96

to sha...@compassnet.com, jbar...@netins.net

A couple of weeks ago, sha...@compassnet.com posted a request for
the lyrics to "Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)" by Reunion.
jbar...@netins.net responded:

>Not long ago I posted a similar inquiry here. Since it's said that God
>helps those who help themselves, I dug out my copy of "Life is A Rock"
>and decoded as many of the lyrics as I could. Maybe some of you can
>decode the unintelligible portions or the parts I am unsure of, which
>are in parentheses below. Everybody take a deep breath now:

As it happens, I had made an attempt at transcribing the lyrics myself,
for a fanzine about seven years ago. I also attempted to annotate it,
for those with shorter memories or less of a penchant for reading fine
print on record labels than I. I only got through the first verse.
In a spirit of cooperative endeavor, therefore, I'm here submitting my
revisions and annotations to jim's transcription. If anyone wants to
add further, or debate the less audible words, I'd love to watch or
participate. We may get this hammered out yet!

1. B.B. Bumble and the Stingers, Mott the Hoople, Ray Charles Singers
Lonnie Mack and twangin' Eddy, here's my ring we're goin' steady
Take it easy, take me higher, liar liar, house on fire
Locomotion, Poco, Patches, Deep-uh Purple, Satisfaction
Baby baby gotta gotta gimme gimme gettin' hotter
[Sandy's cookin], Lesley Gore and Ritchie Valens, end of story
Mahavishnu, fujiyama, kama-sutra, rama-lama
Richard Perry, Spector, Barry, Rodgers, Hodges, Nilsson, Harry
Shimmy shimmy ko-ko bop and Fats is back and keep it pumpin'

Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me.
Gotta turn it up louder, so my D.J. told me.
Woo, woo, life is a rock, but the radio rolled me.
At the end of my rainbow, lies a golden oldie.

2. FM, AM, hits are clickin' while the clock is tock-a-tickin'
Friends and Romans, salutations, Brenda and the Tabulations
Carly Simon, [Eddie Holman], Rolling Stones and centerfoldin'
Johnny Cash and Johnny Rivers, kiss me now I got the shivers
Mungo Jerry, Peter Peter Paul and Paul and Mary Mary
Dr. John the Ni-Night Tripper, Doris Day and Jack the Ripper
[unintelligible] Leon Russell, Gimme Shelter
Miracles and Smokey blazes, slide guitars and Fender basses
Mushroom omelet, Bonnie Bramlett, Wilson Pickett, stop and kick it

Life is a rock, but the radio--
Life is a rock, but the radio--woh!

3. [unintelligible] primal screamin', Hawkins Jay and
Dale and Ronnie, Kukla, Fran and [unintelligible]
[Oakland] Denver John and Osmond Donny
JJ Cale and ZZ Top and LL Bean and De De Dinah
David Bowie, Steely Dan and sing me prouder, CC Rider
Edgar Winter, Joanie Sommers, [Osmond Brothers] Johnny Thunders
Eric Clapton, pedal wah-wah, Stephen Foster, do-dah do-dah
Good Vibrations, Help Me Rhonda, Surfer Girl and Little Honda
Tighter, tighter, honey, honey, sugar, sugar, yummy, yummy
CBS and Warner Brothers, RCA and all the others

Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me.
Gotta turn it up louder, so my D.J. told me.
Wo-wo-wo-woh, life is a rock, but the radio rolled me.
At the end of my rainbow, lies a golden oldie.

Extended fade-out (with chorus singing in counterpoint):
(musical intro to "Baby I Need Your Loving")
(spoken: Listen--remember, they're playing our song!)
Rock it, sock it, Alan Freed me, Murray Kaufman, try to leave me
Fish, the Swim, the [unintelligible], the Monkey,
Take your pen and say it funky
(Wanna take you higher!)
Freddie King and Albert King and
Phoebe King and frolic-king and
Getting on and [unintelligible]
Pappalardi, hale and hearty!
(Baby baby baby light my fire!)
(Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music!)
There's a perfect morning you can [unintelligible] Randy Newman
One two three songs apiece, Anita, Frieda, Aretha!
Teenie queenie, Boffalongo, Cuba War and even [unintelligible]
[further unintelligibility]
(Baby, everything is all right, uptight, out-a-sight!)
California, Beatlemania, New York City, Transylvania
S & G and [unintelligible] Bobby Vee and S.R.O, yeah!
[gibberish to fade out]

NOTES, verse 1:
(Note that the lyricist seems to repeat words and syllables wherever it
suits him to fill out a line.)
B. BUMBLE AND THE STINGERS: Instrumental group with 3 hits in 1961-62.
The last, "Nutrocker", a work-up of the March from Tchaikovsky's
Nutcracker Suite, was covered by Emerson, Lake and Palmer a decade
later. MOTT THE HOOPLE: Recorded "All the Young Dudes", 1974.
RAY CHARLES SINGERS: A 1963 Allan Sherman song refers to "The Ray
Charles Singers, who were made famous/By their frequent appearances on
the Perry Como Show." Never heard of them otherwise. Had they anything
to do with the Ray Charles of "What'd I Say" and "Hit the Road Jack"?
LONNIE MACK: Recorded an instrumental of Chuck Berry's "Memphis", 1963.
TWANGIN' EDDY: Duane Eddy; "twangy" guitar was his trademark. TAKE IT
EASY: Written by Jackson Browne, recorded by the Eagles, 1971. TAKE ME
HIGHER: As in "I Want to Take You Higher", by Sly and the Family Stone,
1967. LIAR, LIAR, HOUSE ON FIRE: children's taunt, also the first line
of "Liar, Liar" by the Castaways, 1965. LOCOMOTION: Dance hit by
Carole King and Gerry Goffin, recorded by Little Eva (1963), Grand
Funk Railroad (1973), Kylie Minogue (1986), and probably someone else
by now. POCO: Country-rock group, 1970's, "Good Feelin' to Know".
PATCHES: title of two songs, by Dickie Lee, 1962, and Clarence Carter,
1969. DEEP-UH PURPLE: minus the "uh", song by Nino Tempo and April
Stevens, 1965; also early heavy metal group. SATISFACTION: by the
Rolling Stones, 1965. LESLEY GORE: "It's My Party", 1963. RICHIE
VALENS: Sang "La Bamba", 1958; died in the same 1959 plane crash as
Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. KAMA SUTRA: Hindu love manual; also
record label that carried the Lovin' Spoonful and others. RAMA LAMA:
as in "Rama Lama Ding Dong" by the Edsels, 1961. RICHARD PERRY: Record
producer of the 60's-70's. SPECTOR: Phil Spector, producer of the
Righteous Brothers, the Crystals, the Ronettes et al. in the '60's;
pioneered the "wall of sound". BARRY: Probably Jeff Barry, producer
and songwriter (co-wrote "Doo Wah Diddy Diddy"). RODGERS: Jimmie
Rodgers, rockabilly singer: "Kisses Sweeter than Wine", 1957. HODGES:
Eddie Hodges, "I'm Gonna Knock On Your Door", 1961. NILSSON, HARRY:
Singer-songwriter best known for "Everybody's Talking", 1967. SHIMMY
SHIMMY KOKO BOP: by Little Anthony and the Imperials, 1962. FATS IS
BACK: comeback LP by Fats Domino, 1970.

Much of the information for the annotations came from Norm N. Nite's
encyclopedia, ROCK ON!.

Sing it loud, sing it strong,
<-----8-20-1996-----MSG----->
Marc S. Glasser
ca...@nycmetro.com

Wayne Garvin

unread,

Aug 21, 1996, 3:00:00 AM8/21/96

On Tue, 20 Aug 1996 21:58:30 -0400
"Marc S. Glasser" <ca...@nycmetro.com> wrote:

>In a spirit of cooperative endeavor, therefore, I'm here submitting my
>revisions and annotations to jim's transcription. If anyone wants to
>add further, or debate the less audible words, I'd love to watch or
>participate. We may get this hammered out yet!

Thanks for posting these lyrics Marc. I too would like to encourage people
to participate in this thread and help clarify these lyrics further.

>NOTES, verse 1:

>RAY CHARLES SINGERS: A 1963 Allan Sherman song refers to "The Ray
>Charles Singers, who were made famous/By their frequent appearances on
>the Perry Como Show." Never heard of them otherwise. Had they anything
>to do with the Ray Charles of "What'd I Say" and "Hit the Road Jack"?

I always assumed they did, but I just looked it up in Joel Whitburn's "The
Billboard Book of Top 40 Albums" and discovered that they're two different
Ray Charles'. The guy with The Ray Charles Singers was born Charles Raymond
Offenberg on September 13, 1918 in Chicago. He was the arranger/conductor
for many TV shows including "The Perry Como Show", "The Glen Campbell
Goodtime Hour" and "Sha-Na-Na" and winner of two Emmy Awards. The Ray
Charles who did "What'd I Say" and "Hit the Road Jack" was born Ray Charles
Robinson on September 23, 1930 in Albany, Georgia.

The Ray Charles Singers recorded quite a few albums in the sixties. The
Spring 1972 issue of The Schwann 2 Record and Tape Guide lists 18 albums
and I found three others listed in another book. The only one that made the
Top 40 in Billboard's pop album charts was "Something Special For Young
Lovers" from 1964 which reached #11. A single from that album, "Love Me
With All Your Heart", reached #3 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wayne Garvin, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

The Lyrics Library: http://www.kw.igs.net/~wgarvin/Lyrics/Lyrics.html

Latest FAQ for
alt.music.lyrics: http://www.kw.igs.net/~wgarvin/Lyrics/aml-faq.txt
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike Sherman

unread,

Aug 21, 1996, 3:00:00 AM8/21/96

to Marc S. Glasser sharong@compassnet.com

TO MARC GLASSER AND ALL:

I Memorized "life is a rock" when I was 12, 21 years ago and
never could forget any of it, so here you go, I've filled
in in caps where you were off, I'm pretty sure my version
is accurate, I recall reading the lyrics from a page somewhere,
sometime. Still, the debate may rage on.

Marc S. Glasser wrote:
>
>
> 1. B.B. Bumble and the Stingers, Mott the Hoople, Ray Charles Singers
> Lonnie Mack and twangin' Eddy, here's my ring we're goin' steady
> Take it easy, take me higher, liar liar, house on fire

> Locomotion, Poco,PASSION, DeepER Purple, Satisfaction

> Baby baby gotta gotta gimme gimme gettin' hotter

> [SAMMY'S cookin], Lesley Gore and Ritchie Valens, end of story
> Mahavishnu, fujiyama, kama-sutra, rama-lama
> Richard Perry, Spector, Barry, ARCHIES, RIGHTOUS, Nilsson, Harry
> Shimmy shimmy ko-ko bop and Fats is back and FINGER POPPIN

>
>
> 2. FM, AM, hits are clickin' while the clock is tock-a-tickin'
> Friends and Romans, salutations, Brenda and the Tabulations

> Carly Simon, I BEHOLD HER, Rolling Stones and centerfoldin'
> Johnny Cash and Johnny Rivers, CAN"'T STOP now I got the shivers

> Mungo Jerry, Peter Peter Paul and Paul and Mary Mary

> Dr. John the NIGHTLY Tripper, Doris Day and Jack the Ripper
> GOTTA GO SIR GOTTA SWELTER, Leon Russell, Gimme Shelter
> Miracles IN smokey PLACES, slide guitars and Fender basses

> Mushroom omelet, Bonnie Bramlett, Wilson Pickett, stop and kick it

>
> 3. ARTHUR JANOV'S primal screamin', Hawkins Jay and
> Dale and Ronnie, Kukla, Fran and NORMA OKLA

> Denver John and Osmond Donny
> JJ Cale and ZZ Top and LL Bean and De De Dinah
> David Bowie, Steely Dan and sing me prouder, CC Rider
> Edgar Winter, Joanie Sommers, [Osmond Brothers] Johnny Thunders
> Eric Clapton, pedal wah-wah, Stephen Foster, do-dah do-dah
> Good Vibrations, Help Me Rhonda, Surfer Girl and Little Honda
> Tighter, tighter, honey, honey, sugar, sugar, yummy, yummy
> CBS and Warner Brothers, RCA and all the others
>
>

> Extended fade-out (with chorus singing in counterpoint):
> (musical intro to "Baby I Need Your Loving")
> (spoken: Listen--remember, they're playing our song!)
> Rock it, sock it, Alan Freed me, Murray Kaufman, try to leave me

> Fish, AND Swim, AND BOSTON Monkey,
> MAKE IT BAD AND PLAY IT FUNKY
> (Wanna take you higher!)

Additional note Arthur Janov wrote the Classic book "Primal Scream"

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Enjoy,

MIke Sherman
she...@stat.tamu.edu

Please let me know that you receive this Marc.

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