Rock and Roll I Gave You... - Kevin Johnson

Memphis 1955 on Newton Avenue Jerry, Carl and Roy and Lee and And Jack Clement too A new sun risin' on the way we sing And a world of weirdos waitin' in the wings Oh, but I'm a different man for lovin' you And I take a shot at what you ask me to And baby I will rock and roll with you If I have to Well, they used to call us Rockabillies All of us ran through When the big cat opened up the door Boop-bap-alap-bamboo I didn't ever play much rock and roll 'Cause I got so much country in my soul But I love you and though I'm past 42 There are still a few things yet I didn't do And baby I will rock and roll with you If I have to

They used to call me Rockabilly All of us ran through When Elvis opened up the door With a pup-and-pup-and-boo I didn't ever play much rock and roll 'Cause I got so much country in my soul But I'm a different man for lovin' you And I take a shot at what you ask me to And baby, I will rock and roll with you If I have to Memphis 1955 on Newton Avenue Carl and Jerry and Charlie and Roy And Billy Riley too A new sun risin' on the way we sing And a world of weirdo's waitin' in the wings But I love you and though I'm past 42 There are still a few things yet I didn't do And baby, I will rock and roll with you If I have to

Oh, I can still remember when I bought my first guitar Remember walking from the shop to put it proudly in my car And my family listened fifty times to my two song repertoire I told my Mom her only son was gonna be a star. Well I bought all the Beatles records, sounded just like hall Or Buddy Holly or Chuck Berry's, seventy-eight in all And I sat by my record player playing every note they played I watched them all on TV, copied every move they made. Oh, Rock'n'Roll I gave you all the best years of my life All the teeny sunny Sundays, all the moonless summer nights I was so busy in the bed room, writing love songs to you But you were changing your direction and I never even knew That I was always just one step behind you. Well, sixty-six seemed like the year I was really goin' somewhere I was living in San Francisco wearing flowers in my hair Singing songs of kindness so the world would understand The guys and me thought wer were more than just another band. Oh, Rock'n'Roll I gave you all the best years of my life All the crazy, lazy young days, all the magic moony nights I was so busy on the road, singing love songs to you But you were changing your direction and you never even knew That I was always just one step behind you. Seventy-one I was all alone when I met Sarah-Jane I was trying to go it solo with someone else's band When she came up to me softly and she took me by the hand She listened to my problems and she seemed to understand. And she followed me to London to a hundred hotel rooms To a hundred record companies who didn't like my tunes And she followed me back to Tennessee where she findly made me see I'm just a plain old Country boy and that's all I'll ever be. Oh, Rock'n'Roll I gave you all the best years of my life All the teeny sunny Sundays, all the moonless summer nights Oh, I never knew the magic I'm making it with you I'm getting along with a Country song doing what I wanna do When I was always just one step behind you.

There ain't a pair of boots in my closet That ain't scuffed up and walked right through the soles And there ain't a pair of jeans That ain't hanging on by the seams and full of holes I ain't never been inside a three piece suit And my collar's just a worn out shade of blue I try to beat the morning sun out of the bed And then I work like hell 'til the sun goes down And then I rest my head next to The most beautiful thing you've ever seen Lord only knows what she means to me Solid as the rock on her left hand She's proud to be my woman And that's why I'm proud to be her man She has flowers in her hair on Sunday mornin' And she has a bud light in her hand on Friday night She's corn bread in the oven She's wild and crazy loving me just right Oh you know that's right She ain't afraid to put me in my place And she ain't afraid to love me every night, so every day I try to beat the morning sun out of bed Then I work like hell 'til the sun goes down And then I rest my head next to The most beautiful thing you've ever seen Lord only knows what she means to me Solid as the rock on her left hand She's proud to be my woman And that's why I'm proud to be her man And she can rock a dress and cowboy boots Make a rolling stone wanna plant some roots And she's the one thing that I can't afford lose So I try to beat the morning sun out of the bed And then I work like hell 'til the sun goes down And then I rest my head next to The most beautiful thing you've ever seen Lord only knows what she means to me The reason I keep this ring on my left hand She's proud to be my woman That's why I'm proud to be her man She's proud to be my woman And that's why I'm proud to be her man

Did you ever have one of those days When it just rains and it rains? You mind and your whole back aches But you get up anyways You gave up your dreams, you got a boss to please It makes you wonder if it's worth it Loosen my chain 'cause even my pain is hurting I said, "Lord won't you give an old boy a break You said you wouldn't give me more than I could take" But this old world, it sure rattles your faith sometimes Well you try and you try and you keep on trying Happy's for sale but you can't buy it How 'bout a little something to ease a man's burden? 'Cause even my pain is hurting My house ain't worth what I owe I've been all my life owing that load And like a sucker I bought what they sold But down here in the ground ain't gold Yeah I've been a caged bird singing Waiting on freedom, feeling like my prayers ain't working Go on and loosen my chain 'cause even my pain is hurting So I said, "Lord cant you give an old boy a break You said you wouldn't give me more than I could take" But this old world can sure rattle your faith sometimes Yeah 'cause you try and you try and you keep on trying Happy's for sale but you can't buy it How 'bout a little something to ease a man's burden? 'Cause even my pain is hurting I got a loaded forty-five laying on to the table Next to a bottle of old Black Label Can't be the only way to ease a man's burden So I said, "Lord won't you give an old boy a break You said you wouldn't give me more than I could take" But this old world can sure rattle your faith sometimes Yeah 'cause you try and you try and you keep on trying Happy's for sale but you can't buy it How 'bout a little something to ease a man's burden? 'Cause even my pain is hurting Oh I say now even my pain, even my pain Mmm, said even my pain is hurting, whoa