ROCK AND ROLL (I GAVE YOU ALL THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE)
Kevin Johnston
[C] I can still remember when I [F] bought my first gui-[G]-tar,
Remember [C] just how good the feeling was, put it [F] proudly in my [G] car,
And my [C7] family listened fifty times to my [A7] two song reper-[Dm]-toire.
[C] I told my mom her only son was [F] gonna be a [G] star.
[C] Bought all the Beatles records, I [F] sounded just like [G] Paul,
I bought [C] all the old Chuck Berrys [F] 78's and [G] all
I [C7] sat by my record player playing [A7] every note they [Dm] played.
[C] I watched them all on TV making [F] every move they [G] made.
[C] Rock and roll, I gave you all the [F] best years of my life
All the [G] dreamy sunny Sundays, all the [F] moonlit summer [C] nights.
I was so busy in the backroom writing [F] love songs to you
While you were [G] changing your direction
And you [F] never even [C] knew
That I was [G] always just [F] one step be-[C]-hind you.
[C] '66 seemed like the year I was [F] really going some-[G]-where;
We were [C] living in San Francisco with [F] flowers in our [G] hair,
[C7] Singing songs of kindness so the [A7] world would under-[Dm]-stand,
That the [C] guys and me you were something more than [F] just another [G] band.
And then [C] sixty-nine in L. A. [F] came around so [G] soon,
We were [C] really making headway and [F] writing lots of [G] tunes,
And we [C7] must have played the wildest stuff that [A7] we had ever [Dm] played,
And the [C] way the crowds cried out for us, we [F] thought we had it [G] made.
[C] Rock and roll, I gave you all the [F] best years of my life,
All the [G] crazy, lazy, young days, all the [F] magic moonlit [C] nights.
I was so busy on the road singing [F] love songs to you,
While you were [G] changing your direction
And you [F] never even knew
That I was [G] always just [F] one step be-[C]-hind you.
It was [C] seventy-one in Soho [F] when I met Su-[G]-zanne,
I was [C] trying to go it solo with [F] someone else's [G] band.
[C7] She came up to me later and I [A7] took her by the [Dm] hand,
And I [C] told her all my troubles and she [F] seemed to under-[G]-stand.
And she [C] followed me through London, through a [F] hundred hotel [G] rooms,
Through a [C] hundred record companies who [F] didn't like my [G] tunes;
[C7] She followed me when finally I [A7] sold my old gui-[Dm]-tar,
[C] She tried to help me understand I'd [F] never be a [G] star.
[C] Rock and roll, I gave you all the [F] best years of my life,
All the [G] dreamy, sunny Sundays, all the [F] moonlit summer [C] nights,
And though I never knew the magic of [F] making it with you,
I [G] thank the Lord for giving me the [F] little bit I knew,
And I was [G] always just [F] one step be-[C]-hind you.
[C] Rock and roll, I gave you all the [F] best years of my life
All the [G] dreamy sunny Sundays, all the [F] moonlit summer [C] nights.
I was so busy in the backroom writing [F] love songs to you
While you were [G] changing your direction
And you [F] never even [C] knew
That I was [G] always just [F] one step be-[C]-hind you.