Reunion: Life is a Rock (Joey Levine, 1974) - Complete Lyrics In Video

Thanks to all who have added clarification to the lyrics below.

"Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)" is a 1974 song by an ad hoc group of studio musicians called Reunion, with Joey Levine (bubblegum music pioneer with "Chewy Chewy" and "Yummy Yummy Yummy" to his credit) as the lead singer. The song was written by Paul DiFranco (music) and Norman Dolph (lyrics). The lyrics are a fast patter of '50s, '60s, and '70s disc jockeys, musicians, songwriters, record labels, song titles and lyrics, and (incongruously) Jack the Ripper (a reference to the horror-themed stage show put on during the 60s by Screaming Lord Sutch), broken only by the chorus.
---------------------------------------------------------

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, Righteous, Archies, Nilsson, Harry
Shimmy shimmy ko-ko bop and Fats is back and Finger Poppin'

Life is a rock but the radio rolled me
Gotta turn it up louder, so my DJ told me (whoa whoa whoa whoa)
Life is a rock but the radio rolled me
At the end of my rainbow lies a golden oldie

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

Life is a rock but the radio rolled me
Gotta turn it up louder, so my DJ told me (whoa whoa whoa whoa)
Life is a rock but the radio rolled me
At the end of my rainbow lies a golden oldie

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, Ides Of March, 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 DJ told me (whoa whoa whoa whoa)
Life is a rock but the radio rolled me
At the end of my rainbow lies a golden oldie

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!)

Freddie King and Albert King B.B. King and frolicking
Get it on and Nat Gerardi, Papalardi, Hale and Hearty

There's a perfect more than human gentle words of Randy Newman;
One, two, three; so oh so please, I need a breather!

Tito Puente, Boffalongo, Cuba, War and even Mongo
(Line not credible) Peter Dial, Alex Hood, Boogie Brass

Whoo!!!

California, Beatlemania, New York City, Transylvania
S&G and (V&C?) and Bobby Vee and SRO, yeah yeah!

Conway Twitty, Do Wah Diddy
Conway Twitty, Do Wah Diddy

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Life is a Rock
• Joey Levine
• Reunion
• B. Bumble and the Stingers
• Mott the Hoople
• Ray Charles Singers
• Lonnie Mack
• Twangin' Eddy
• La vita è un Rock
• But the Radio Rolled Me
• FM AM hits are clickin
• La vie est un Rock
• Життя Рок

[FreakD20]

thanks sooooo much for posting this song !!! I use to have the 45 but I can't find it and I never knew the name of the song. I only knew 1 line in the verse so it was a real challenge to find. Man, you have made my day. Thanks again.

[classicvinylbiz]

@FreakD20 My pleasure! Thanks for writing.

[keithcop]

"Smokey" places and the Miracles would be a reference to Smokey Robinson, no? So the "S" should be capitalized. :)

[classicvinylbiz]

@keithcop Got it, thanks!  david

[Ferpius]

Damn, I'm cursed. I have no lyrics when I play it.

[classicvinylbiz]

@Ferpius I put the lyrics in the video, please try now.

[GenerationYstar]

BEST OLD SCHOOL RAP SONG EVER!

[je641687]

I'd bet 100 bucks that even the fastest rapper from today would have trouble with this song! Love it though, and one of these days I'll be able to sing it!

[PlanTonto]

I often wonder why he was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...Bummer

[PlanTonto]

I remember when I first heard this, me and my mom where smoking a joint together on the way to my cub scout meeting in the car.

[RobsMusicBox]

@CreatureFeatures75 Thats exactly what i wondered !!

Many thanks to the Classic for Uploading this With the lyrics !!

made my day ,my week too :)

[nickthename]

Even *with* the lyrics, I can't keep up with this song! Talk about talented. Even the Micro Machine Man would have a hard time with this.

Weird though, that the 45 label lists the track time as 2:54 but the vid puts the whole song at about 3:25

~NtN~

[giftbasketer2]

This vid is a favorite on Nigeria

[HAGGIS499]

@tujmeister DIDNT IT JUST

[CreatureFeatures75]

So was this the very first Rap song?

[tonerlow2001]

wow ... never tried actually doing the actual lyrics before phew!