ROCK Orgy: "Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)!"

ROCK Orgies are songs that tribute other songs and singers.

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"Life Is a Rock (But the Radio rolled Me)" was a bubblegum toss-off that hit it big.

At a spitfire pace it lists a galaxy of artists, songs, DJs, and labels from the previous two decades of Rock'n'Soul. Many more than I can point out, so read the lyrics here and watch this fantastically clever video here!:

REUNION -"Life Is a Rock (But the Radio rolled Me)" (1974)



The video even slips in some more for good measure!

Sing and Rap along:

"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, Righteous, 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, 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 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

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!)"


Songwriters: Norman Dolph and Paul Di Franco
© Crushing Music Company, The Songwriters Guild Of America




© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• ROCK Orgy: "Sweet Soul Music"

• ROCK Orgy: "American Pie"

• ROCK Orgy: Le Tigre's "Hot Topic" + Women Who Rock!

• Sly Stone's "I Want To Take You Higher" And Its Unending Influence!, with Music Player!


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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ROCK Sex: Don McLean > Lori Lieberman > Roberta Flack > The Fugees

ROCK Sex leads you through all the ins and outs.

Creativity is one person who sparks another person who sparks another. This has no boundaries and unites us. Here's a music relay chain that proves it using the classic "Killing Me Softly".

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Folk singer Don McLean had a massive breakthrough in 1971 with his epic "American Pie". This song sold hugely because it chronicled the pop history and emotional arc of its generation.

On a microcosmic level, another song from that album would have the same effect more stealthily. Here's Don's confessional break-up song, "Empty Chairs", done in a reflective Renaissance folk style:

DON McLEAN -"Empty Chairs" (1971)



Folk compatriot Lori Lieberman was so personally moved by seeing him perform this that she wrote a song called "Killing Me Softly With His Blues". After she described how deeply the song had touched her to Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, they wrote the lyrics for what she first recorded in 1972:

LORI LIEBERMAN -"Killing Me Softly" (1972)



Soul singer Roberta Flack loved all forms of music; she had previously broken big with a cover of Ewan MacColl's folk song "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", which she put a brilliant spin on. She brought similar magic to this song, such as in the angelic chorales, which became a classic standard forever associated with her:

ROBERTA FLACK -"Killing Me Softly" (1973)



The HipHop group The Fugees were a musical double-threat with multi-instrumentalist Wyclef Jean and vocalist Lauryn Hill. Lauryn's voice was often compared to the timber of Roberta's, and it should have been no surprise when the group blew up with their update:

THE FUGEES -"Killing Me Softly" (1996)




"Telling my whole life with his words/
Killing me softly with his song"


© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• ROCK Orgy: "American Pie"

• "Indian Rope Man": Richie Havens > Julie Driscoll + Brian Auger > Bob Marley

• LADIES FIRST: "I Go To Sleep" - (The Kinks) > Peggy Lee > Cher > The Pretenders


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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ROCK Sex: "Jumpin' Jack Flash" - The Rolling Stones > Ananda Shankar

ROCK Sex quickies give you a slippery hand-off.

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Here's those devilish lads before someone calls the cops:

THE ROLLING STONES -"Jumpin' Jack Flash" (1968)


And here's Ravi Shankar's countercultural nephew, extending the bacchanalia to India:

ANANDA SHANKAR -"Jumpin' Jack Flash" (1970)




© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• HERE IN PURPLE VELVET NOW: The Psychedelic Revolution, with 2 Music Players!

• "Exile On GRRL Street", Or How THE STONES Can Tribute Riot Grrrls Tributing Them!

• Rolling Stones > The Clash > Garbage

• "Use Me" - Bill Withers > Grace Jones > Jagger/ Kravitz > D'Angelo

• "PHYSICAL GRAFFITI" - Led Zeppelin > Branford Marsalis > Rolling Stones


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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ROCK Orgy: "American Pie"

ROCK Sex posts are about how everybody has a part to offer to the whole.

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Sometimes a song is a bit of an orgy of pop celebration. Meaning that it celebrates and refers to many other songs and artists in One Big Shout-Out!

Folk singer Don McLean's "American Pie" is a classic example. It's an emotional narrative spanning Rock'n'Roll from 1955 to 1970. Though the song was a full 8 minutes+, it was a huge hit because it chronicled the arc of the counterculture generation. It was also a lyrical mystery that pop fans loved to decipher.

The song's chronological narrative refers in symbolist terms to many great songs and events in the formation and arc of Rock'n'Roll.

Being a broad narrative it's open to interpretation. McLean seems to be contrasting innocent beginnings with hedonistic endings, more partial to early Rock'n'Roll and Folk, but less so to Psychedelia and lifestyle excesses. Conservatives can fold it into that shopworn narrative of dismissing the '60s generation using Altamont as an arbitrary capstone. Progressives can revel in the anarchic currents that ebb and flow amongst its creative players. Music fans can dig it for its metatext, its melody, and its sheer celebration.

Slice your own interpretation...

DON McLEAN -"American Pie" (1971)




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The Roots of
American Pie


Here are songs that "American Pie" is referring to (specifically or generally) in its lyrical journey.

• "Singin', 'This'll be the day that I die...'"

n 1959, Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash, along with rockers Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. This event had a profound effect on Don McLean as a youth.

BUDDY HOLLY And The Crickets -"That'll Be the Day" (1957)


• "Them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye..."

Country legend Tex Ritter was the father of actor John Ritter, and grandfather to actors Jason and Tyler Ritter.

TEX RITTER -"Rye Whiskey" (1948)


• "Did you write the book of love?"

THE MONOTONES -"The Book of Love" (1958)


• "With a pink carnation and a pickup truck..."

MARTY ROBBINS -"A White Sports Coat and a Pink Carnation" (1957)


• "And moss grows fat on a rollin' stone..."

Blues giant Muddy Waters interpolated the 1920s classic "Catfish Blues" as "Rollin' Stone (Catfish Blues)", which then inspired the name for The Rolling Stones.

MUDDY WATERS -"Rollin' Stone (Catfish Blues)" (1950)


• "Helter skelter in a summer swelter"

Helter Skelter is a name used for spiraling British fairground slides. The Beatles' roaring song became a template for Heavy Metal, and was misunderstood by Charles Manson as a rallying cry when orchestrating his murder campaign.

THE BEATLES -"Helter Skelter" (1968)


• "With the jester on the sidelines in a cast..."

With his outsider pespective and barbed lyrics, Bob Dylan was the court Jester of the counterculture. In 1966, he had a motorcycle crash that laid him up and change his perspectives on how to go forward. An insightful overview of this can be seen in Martin Scorsese's documentary, "No Direction Home" (2005).

BOB DYLAN -"Highway 61 Revisited" (1966)


• "The birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast..."

The Byrds combined Bob Dylan with The Beatles to create the Folk Rock movement.

THE BYRDS -"Eight Miles High" (1967)


"While sergeants played a marching tune..."

Stepping beyond formula, The Beatles opened up the full range of sonic possibility of Rock with their 1967 masterpiece.

THE BEATLES -"SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND" (1967)


• "Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space..."

The counterculture, ridiculed as a fad by the scared mainstream media (still), had the ultimate coming out party with the 1969 Woodstock Festival, with half-a-million people of all persuasions declaring their undeniable presence and unleashing a spiritual nation that continues unabated (still).

CROSBY STILLS NASH And Young -"WOODSTOCK" (1970)


• "Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
'Cause fire is the Devil's only friend..."

In the spirit of the recent Woodstock, The Rolling Stones held a 1970 concert at Altamont Speedway in California. The naive mistake of choosing the Hells Angels motorcycle gang as security led to the stabbing death of a fan.

In its eternal zealosy to dismiss the progress and impact of the counterculture, the corporate media consistently sells the false narrative that this incident was its end. No.

THE ROLLING STONES -"Jumping Jack Flash" (1968)


• "I met a girl who sang the blues..."

JANIS JOPLIN -"Kozmic Blues" (1969)


• "The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast..."

The counterculture embraced varying forms of spirituality, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. The latter led to Gospel hits like "Oh Happy Day" and "Spirit In The Dark"; and Gospel-inspired anthems of the turn of the decade, such as "Let It Be", "Bridge Over Troubled Water"; and "Loves Me Like A Rock", and musicals like "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Godspell".

THE BYRDS -"Jesus Is Just Alright" (1969)


NORMAN GREENBAUM -"Spirit In The Sky" (1969)


PACIFIC GAS And ELECTRIC -"Are You Ready" (1970)


MELANIE -"Candles In The Rain" (1970)



"And they were singin'..."


© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• Revolution 1950s: The Big Damn Bang of Rock'n'Roll! -Buddy Holly

1950s Rock, B: The '70s Disciples https://tymstevens.blogspot.com/2015/04/1950s-rock-b-70s-disciples.html • 1950s Rock, B: The '70s Disciples, with Music Player!


• "Killing Me Softly": Don McLean > Lori Lieberman > Roberta Flack > The Fugees

• Cool Ethereal Folk: VASHTI BUNYAN


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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