Monday, October 17, 2005

Advanced Kinks: One of the Survivors

As you may know, Advanced artists love to sing about and celebrate rock and roll, and they often use characters named Johnny, which is the ultimate rock and roll name. With that in mind, have a look at these Advanced lyrics:

See Johnny Thunder sitting on his motorbike
Riding along the highway,
Rock and Roll songs from the nineteen-fifties
Buzzing around in his brain.
Johnny Thunder he's one of the original bebop generation
And he's got no time for complicated music or too much sophistication.

He's one of the survivors,
The motorbike riders.
You ought to see Johnny Thunder riding down the highway
One of the rock and roll survivors,
Twelve bars flowing through his brain.
He digs Jerry Lee Lewis, Dion and The Belmonts,
And Johnny & The Hurricanes.

He plays Hound Dog, Oh Boy, and Great Balls of Fire
And Boppin' At The High School Hop.
And he's got no time for phonies or posers
'Cos they don't know how to reel and rock.
and he plays Little Egypt and Ooh Poo Pah Doo,
And he plays Poison Ivy and Blue Suede Shoes,
The Hollywood Argyles, Danny & The Juniors,
Dion & The Belmonts, Johnny & The Hurricanes.

He's one of the survivors,
The boppers and the jivers,
Yeah and he rocks all day.
Johnny & The Hurricanes, Johnny & The Hurricanes.

Got my freedom riding along the freeway.
I ride a hundred miles an hour but I don't mess up my D.A.
Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock 'n' roll.
You can't stop rock 'n' rollin' music play.
(repeat last two lines)

Feel those vibrations flow in my brain.
Got my freedom riding down the highway,
Keeps me sane, feel alive,
I'm one of the survivors.

Feel all right.
First gear, second gear, third gear, fourth gear, all right.
Old Johnny Thunder looks a little overweight,
And his sideburns are turning grey.
But he still likes to bebop, boogie and jive
To his worn out seventy-eights.
Johnny Thunder.
He's alright.
He's one of the survivors,
Twelve bars flowing through his brain,
Jerry Lee Lewis, Dion & The Belmonts,
Johnny & The Hurricanes, Johnny & The Hurricanes.
---------
I'm starting to think motorcyles are Advanced now. I'll have to look into it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A truly advanced song, especially as it's an update on a Kinks character - Johnny Thunder - introduced four years earlier on the album Village Green Preservation Society. On a side note, the Dave Davies vocal part on "One of the Survivors" is quite possible the most rocking vocal in rock history.