In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
(Huh) my grandmomma was raised on a reservation
(Huh) my great-grandmama was from a plantation
They sang songs for inspiration
They sang songs for relaxation
They sang songs to take their minds up off that
Fucked up situation
I am, yes I am, the descendant (yes, yes)
Of those folks whose backs got broke
Who fell down inside the gun smoke
(Black people) chains on their ankles and feet
I am descendants of the builders of your street
(Black people) tenders to your cotton money
I am Hip Hop
(It's heavy metal for the black people)
I am Rock and Roll (Rock and Roll, rock 'n' roll)
Been here forever
They just ain't let you know (ha)
I said, Elvis Presley ain't got no soul (huh)
Chuck Berry is Rock and Roll (damn right)
You may dig on the Rolling Stones
But they ain't come up with that style on they own (uh-uh)
Elvis Presley ain't got no soul (hell nah)
Little Richard is Rock and Roll (damn right)
You may dig on the Rolling Stones
But they ain't come up with that shit on they own (nah-ah)
Guess that's just the way shit goes
You steal my clothes and try to say they yours (yes, they do)
'Cause it's a show filled with pimps and hoes
Trying to take everything that you made or control (there they go)
Elvis Presley ain't got no soul
Bo Diddley is Rock and Roll (damn right)
You may dig on the Rolling Stones
But they ain't the first place the credit belongs
Say whoa-oh (don't take it)
Oh-we-oh (black music)
Whoa-oh (don't take it)
Oh-we-oh (black music)
Whoa-oh (Jimi Hendrix say)
Oh-we-oh (black music)
Whoa-oh (Albert King and)
Oh-we-oh (and Motown)
I ain't trying to diss
But I don't be trying to fuck with Limp Bizkit
(The fuck is on your mind?)
When I get down in my zone
I be rockin' bad brains and fishbone
I ain't tryin to slow your groove
But that ain't the way I'm trying to move
I don't turn on Korn to get it on
I be playing Jimi Hendrix 'til the dawn
That's my word is bond
Sitting up on my front lawn
Got the volume turned to ten
Playing Albert King the best again (black)
When the morning in the cooker
Got to turn on some John Lee Hooker
When I want some Rock and Roll
Go to Otis Redding to get some soul (black)
Say, James Brown got plenty of soul
James Brown like to rock and roll
He can do all the shit fo' sho'
That Elvis Presley could never know (black people)
Said, Kenny G ain't got no soul
John Coltrane is Rock and Roll (uh-huh)
You may dig on the Rolling Stones
But they could never ever rock like Nina Simone
Say whoa-oh (don't take it)
Oh-wee-oh (black music)
Whoa-oh (don't take it)
Oh-we-oh (black music)
Whoa-oh (don't take it)
Oh-we-oh (black music)
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Who am I? Huh
Get your punk ass up
Elvis Presley ain't got no soul
Jimi Hendrix is Rock and Roll
You may dig on the Rolling Stones
But everything they did they stole
Elvis Presley ain't got no soul
Bo Diddley is Rock and Roll
You may dig on the Rolling Stones
But we send their punk ass home, said
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll, Rock and Roll)
Who am I?
Say, Rock and Roll
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Get your punk ass up
Company, move
For Harlem, Fort Greene, Compton
East St. Louis, Detroit (brrap, brrap)
Chicago (brrap, brrap), Bed-stuy (brrap, brrap)
Flatbush (brrap, brrap), Brownsville (brrap, brrap)
East New York (brrap, brrap), Newark, New Jersey (brrap, brrap)
Illadelphia, Cincinatti, Atlanta the dirty south
Oaktown, get your punk ass up
9Rock and Roll for the black people0
Hi, ma
Well, that was just wonderful
(Huh) my great-grandmama was from a plantation
They sang songs for inspiration
They sang songs for relaxation
They sang songs to take their minds up off that
Fucked up situation
I am, yes I am, the descendant (yes, yes)
Of those folks whose backs got broke
Who fell down inside the gun smoke
(Black people) chains on their ankles and feet
I am descendants of the builders of your street
(Black people) tenders to your cotton money
I am Hip Hop
(It's heavy metal for the black people)
I am Rock and Roll (Rock and Roll, rock 'n' roll)
Been here forever
They just ain't let you know (ha)
I said, Elvis Presley ain't got no soul (huh)
Chuck Berry is Rock and Roll (damn right)
You may dig on the Rolling Stones
But they ain't come up with that style on they own (uh-uh)
Elvis Presley ain't got no soul (hell nah)
Little Richard is Rock and Roll (damn right)
You may dig on the Rolling Stones
But they ain't come up with that shit on they own (nah-ah)
Guess that's just the way shit goes
You steal my clothes and try to say they yours (yes, they do)
'Cause it's a show filled with pimps and hoes
Trying to take everything that you made or control (there they go)
Elvis Presley ain't got no soul
Bo Diddley is Rock and Roll (damn right)
You may dig on the Rolling Stones
But they ain't the first place the credit belongs
Say whoa-oh (don't take it)
Oh-we-oh (black music)
Whoa-oh (don't take it)
Oh-we-oh (black music)
Whoa-oh (Jimi Hendrix say)
Oh-we-oh (black music)
Whoa-oh (Albert King and)
Oh-we-oh (and Motown)
I ain't trying to diss
But I don't be trying to fuck with Limp Bizkit
(The fuck is on your mind?)
When I get down in my zone
I be rockin' bad brains and fishbone
I ain't tryin to slow your groove
But that ain't the way I'm trying to move
I don't turn on Korn to get it on
I be playing Jimi Hendrix 'til the dawn
That's my word is bond
Sitting up on my front lawn
Got the volume turned to ten
Playing Albert King the best again (black)
When the morning in the cooker
Got to turn on some John Lee Hooker
When I want some Rock and Roll
Go to Otis Redding to get some soul (black)
Say, James Brown got plenty of soul
James Brown like to rock and roll
He can do all the shit fo' sho'
That Elvis Presley could never know (black people)
Said, Kenny G ain't got no soul
John Coltrane is Rock and Roll (uh-huh)
You may dig on the Rolling Stones
But they could never ever rock like Nina Simone
Say whoa-oh (don't take it)
Oh-wee-oh (black music)
Whoa-oh (don't take it)
Oh-we-oh (black music)
Whoa-oh (don't take it)
Oh-we-oh (black music)
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Who am I? Huh
Get your punk ass up
Elvis Presley ain't got no soul
Jimi Hendrix is Rock and Roll
You may dig on the Rolling Stones
But everything they did they stole
Elvis Presley ain't got no soul
Bo Diddley is Rock and Roll
You may dig on the Rolling Stones
But we send their punk ass home, said
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll, Rock and Roll)
Who am I?
Say, Rock and Roll
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Who am I? (Rock and Roll)
Get your punk ass up
Company, move
For Harlem, Fort Greene, Compton
East St. Louis, Detroit (brrap, brrap)
Chicago (brrap, brrap), Bed-stuy (brrap, brrap)
Flatbush (brrap, brrap), Brownsville (brrap, brrap)
East New York (brrap, brrap), Newark, New Jersey (brrap, brrap)
Illadelphia, Cincinatti, Atlanta the dirty south
Oaktown, get your punk ass up
9Rock and Roll for the black people0
Hi, ma
Well, that was just wonderful
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
I completely understand Mos's point of view, and there is definitely something to be desired in terms of the recognition black musicians deserve on the topic of rock pioneers. However, Mos is a big name in Hip Hop, the genre that revolves around sampling and the idea of taking from others to create something new. With this in mind, I think he could've went about the song differently, maybe focus less on the fact that Elvis and the Rolling stones aren't rock n roll and more about the injustices that occurred in the early 60s to early 80s music game.