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,
The band's on stage and it's one of those nights, oh yeah
The drummer thinks that he is dynamite, oh yeah
You lovely ladies in your leather and lace
A thousand lips I would love to taste, I've got one heart and it hurts like hell
If you can't rock me somebody will
If you can't rock me somebody will
Now, who's that black girl in the bright blue hair? Oh yeah
Now, don't you know that it's rude to stare? Oh yeah
I'm not so green but I'm feelin' so fresh, I simply like to put her to the test
She's so alive and she's dressed to kill, but
If you can't rock me somebody will
If you can't rock me somebody will
If you can't rock me somebody will
If you can't rock me somebody will
Now I ain't lookin' for no pretty face, oh no
Or for some hooker workin' roughish trade
And there ain't nothing like a perfect mate
And I ain't lookin' for no wedding cake
But I been talkin' 'bout it much too long
I think I better sing just one more song
I've got one heart and it hurts like hell
I'm simply dying for some thrills, spills, oh yeah
If you can't rock me, if you can't rock me
Somebody will, somebody will, somebody will
If you can't rock me
Well, well, well, well
The drummer thinks that he is dynamite, oh yeah
You lovely ladies in your leather and lace
A thousand lips I would love to taste, I've got one heart and it hurts like hell
If you can't rock me somebody will
If you can't rock me somebody will
Now, who's that black girl in the bright blue hair? Oh yeah
Now, don't you know that it's rude to stare? Oh yeah
I'm not so green but I'm feelin' so fresh, I simply like to put her to the test
She's so alive and she's dressed to kill, but
If you can't rock me somebody will
If you can't rock me somebody will
If you can't rock me somebody will
If you can't rock me somebody will
Now I ain't lookin' for no pretty face, oh no
Or for some hooker workin' roughish trade
And there ain't nothing like a perfect mate
And I ain't lookin' for no wedding cake
But I been talkin' 'bout it much too long
I think I better sing just one more song
I've got one heart and it hurts like hell
I'm simply dying for some thrills, spills, oh yeah
If you can't rock me, if you can't rock me
Somebody will, somebody will, somebody will
If you can't rock me
Well, well, well, well
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar
If You Can't Rock Me Lyrics as written by Mick Jagger Keith Richards
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Can you call this a great song? Maybe not. It's at least very good.
True, not great, but good because, well, it's the Stones.
The shrieks at the end of certain words knock me out.
Pretty images too.
"You lovely ladies in your leather and lace, a thousand lips I would love to taste"
whos that black girl in the bright blue hair? :)
This song is great. They still play it in concert all the time. It's a good opener on a good album but when you compare it to other stones classics it's not in the league of them but it's cool.
Actually I love this song man, the middle where the bands just messing around is golden right there
man I wonder how many times jagger has gotten laid in his life? I definately am envious of his past love life actually come to think of it im envious of anyone that gets laid mainly because I of course being the loser i am have never gotten laid. but thats besides the point my real intents for this post were to say that this song is just grand in its own unique way!
Just replace the word “rock”with your favourite expletive and it makes much more sense.