Get It On (Bang A Gong) Lyrics
They're not a one hit wonder or anything buddy. listen to ballrooms of mars, spaceball ricochet, the slider, etc..
maybe gong means a reject… like the gong show… if you get “gonged” you’re out, no good… he’s saying take one for the team … so what if she’s skinny, waddles around, the size of a car, dirty, etc. … ya boy needs you…
If you listen to the very end he says "Meanwhile I'm still thinkin" which is a line from Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie" where he says that exact thing several times.
@itsonlyroknroll Acknowledging Berry's influence on his music.
@itsonlyroknroll Acknowledging Berry's influence on his music.
The obvious is obvious but I'm suprised that this song doesn't have more comments. We get it. But wtf is bang a gong? OH BOY WHAT A SONG
Thats a gong and bang means hit
Thats a gong and bang means hit
The song seems to be about more than one thing. My thoughts are that it is an ideal and reflects Marc Bolan’s main loves: cocaine (bang a gong), get it on (sex), his dream woman, and cars. If he were writing these lyrics in the studio, as history suggests, he likely put together a bunch of cool phrases, things he liked, and used some good sounding metaphors. It seems like he alternates describing a car, a woman, and cocaine, and mixes the images together to describe a dream girl, doing the dream drug, using his favorite things about cars. “You’re dirty sweet, and you’re my girl”, could be his sentiments for any of the three. Other parts seem specifically like him describing his dream woman and how her attributes are like an awesome car. “You’re built like a car, you’ve got a hubcap, diamond star, halo”, a cool hubcap turned horizontally, atop a woman’s head, like she’s an angel with the coolest halo. “You’re an untamed youth, that’s the truth with your cape full of eagles”, she seems to have the power of youth and flies like a bird of prey. “You’re windy and wild, you’ve got the blues in your shoes and your stockings”, She is fast, unruly, and so cool she is a heartbreaker, or inspires the blues wherever she goes, or she has soul. “You’re clad in black, don’t look back, and I love you”, like his dream car, she is dark, and has no regrets. The part where he says she has the teeth of the hydra upon her, seems like a metaphor for living dangerously, especially with doing drugs. She is slim and she’s weak feels like he is saying she is exactly that, skinny and unable to resist temptation, allowing to indulge fully with him and do drugs together. Much of that may seem like a stretch to others, but it seemed like the language of a rockstar to me.
I first started trying to explore the meaning behind these lyrics because they are quoted at the beginning of Longlegs, a horror movie recently released in 2024. One of the characters is sort of stuck in the 70’s and sings rock songs from the 70’s out of context making them sound very creepy. It is also the closing song of the movie during the closing credits.
This song is kinda obvious about the theme, I guess it was the only hit he had. You know this song starts off every CD Ive made. Its so cool...
@Yakuza Warlord You'd be from the US, It was his only hit there, America just didn't get him, but then Bowie broke through. He had many hits in other countries and was a major star for half a decade in his homeland
@Yakuza Warlord You'd be from the US, It was his only hit there, America just didn't get him, but then Bowie broke through. He had many hits in other countries and was a major star for half a decade in his homeland
this song has one of the best beats to it, it's a classic
i agree with knate they're no one hit wonder. they usta tour with zepp.
Well, it depends on where you're coming from. In the UK, they had a bunch of hits, but in the US it's safe to say this was their only hit.
Anyway, it's kind of amazing how cool this song still sounds after it's been used in a ton of commercials and has basically been played to death. Makes me want to smoke a ciggerette and lean up against a wall, but I quit.