I was taken by surprise
When I was just a kid
Watching the approach of the nights
Expecting nothing to come of it

Life at Springfield, Massachusetts
Like water it used to flow
One morning the rhythm was set
As I turned on the radio

They called it rock and roll
It got right to my soul
But I never knew why
Except it was my life
All you know is that its got you

It went 1,2,3
Pretty mama
4,5,6
I miss you
7,8,9
Cannot get enough
10,11,12
I ain't got the blues

One, two, three
Come on baby
Four, five, six
A kiss
Seven, eight, nine
You're on my mind,
Ten, eleven, twelve
Tell me when

There are some folks who'd go crazy
To get power and more money
We've each got our own way of selling our soul
We pity them for the ignorance of it all

Whenever I hear the first bar of "Hey Joe"
I get hit deep down, more than any words I know
To put me in the same humor
It only takes the voice of Aretha

It wasn't just simple music
A language, a communion
A secular religion
It was our way of refusing

We had long hair down to our waist
We worshipped the same idols in the same place
We were heading in the same direction
The end of the rainbow, but in unison