The Language of Rock & Roll

English is the language of rock & roll
I hear it playing everywhere I go
Tripping in the coffee shops of Amsterdam
Drifting through a marketplace in old Siam
All around the world I hear the same old songs
Kids in Barcelona, they all sing along
When I hear that sound well it feels like home
For English is the language of rock & roll

All the other languages, they got their thang:
All best Qawwali music comes from Pakistan
The great throat singers from the Tuvan plains
Medieval hymns from German saints
The Swiss they gotta yodel & they yodel-do
French, they gotta lotta chansons pour vous
All the best operettas might come from Rome
But English is the language of rock & roll

Slaves all beating on their pots & pans
They got a-hold of English & they ran & ran
Rode the gospel train in their blue suede shoes
All the way from Calgary to Baton Rouge
White folks, baby, come a long long way
But I’m never gonna sing like Marvin Gaye
I love the Delta blues, like the Detroit soul
‘cause English is the language of rock & roll

It’s a great big world & I’ve seen it all
And they were playing David Bowie by the Berlin Wall
I heard Little Richard wailing in the Pharaoh’s tomb
He went Awopbopaloobop & alop bam boom
Sounds, they come & go but the song remains
Since the sun first rose not a whole lot’s changed
But from Chuck Berry to the Beatles & the Rolling Stones
English is the language of rock & roll

Well it’s funny the way these things work out
Born in any other time I would be missing out
I’m gonna thank what’s good when it comes my way;
You can’t carry anybody else’s shame
And there’s no flag flying above my song
Melodies belong to everyone
It’s a well we drink from we all share
And music is the language spoken everywhere
Music is the language spoken everywhere