DGA
I can still remember when I bought my first guitar,
DGA
Remember just how good the feeling to put it proudly in my car,
D7B7Em
And my fam'ly listened fifty times to my two song repertoire.
GA
I told my mom her only son was gonna be a star.
DGA
Bought all the Beatles records, I sounded just like Paul,
DGA
I bought all the old Chuck Berry's 78's and all
D7B7Em
I sat by my record player playing ev'ry note they played.
GAD
I watched them all on TV making ev'ry move they made.
DG
Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life
AGD
All the dreamy sunny Sundays, all the moonlit summer nights.
G
I was so busy in the backroom writing love songs to you
AGD
While you were changing your direction and never even knew
AGD
That I was always just one step behind you.
DGA
'66 seemed like the year I was really going somewhere;
DGA
We were living in San Francisco with flowers in our hair,
D7B7Em
Singing songs of kindness so the world would understand,
GA
To the guys and me you were something more than just another band.
DGA
And then sixty-nine in L. A. came around so soon,
DGA
We were really making headway and writing lots of tunes,
D7B7Em
And we must have played the wildest stuff that we had ever played,
GAD
And the way the crowds cried out for us, we thought we had it made.
DG
Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life
AGD
All the crazy, lazy, young days, all the magic moon at night.
G
I was so busy on the road singing love songs to you,
AGD
While you were changing your direction and never even knew
AGD
That I was always just one step behind you.
DGA
Seventy-one and so alone when I met Susanne,
DGA
I was trying to go it solo with someone else's band.
D7B7Em
She came up to me later and I took her by the hand,
GA
And I told her all my troubles and she seemed to understand.
DGA
And she followed me through London, through a hundred hotel rooms,
DGA
Through a hundred record companies who didn't like my tunes;
D7B7Em
She followed me when finally I sold my old guitar,
GAD
She tried to help me understand I'd never be a star.
DG
Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life
AGD
All the dreamy sunny Sundays, all the moonlit summer nights.
G
And though I never knew the magic, of making it with you
AGD
That I thank the lord for giving me the little bit I knew
AGD
And I was always just one step behind you.