In the beginning
Back in 1955
Man didn't know 'bout a rock 'n' roll show
And all that jive
The white man had the schmaltz
The black man had the blues
No one knew what they was gonna do
But Tchaikovsky had the news, he said
Let there be sound, and there was sound
Let there be light, and there was light
Let there be drums, there was drums
Let there be guitar, there was guitar
Let there be rock
And it came to pass
That rock 'n' roll was born
All across the land every rockin' band
Was blowin' up a storm
And the guitar man got famous
The business man got rich
And in every bar there was a superstar
With a seven year itch
There was fifteen million fingers
Learnin' how to play
And you could hear the fingers pickin'
And this is what they had to say
Let there be light, sound, drums, guitar
Oh, let there be rock
One night in a club called the Shakin' Hand
There was a 42 decibel rockin' band
And the music was good and the music was loud
And the singer turned and he said to the crowd: