Lyrics to
Breakdown

This version of Breakdown was released by Whitesnake in 1978.

Our About Whitesnake page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Breakdown from 1978 as well as all of the other lyrics from Whitesnake that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Whitesnake or about the 1970s in general.

Getting near the end, now I knew the time was right for a breakdown
Megaton surprise but your eyes never made it a shakedown
Shot you full of rock ‘n’ roll, couldn’t make your soul,
Didn’t burn you to the bone
Do what the man says, take the money and run

But, I never saw the splendour
In stealing all your gold,
Taking all your silver
And doing what I’m told

I never saw the tears but I knew you cried for rhythm ‘n’ blues
Screaming like a wildcat I knew that I had nothing to lose
Shot you full of rock ‘n’ roll, couldn’t make your soul,
Didn’t burn you to the bone
Do what the man says, take the money and run

But, I never saw the splendour
In stealing all your gold,
Taking all your silver
And doing what I’m told.

It’s just a breakdown,
Breakdown,
Breakdown,
Breakdown

Shaking like a leaf in the wind see me blowing away
Never see me fall on the ground till I’ve had my say
Shot you full of rock ‘n’ roll, couldn’t make your soul,
Didn’t burn you to the bone
Do what the man says, take the money and run

But, I never saw the splendour
In stealing all your gold,
Taking all your silver
And doing what I’m told

It’s just a breakdown,
Breakdown,
Breakdown,
It’s just a breakdown

Getting near the end, now I knew the time was right for a breakdown
Megaton surprise but your eyes never made it a shakedown
Shot you full of rock ‘n’ roll, couldn’t make your soul,
Didn’t burn you to the bone
Do what the man says, take the money and run

But, I never saw the splendour
In stealing all your gold,
Taking all your silver
And doing what I’m told

It’s just a breakdown,
Breakdown,
Breakdown,
Breakdown

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Whitesnake has released many songs over the years besides Breakdown. Whitesnake released songs from 1978 to 1997 spanning across albums like Snakebite, Trouble, Lovehunter, Ready An' Willing, Live... In The Heart Of The City, Come An' Get It, Saints An' Sinners, Slide It In, Whitesnake, Slip Of The Tongue, and Restless Heart. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Whitesnake.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1978 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Breakdown by Whitesnake

The lyrics to Breakdown are the words, verses and chorus for the song released by Whitesnake in 1978. Elements of the lyrics to Breakdown are both direct in meaning and also metaphorical with the real meanings of the song only known by Whitesnake and any collaborating writers working on the lyrics for Breakdown back when it was created.

Some people have an interest in the etymology behind words and phrases. You can take apart the lyrics to Breakdown by Whitesnake in a number of ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Breakdown" means the words set to the music of Breakdown, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Whitesnake. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Breakdown and the lyrics to Breakdown are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Whitesnake who came here looking just for the lyrics to Breakdown, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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