Lyrics to
China Girl

This version of China Girl was released by Iggy Pop in 1976.

Our About Iggy Pop page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for China Girl from 1976 as well as all of the other lyrics from Iggy Pop that we have in our lyrics database.

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

I couldn’t escape this feeling
With my China Girl
I’m just a wreck without
My little China Girl
I’d hear hearts beating
Loud as thunder
See the stars crashing

I’m a mess without
My China Girl
Wake up mornings, there’s
No China Girl
I’d hear hearts beating
Loud as thunder
I’d see stars crashing down

I’d feel tragic
Like I was Marlon Brando
When I’d look at my China Girl
I could pretend that nothing
Really meant too much
When I’d look at my China Girl

I’d stumble into town
Just like a sacred cow
Visions of swastikas in my head
And plans for everyone
It’s in the white of my eyes

My little China Girl
You shouldn’t mess with me
I’ll ruin everything you are
I’ll give you television
I’ll give you eyes of blue
I’ll give you men who want to rule the world

And when I get excited
My little China Girl says,
“Oh Jimmy, just shut your mouth.”
She says, “Shhhh…”

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Iggy Pop has released many songs over the years besides China Girl. Iggy Pop released songs from 1976 to 2003 spanning across albums like The Idiot, Lust For Life, New Values, Soldier, Party, Zombie Birdhouse, Blah-Blah-Blah, Instinct, Brick By Brick, American Caesar, Naughty Little Doggie, Avenue B, Beat 'Em Up, and Skull Ring. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Iggy Pop.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1976 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and China Girl by Iggy Pop

The lyrics for China Girl are made up of the words, verses and background chorus for the popular 1976 song by Iggy Pop. Like a lot of songs, the lyrics to China Girl have both direct meanings and metaphorical context hidden within the song's words. All of the meanings are only truly known by the creators of the lyrics for China Girl - Iggy Pop and any of the writers who worked with them on the song.

If you have an interest in the structure of words and phrases, you can dissect the lyrics to China Girl by Iggy Pop in multiple 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 China Girl" means the words set to the music of China Girl, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Iggy Pop. 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 China Girl and the lyrics to China Girl are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Iggy Pop who came here looking just for the lyrics to China Girl, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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