Lyrics to
David Watts

This version of David Watts was released by The Jam in 1978.

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

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

I am a dull and simple lad
Cannot tell water from champagne
and I have never met the Queen
And I wish I could have all he has got –
I wish I could be like David Watts
And when I lie on my pillow at night
I dream I could fight like David Watts
And lead the school team to victory
Take my exams and pass the lot

He is the head boy at the school
He is the captain of the team
He is so gay and fancy free
And I wish I could have all he has got
I wish I could be like David Watts

And all the girls in the neighbourhood
Try to go out with David Watts
The try their best but can’t succeed
For he is of pure and noble breed

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The Jam has released many songs over the years besides David Watts. The Jam released songs from 1977 to 1992 spanning across albums like This Is The Modern World, In The City, All Mod Cons, Setting Sons, Sound Affects, Dig The New Breed, The Gift, and Extras. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by The Jam.

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

About Lyrics and David Watts by The Jam

The lyrics for David Watts are defined as the words making up the song released by The Jam in 1978. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to David Watts have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only The Jam and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to David Watts by The Jam if you think through it. 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 David Watts" means the words set to the music of David Watts, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by The Jam. 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 David Watts and the lyrics to David Watts are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of The Jam who came here looking just for the lyrics to David Watts, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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