Lyrics to
Memories Of A Rock & Rolla

This version of Memories Of A Rock & Rolla was released by Traffic in 1974.

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

When I was a young boy I lived for rock ‘n’ roll
We spent our time playing gigs and traveling on the road
And we didn’t have much money and the gigs were sometimes rough
But playing music for the people seemed to be enough
And the music is so sweet that it makes me tap my feet
And my mind is very high, I can almost touch the sky

Now I am a young man dressed in sparkling coloured clothes
A country house and sixty acres are a heavy load
We still have no money but we have some nice things
Possession is, possessions are the trait that money brings
And the snowflakes are so sweet as they fall around our feet
And my mind is very high, I can almost feel the sky

Now I am an old man, I know exactly what to do
Never ask a question or ever give an answer to you
And when you pass me by and you drop a penny in my hat
Don’t feel sorry on my account ’cause life can be like that
And the music is so sweet that it makes me tap my feet
And my mind is very high, I can almost feel the sky
And the river rolls along like a never ever ending song
And the river rolls along like a never ever ending song

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Traffic has released many songs over the years besides Memories Of A Rock & Rolla. Traffic released songs from 1967 to 1994 spanning across albums like Mr. Fantasy, Traffic, Last Exit, John Barleycorn Must Die, Welcome To The Canteen, The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys, Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory, When The Eagle Flies, and Far From Home. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Traffic.

If you're a fan of lyrics from 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1974 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

When you decide to study the lyrics to Memories Of A Rock & Rolla, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1974 song by Traffic. Some of the lyrics to Memories Of A Rock & Rolla have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Traffic and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Memories Of A Rock & Rolla if you take apart the structure of the words. 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 Memories Of A Rock & Rolla" means the words set to the music of Memories Of A Rock & Rolla, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Traffic. 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 Memories Of A Rock & Rolla and the lyrics to Memories Of A Rock & Rolla are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Traffic who came here looking just for the lyrics to Memories Of A Rock & Rolla, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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