Lyrics to
Robbery, Assault & Battery

This version of Robbery, Assault & Battery was released by Genesis in 1976.

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The streets were deserted though the police were alerted,
They considered the phone call a hoax.
Furtively glancing then jauntily prancing
The youth caught the guards unaware.

Slipping between them he ought to have seen then
The eyes and their owner so near.
With torch shining bright he strode on in the night
Till he came to the room with the safe.

“Hello son, I hope you’re having fun.”
“You’ve got it wrong Sir, I’m only the cleaner.”
With that he fired, the other saying as he died,
“You’ve done me wrong,” it’s the same old song forever.

Robbery, assault and battery,
The felon and his felony.
Robbery, assault and battery,
The felon and his felony.

Picked up the diamonds and bundles of fivers
He pushed them well down in his sack.
But the alarm had been sounded, he was completely surrounded
But he had some more tricks up his sleeve.

“Come outside with your hands held high.”
“You’ll not get me alive Sir, I promise you that Sir.”
With that he fired, the other saying as he died
“You’ve done me wrong,” it’s the same old song forever.

Robbery, assault and battery,
The felon and his felony.
Robbery, assault and battery,
The felon and his felony.

“He’s leaving via the roof, the bastard’s got away.
God always fights on the side of the bad man.”

“I’ve got clean away but I’ll be back some day,
Just the combination will have changed.
Some day they’ll catch me, to a chain they’ll attach me,
Until that day I’ll ride the old crime wave.

If they try to hold me for trial
I’ll stay out of gaol by paying my bail
And after I’ll go to the court of appeal saying
“You’ve done me wrong,” it’s the same old song forever.”

Done me wrong – same old song – done me wrong.

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Genesis has released many songs over the years besides Robbery, Assault & Battery. Genesis released songs from 1969 to 2000 spanning across albums like From Genesis To Revelation, Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England By The Pound, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, A Trick Of The Tail, Wind And Wuthering, ...And Then There Were Three..., Duke, Abacab, Genesis, Invisible Touch, We Can't Dance, Calling All Stations, Genesis Archive 1967-1975, and Genesis Archives #2 1976-92. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Genesis.

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About Lyrics and Robbery, Assault & Battery by Genesis

The lyrics to Robbery, Assault & Battery are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Genesis used when the song was created in 1976. The lyrics to Robbery, Assault & Battery have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Genesis and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Robbery, Assault & Battery by Genesis. 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 Robbery, Assault & Battery" means the words set to the music of Robbery, Assault & Battery, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Genesis. 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 Robbery, Assault & Battery and the lyrics to Robbery, Assault & Battery are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Genesis who came here looking just for the lyrics to Robbery, Assault & Battery, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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