Lyrics to
Russian Roulette

This version of Russian Roulette was released by The Hollies in 1976.

Our About The Hollies page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Russian Roulette from 1976 as well as all of the other lyrics from The Hollies that we have in our lyrics database.

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

Back street dive down in New Orleans
Gambler shows his face
The place was full of jacks and queens
But I never came up with that bread-winning ace

Whisky’s cheap at twice the price
When it kills the pain of bad tumbling dice
The scene’s all set for an IOU
Give it one more spin then that’s me I’m through

The wheel’s like a chamber in Russian roulette
I’m takin’ a chance and I’m gunnin’ for red
The wheel’s like a chamber in Russian roulette
I’m takin’ a chance and I’m gunnin’ for red

Lost my shirt headed for the bar
Gonna drown my sorrows in a whisky jar
Head hung low because I got beat
I see a hundred dollar bill layin’ at my feet

Headed for the tables I’m wearin’ my shades
Got to find me a lucky green top,
Can’t be one I’ve played
My hands are shakin’ don’t wanna lose my cool
Should I keep the big C or gamble like a fool?

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The Hollies has released many songs over the years besides Russian Roulette. The Hollies released songs from 1964 to 1998 spanning across albums like Stay With The Hollies, In The Hollies Style, Hollies, For Certain Because, Would You Believe?, Butterfly, Evolution, Hollies Sing Dylan, Hollies Sing Hollies, Confessions Of The Mind, Distant Light, Romany, Another Night, Russian Roulette, Write On, A Crazy Steal, 5317704, Buddy Holly, What Goes Around, The Hollies At Abbey Road 1963-1966, and The Hollies At Abbey Road 1966-1970. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by The Hollies.

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

About Lyrics and Russian Roulette by The Hollies

The lyrics for Russian Roulette are made up of the words, verses and background chorus for the popular 1976 song by The Hollies. Like a lot of songs, the lyrics to Russian Roulette 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 Russian Roulette - The Hollies 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 Russian Roulette by The Hollies 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 Russian Roulette" means the words set to the music of Russian Roulette, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by The Hollies. 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 Russian Roulette and the lyrics to Russian Roulette are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of The Hollies who came here looking just for the lyrics to Russian Roulette, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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