Lyrics to
Tenement Funster

This version of Tenement Funster was released by Queen in 1974.

Our About Queen page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Tenement Funster from 1974 as well as all of the other lyrics from Queen that we have in our lyrics database.

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

My new purple shoes, bin’ amazin’ the people next door
And my rock ‘n roll 45’s, bin’ enragin’ the folks on the lower floor

I got a way with girls on my block
Try my best be a real individual
And when we go down to Smokies and rock
They line up like it’s some kinda ritual

Oh give me a good guitar, and you can say that my hair’s a disgrace
Or, just give me an open car, I’ll make the speed of light outta this place

I like the good things in life
But most of the best things ain’t free
And this same situation, just cuts like a knife
When you’re young, and you’re poor, and you’re crazy

But oh, give me a good guitar, and you can say that my hair’s a disgrace
Or, just give me an open car, I’ll make the speed of light outta this place

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Queen has released many songs over the years besides Tenement Funster. Queen released songs from 1973 to 1995 spanning across albums like Queen, Sheer Heart Attack, Queen II, A Night At The Opera, A Day At The Races, News Of The World, Jazz, The Game, Hot Space, The Works, A Kind Of Magic, The Miracle, Innuendo, and Made In Heaven. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Queen.

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About Lyrics and Tenement Funster by Queen

The lyrics for Tenement Funster are made up of the words, verses and background chorus for the popular 1974 song by Queen. Like a lot of songs, the lyrics to Tenement Funster 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 Tenement Funster - Queen 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 Tenement Funster by Queen 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 Tenement Funster" means the words set to the music of Tenement Funster, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Queen. 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 Tenement Funster and the lyrics to Tenement Funster are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Queen who came here looking just for the lyrics to Tenement Funster, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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