Lyrics to
The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle

This version of The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle was released by Sex Pistols in 1979.

Our About Sex Pistols page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle from 1979 as well as all of the other lyrics from Sex Pistols that we have in our lyrics database.

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

People said we couldn’t play
The called us foul-mothed yobs
But the only notes that really count
Are the ones that come in wads

They all drowned when the air turned blue
‘Cos we didn’t give a toss
Filthy lucre, ain’t nothing new
But we all get cash from the chaos

The time is right to do it now
The greatest rock’n’roll swindle
The time is right to do it now

E.M.I. said you’re out of hand
And they gave us the boot
But they couldn’t sack us, just like that
Without giving us the loot

Thank you kindly A & M
They said we were out of bounds
But that ain’t bad for two weeks work
And 75,000 pounds

The time is right to do it now
The greatest rock’n’roll swindle
The time is right to do it now

The time is right to do it now
The greatest rock’n’roll swindle
The time is right to do it now

I just wanna play with my hand
Are you good enough for me
Hiya boys I’m the choosen one
Can’t you fucking see

I’m a jealous god and I want everything
And I love you with a knife
I’ll take you, if you’re ready for me
And I’ll give you my life

The time is right to do it now
The greatest rock’n’roll swindle
The time is right to do it now

The time is right for Nickey’s Special
The greatest rock’n’roll star
The time is right for me, now!

---

Want more lyrics and songs by Sex Pistols?

Sex Pistols has released many songs over the years besides The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle. Sex Pistols released songs from 1977 to 1979 spanning across albums like Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols, and The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Sex Pistols.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1979 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle by Sex Pistols

When you decide to study the lyrics to The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1979 song by Sex Pistols. Some of the lyrics to The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Sex Pistols and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle 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 The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle" means the words set to the music of The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Sex Pistols. 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 The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle and the lyrics to The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Sex Pistols who came here looking just for the lyrics to The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

More Songs & Lyrics by Sex Pistols

Visit our Sex Pistols profile for more Sex Pistols songs, lyrics & info!

)