Lyrics to
Ventilator Blues

Released by The Rolling Stones in 1972
From the Album: Exile On Main St. |

This version of Ventilator Blues was released by The Rolling Stones in 1972.

Our About The Rolling Stones page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Ventilator Blues from 1972 as well as all of the other lyrics from The Rolling Stones that we have in our lyrics database.

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

When your spine is cracking and your hands, they shake,
Heart is bursting and you butt’s gonna break.
Your woman’s cussing, you can hear her scream,
You feel like murder in the first degree.
Ain’t nobody slowing down no way,
Ev’rybody’s stepping on their accelerator,
Don’t matter where you are,
Ev’rybody’s gonna need a ventilator.
When you’re trapped and circled with no second chances,
Your code of living is your gun in hand.
We can’t be browed by beating, we can’t be cowed by words,
Messed by cheating, ain’t gonna ever learn.
Ev’rybody walking ’round,
Ev’rybody trying to step on their Creator.
Don’t matter where you are, ev’rybody, ev’rybody gonna
Need some kind of ventilator, some kind of ventilator.
What you gonna do about it, what you gonna do?
What you conna do about it, what you gonna do?
Gonna fight it, gonna fight it?


Want more lyrics and songs by The Rolling Stones?

The Rolling Stones has released many songs over the years besides Ventilator Blues. The Rolling Stones released songs from 1964 to 2005 spanning across albums like 12x5, The Rolling Stones, Out Of Our Heads, December's Children (And Everybody's), The Rolling Stones, Now!, Aftermath, Their Satanic Majesties Request, Between The Buttons, Flowers, Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out, Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main St., Goats Head Soup, It's Only Rock 'N' Roll, Black And Blue, Some Girls, Emotional Rescue, Tattoo You, Undercover, Dirty Work, Steel Wheels, Voodoo Lounge, Stripped, Bridges To Babylon, Forty Licks, Rarities 1971-2003, and A Bigger Bang. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by The Rolling Stones.

If you're a fan of 1970s music looking for more songs from 1972 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Ventilator Blues by The Rolling Stones

The lyrics for Ventilator Blues are defined as the words making up the song released by The Rolling Stones in 1972. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to Ventilator Blues have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only The Rolling Stones and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

See also  Parker's Band

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to Ventilator Blues by The Rolling Stones if you think through it. 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 Ventilator Blues" means the words set to the music of Ventilator Blues, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by The Rolling Stones. 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 Ventilator Blues and the lyrics to Ventilator Blues are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of The Rolling Stones who came here looking just for the lyrics to Ventilator Blues, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

More Songs & Lyrics by The Rolling Stones

Show More Lyrics

Visit our The Rolling Stones profile for more The Rolling Stones songs, lyrics & info!

See also  Certain Songs

Show More

See also  Slow Song
)