Lyrics to
Young Americans

This version of Young Americans was released by David Bowie in 1975.

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They pulled in just behind the bridge
He lays her down, he frowns
“Gee my life’s a funny thing, am I
still too young?”
He kissed her then and there
She took his ring, took his babies
It took him minutes, took her nowhere
Heaven knows, she’d have taken anything, but

All night
She wants the young American
Young American, young American, she wants the young American
All right
She wants the young American

Scanning life through the picture
window
She finds the slinky vagabond
He coughs as he passes her Ford
Mustang, but
Heaven forbid, she’ll take anything
But the freak, and his type, all for
nothing
He misses a step and cuts his hand, but
Showing nothing, he swoops like a song
She cries “Where have all Papa’s heroes gone?”

All the way from Washington
Her bread-winner begs off the bathroom floor
We live for just these twenty years
Do we have to die for the fifty more?”

All night
He wants the young American
Young American, young American,
he wants the young American
All right
He wants the young American

Do you remember, your President Nixon?
Do you remember, the bills you have to pay?
Or even yesterday?
Have been the un-American?
Just you and your idol sing falsetto
’bout Leather, leather everywhere, and
Not a myth left from the ghetto
Well, well, well, would you carry a razor
In case, just in case of depression?
Sit on your hands on a bus of survivors
Blushing at all the afro-Sheeners
Ain’t that close to love?
Well, ain’t that poster love?
Well, it ain’t that Barbie doll
Her hearts have been broken just like you

All night
You want the young American
Young American, young American, you want the young American
All right
You want the young American

You ain’t a pimp and you ain’t a hustler
A pimp’s got a Cadi and a lady got a Chrysler
Black’s got respect, and white’s got his soul train
Mama’s got cramps, and look at your hands ache
(I heard the news today, oh boy)
I got a suite and you got defeat
Ain’t there a man who can say no more?
And, ain’t there a woman I can
sock on the jaw?
And, ain’t there a child I can hold without judging?
Ain’t there a pen that will write before they die?
Ain’t you proud that you’ve still got faces?
Ain’t there one damn song that can make me
break down and cry?

All night
I want the young American
Young American, young American, I want the young American
All right
I want the young American

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David Bowie has released many songs over the years besides Young Americans. David Bowie released songs from 1967 to 2003 spanning across albums like David Bowie, Space Oddity, The Man Who Sold The World, Hunky Dory, The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, Aladdin Sane, Pin Ups, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, Station To Station, Heroes, Low, Lodger, Scary Monsters, Hot Space, Let's Dance, Tonight, Never Let Me Down, Black Tie White Noise, Outside, Earthling, Hours..., Heathen, and Reality. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by David Bowie.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1975 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Young Americans by David Bowie

When you decide to study the lyrics to Young Americans, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1975 song by David Bowie. Some of the lyrics to Young Americans have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only David Bowie and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

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

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