Australian singles charts:
Rock and Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life) entered the Kent charts on 24 September 1973 and peaked at #8. The song was #62 in the Top 100 of 1973.
Album:
The song is on Rock and Roll I Gave You the Best Years of My Life which entered the Kent album charts on 11 March 1974 and peaked at #21.
Songwriter:
Kevin Johnson
Producer:
Kevin Johnson
Record label of Australian release:
Good Thyme
Wikipedia:
Kevin Johnson’s biggest hit was Rock ‘N’ Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life) which is one of the most covered songs written by an Australian, with 27 different artists recording it in 1975 alone. Covers include fellow Australians Col Joye and Dig Richards, and international artists Mac Davis, Terry Jacks, Gary Glitter, Joe Dassin (in French), The Cats and Tom Jones.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Johnson_(singer)
Wikipedia:
The lyrics describe a musician recalling his childhood dream of being a star and follows his life through his musical work, with some close breaks until he is faced with the ultimate realisation that he is not destined to become a star. It ends on an upbeat note from the would-be celebrity proclaiming “I thank the lord for giving me the little that I knew”. Johnson based the early verses on his own life and the later verses “on others I’ve known. I always draw on things I know, things around me, on everyday life for my songs”.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Johnson_(singer)#”Rock_and_Roll”
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 70s
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