Australian singles charts:
Rock and Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life) entered the Australian singles chart* 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 Australian albums chart* on 11 March 1974 and peaked at #21.
Songwriter:
Kevin Johnson
Producer:
Kevin Johnson
Record label of Australian release:
Good Thyme
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
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”
Lyrics:
I can still remember when I bought my first guitar
Remember just how good the feeling was, put it proudly in my car
And my family listened 50 times to my two song repertoire
And I told my mum her only son was gonna be a star
Click for full lyrics
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 70s
Find more songs to enjoy: Bang a Gong song finder
New to Bang a Gong? Click HERE to learn more about us.