He's just an old rock 'n' roller playing music in a backstreet bar
He sings a little flat and he never learned to play the guitar
But he keeps on belting out them rhythm and blues,
"Long Tall Sally" and "Blue Suede Shoes"
He never faced the fact that he's never gonna be a star
He's just an old rock 'n' roller playing music in a backstreet bar

He had a record in the sixties, it was big enough to go Top Ten
And though he tried and he tried he never could make it happen again
He's been living twenty years on bourbon and pride
Jerry Lee went crazy and Elvis died
Then his third wife left him but he never really thought it would last
And now she ain't nothing but another little blast from the past

But sometimes at night when the music and the crowd is having fun,
He steps up on the mike with a gleam in his eye and once again he's twenty-one
And then it's "Be-Bop-A-Lula" and "Heartbreak Hotel" and "That'll Be The Day"
Then the Sweet Bird of Youth just flies away

He's an earthbound eagle that never did learn how to fly
He ain't never gonna make it but he sure did give it a try
So go dye your hair and turn the music up loud,
And when it's time to go at least you'll go down proud
You ain't never gonna be nothing but what you are
Just an old rock 'n' roller playing music in a backstreet bar
Just an old rock 'n' roller playing music in a backstreet bar