Songs about roadies and/or life as rock musicians

[Mr. Shadow]

Now the seats are all empty
Let the roadies take the stage
Pack it up and tear it down
They're the first to come and last to leave
Working for that minimum wage
They'll set it up in another town
Tonight the people were so fine
They waited there in line
And when they got up on their feet they made the show
And that was sweet--
But I can hear the sound
Of slamming doors and folding chairs
And that's a sound they'll never know

Now roll them cases out and lift them amps
Haul them trusses down and get'em up them ramps
'Cause when it comes to moving me
You guys are the champs
But when that last guitar's been packed away
You know that I still want to play
So just make sure you got it all set to go
Before you come for my piano

But the band's on the bus
And they're waiting to go
We've got to drive all night and do a show in Chicago
or Detroit, I don't know
We do so many shows in a row
And these towns all look the same
We just pass the time in our hotel rooms
And wander 'round backstage
Till those lights come up and we hear that crowd
And we remember why we came

Now we got country and western on the bus
R and B, we got disco in eight tracks and cassettes in stereo
We've got rural scenes & magazines
We've got truckers on the CB
We've got Richard Pryor on the video
We got time to think of the ones we love
While the miles roll away
But the only time that seems too short
Is the time that we get to play

People you've got the power over what we do
You can sit there and wait
Or you can pull us through
Come along, sing the song
You know you can't go wrong
'Cause when that morning sun comes beating down
You're going to wake up in your town
But we'll be scheduled to appear
A thousand miles away from here

 

[Lynch]

Best song Jackson Browne ever did. Love it!

 

[Lynch]

Of course, we can't forget about Bullet Bob...

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

I kinda like Metallica's version of this song more than Bob's so....



EDIT: Curses! You beat me by like....a second Lynch.

 

[Mr. Shadow]

I have a mansion, forget the price.
Ain't never been there they tell me it's nice.
I live in hotels, tear out the walls.
I have accountants pay for it all.
They say I'm crazy, but I have a good time.
I'm just looking for clues at the scene of the crime.
Life's been good to me so far.
My Masarati does one-eighty-five.
I lost my license, now I don't drive.
I have a limo, ride in the back.
I lock the doors in case I'm attacked.
I'm makin' records, my fans they can't wait.
They write me letters, tell me I'm great.
So I got me an office, gold records on the wall.
Just leave a message, maybe I'll call.
Lucky I'm sane after all I've been through.
(Everybody say I'm cool......He's cool)
I can't complain but sometimes I still do.
Life's been good to me so far

***(One really fantastic guitar solo that radio idiots too often cut up)***

I go to parties, sometimes until 4.
I'ts hard to leave when you can't find the door.
It's tought to handle this fortune and fame.
Everybody's so different, I haven't changed.
They say I'm lazy but it takes all my time
(Everybody say oh, yeah.....OH,YEAH)
I keep on going guess I'll never know why.
Life's been good to me so far. (yeah,yeah,yeah)

***[Really long fade with much more than the rdio allows also]***

 

[Mr. Shadow]

So you want to be a rock 'n' roll star?
Then listen now to what I say
Just get an electric guitar
Then take some time
and learn how to play
And with your hair swung right
And your pants too tight
It's gonna be all right
Then it's time to go downtown
Where the agent man won't let you down
Sell your soul to the company
Who are waiting there to sell plastic ware
And in a week or two
If you make the charts
The girls'll tear you apart

The price you paid for your riches and fame
Was it all a strange game?
You're a little insane
The money, the fame, the public acclaim
Don't forget what you are
You're a rock 'n' roll star!

 

[Mr. Shadow]

Sitting alone on my hotel
Looking in the mirror wondering, "well,
After all this time you never thought you'd still be out on the road?"
Like a gypsy I was born to roam
Like a wanderer with no fixed abode
I think about the friends I've left behind on the road

Well, the road's been rocky along the way
It's been a long, hard haul on the motorway
But if it gets too smooth it's time to call it a day

(On the road)
The bed and breakfasts and the greasy spoons
(The road)
The loser bars and the noisy rooms
(The road)
The casualties who did too many lines
(The road)
Wasted talent on women and wine

I think of all the friends I've left behind
Whenever it's time to get back out on the road

Started playing blues in a coffee bar
I took a trip down Charing Cross Road
With my imitation Gretsch guitar
And my head full of songs and my eyes full of stars
I saw a band called the Rolling Stones
I thought, "that's it, I'll get a band,
I'm leaving home, I'm out on the road."

The motorways all over this land
(The road)
Far away places like Wigan and Birmingham
(The road)
Didn't have no name, didn't have any fans
(The road)
Didn't have no money so we slept in the van

All those early gigs we ever played
Sometimes we were lucky if we even got paid
On the road
Pete played on the bass guitar
Liked to get around, mixing with all the stars
But Mrs. Avory's child was all fingers and thumbs
But solid as a rock, setting time on the drums
While Dave the Rave hit the rock 'n' roll riffs
Yours truly strummed away with a slightly limp wrist
On the road

Everyday is when I can't get used to it
Everyday is when I can't get away
Another day, another freeway to face
That's the road

Well, life is a road, it's a motorway
And the road gets rocky along the way
But if it gets too smooth it's time to call it a day

(On the road)
Jimi Hendrix, The Who, the Led Zeppelin and Free
They took the road so it's alright by me
Some are survivors, some are debris
If you play in a band that's the road that you take
Living in it, eating in it, sleeping in it
You wake up in the morning, what do you see?
The road

Life is a road, it's a motorway
Lost a lot of good friends along the way
All the families and homes that I've left behind
To the wives and the lovers and friends who had their time
I say, "you take your road and I'll take mine."
(You take your road and I'll take mine)
You take your road and I'll take mine
(You take your road and I'll take mine)

Life is a road, it's a motorway
And the road gets rocky along the way
But if it gets too smooth it's time to call it a day

(On the road)
Observed all the various phases from
Flower power, heavy metal and acid rock
And still all the critics keep saying
"Are they still around? When they gonna stop?"
It's just the dedicated followers of fashion who like putting down
All the well respected men who came dancing and are still on the road

Sometime I get suicidal
Now everyone is a rival
Different cars, different bars and hotels
Corporations, big business and egos
When it all gets too bad I think back
When we were all each other had
When we started out on the road

And there's gas in my tank and I've still got a way to go
Another hotel, it's time to check out soon
As I look around the room
I think of all the friends I've left behind
On the road

______________________________________________


Who else has some to offer?

 

[TheFeldster]

 

[Odysseus]

Steppenwolf - Hey Lawdy Mama

 

[Dave78]

Bachman-Turner Overdrive - "Rock Is My Life, And This Is My Song"



It's a hurried up life
But it's the life I choose
No use in asking me to slow down
Cause I got nothing to lose

But time and time is all I've got
You know I born standing up with a guitar in my hand
I'm not trying to come on like hollywood
But hollywood is what I am

When we come into a new town
Everybody's there
When we play our music
Hands are in the air

When the music's over
You wonder where we are
I'm standing in the silence
With my old guitar

Rock is my life and this is my song
It's a crying shame
That some of us have not survived
No use in asking how it happened
But very few are left alive

I just wanna keep on makin' music
We gotta keep on keepin' on
You're only as good as your last record
I know that someday we'll be gone, gone

When we come into a new town
Everybody's there
When we play our music
Hands are in the air

When the music's over
You wonder where we are
I'm standing in the silence
With my old guitar

Rock is my life and this is my song
When we come into a new town
Everybody's there
When we play our music
Candles light the air

When the music's over, over
You wonder where we are
I'm standing in the silence
With my old guitar, my only friend