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 fifty times to my two song repertoireAnd I told my mum her only son was gonna be a star

Bought all the Beatle records, sounded just like Paul

Bought all the old Chuck Berry′s, 's and all

And I sat by my record player, playin′ every note they played

And I watched them all on TV, makin every move they made

Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life

All the dreamy sunny Sundays, all the moon-lit summer nights

I was so busy in the back room writin' love songs to you

While you were changin' your direction and you never even knew

That I was always, just one step behind you

′ Seemed like the year I was really goin′ somewhere

We were living in San Francisco, with flowers in our hair

Singing songs of kindness so the world would understand

But the guys and me were something more than just another band

And then ' in LA, came around so soon

We were really making headway and writing lots of tunes

And we must have played the wildest stuff we had ever played

The way the crowds cried out for us, we thought we had it made

Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life

All the crazy lazy young days, all the magic moon-lit nights

I was so busy on the road singin′ love songs to you

While you were changin' your direction, and you never even knew

That I was always, just one step behind you

′ In Soho, when I saw Suzanne

I was trying to go it solo, with someone else's band

And she came up to me later and I tooke her by the hand

And I told her all my troubles and she seemed to understand

And she followed me through London, through a hundred hotel rooms

Throught a hundred record companies who didn′t like my tunes

And she followed me when, finally, I sold my old guitar

And she tried to help me understand, I'd never be a star

Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life

All the dreamy sunny Sundays, all the moon-lit summer nights

And though I never knew the magic of makin' it with you

Thank the Lord for giving me the little bit I knew

And I will always be one step behind you

Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life

Singing out my love songs in the brightly flashing lights

And though I never knew the magic of makin′ it with you

Thank the Lord for giving me the little bit I knew

Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life

All the dreamy sunny Sundays, all the moon-lit summer nights

I was so busy in the back room makin′ love songs to you

While you were changin' your direction, and you never even knew

That I was always, just one step behind you