Music Monday - April Wine - I Like To Rock (or A Lazy Rock Anthem)

When a Hard Rock band puts the word “rock” in the title of their song, it automatically gets classified in the rock anthem category in my mind. Most of the time it works (You Can’t Stop Rock and Roll, Let there be Rock, etc.).

However, occasionally this falls flat.

April Wine wrote a song that has some pretty good music. However, they gave it one of the worst names I’ve ever heard. I Like to Rock.

That’s it. Replace the word “like” and it would be alright, but the word “like” lacks the passion it seemed they were going for. The lack of passion is even more prominent when the chorus isn’t belted out so much as it is sung in a slightly higher volume than someone’s speaking voice. Just listen for yourself.

April Wine - I Like to Rock

To make matters worse, the actual lyrics for the song are awful. It reads like someone making things up on the fly. No coherency, no flow, no story. Just blah. See below.

Well alright, somethin's got you goin' tonight Doin' all she can, it's alright Come on can't you see That when we all let go We get high on rock 'n' roll
Journey to the stars, rock 'n' roll guitars, yeah I like to rock, some like it hot, baby I like it, you like it I like to rock, I like to rock
I can sing, that's the kind of life for me Want it loose and fancy free Come on then let's go And it'll be alright We can rock 'n' roll all night
Journey to the stars, rock 'n' roll guitars, yeah I like to rock, some like it hot, baby I like it, you like it I like to rock, I like to rock
Ooh, I like to rock Some like it hot, baby I like it, you like it I like to rock, I like to rock
See? Awful.

So, here’s my stab at writing the lyrics to a song with the title “I Like to Rock.” It is far more amusing if you imagine it sung by Michael Caine as I keep doing. Ha.

Verse 1 My word Is that a guitar? Well grab it And throw it in the car And is that a set of drums? Gather them up You can beat them while I strum
Chorus I like to Rock, I like to Rock Wherever we are All the ladies flock I like to Rock, I like to Rock By jove, I like to rock
Verse 2 We’ll go down to The local bar Play on stage And get money for our jar We’ll play all day We’ll play all night We’ll get the crowd amped Everyone will feel alright
Repeat Chorus
Guitar solo
Verse 3 I do enjoy A good bass line And that power chord Makes me feel just fine Just don’t bring Your silly keytar Otherwise We’ll never be a star
Repeat Chorus 2x
By the way, that took me like 10 minutes. Admit it, that was far more entertaining than the original lyrics.