Foo Fighters - "Let There Be Rock" (AC/DC Cover, Live at the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge)

The song provides an encapsulated, fictionalised version of the history of rock 'n' roll. Building on a line from the Chuck Berry song "Roll Over Beethoven": "... tell Tchaikovsky the news", "Let There Be Rock" reveals that Tchaikovsky did in fact receive the message and subsequently shared it with the masses, resulting in the rise of rock 'n' roll.

Following rock's birth, rock bands appeared everywhere, musicians found fame (while businesses made money off their efforts), and millions of people learned how to play electric guitar. The third and final verse speaks of a "42-decibel" rock band playing good, loud music in an establishment called "The Shaking Hand". This is usually changed to "92-decibel" in live versions of the song. After the final verse, the song ends with an extended solo by Angus Young, which consists mainly of fast picking, string bends, and hammer-ons.

Lyrics

In the beginning

Back in nineteen fifty-five

Man didn't know about a rock 'n' roll show

And all that jive

The white man had the smoltz

The black man had the blues

No one knew what they was gonna do

But Tchaikovsky had the news

He said

Let there be sound

There was sound

Let there be light

There was light

Let there be drums

There was drums

Let there be guitar

There was guitar

Oh, Let there be rock

And it came to pass

That rock 'n' roll was born

All across the land every rockin' band

Was blowing up a storm

And the guitar man got famous

The businessman got rich

And in every bar there was a super star

With a seven year itch

There were fifteen million fingers

Learning how to play

And you could hear the fingers picking

And this is what they had to say

Let there be light

Sound

Drums

Guitar

Let there be rock

One night in a club called "The Shaking Hand"

There was a ninety-two decibel rocking band

And the music was good and the music was loud

And the singer turned and he said to the crowd -

Let there be rock

Songwriters: Ronald Belford Scott / Angus Mckinnon Young / Malcolm Mitchell Young

Let There Be Rock lyrics © BMG Rights Management