Todd Snider - Ballad Of The Kingsmen lyrics

The Kingsmen came together in a garage,

They could hardly even play

But they practiced night

And day pretty soon they got to where they could really play that song Louie,

Louie

So, they saved up all the money from the shows,

Went in to one of them studios and gave their version of the song a try

Now, I don't know the words to that song Louie,

Louie and I'm pretty sure the singer for the

Kingsmen didn't know ‘em either,

If he did know ‘em he didn't get ‘em right on the record

Cause on the record they sound jumbled in his jaw? It says,

Me think of me girl oh so constantly

Ahmayaaah makaaaah aahh ooohoooh aaaaah

Well, that last part scared everybody from the PTA to the FBI

You see, the kids had been going kind of crazy lately

And it seemed like nobody could figure out why,

So they decided to form a coalition,

Launch an investigation, you know for the children, they at least had to try

To figure out the words to Louie, Louie

Chorus

It's the feel good hit of this endless summer

It gets these kids out of control

Singin along to that star spangled bummer,

Hail, hail rock and roll

Marilyn Manson's real name isn't even Marilyn Manson,

He's a skinny public high school Kid from Florida,

Not some monster from out of this world and like of a lot other skinny long hair public

High school kids he was sick of getting

Beaten up by the pulling guard all week only to go out on the weekend,

And watch the Quarterback get all the girls so,

He formed a band man

Now' he gets all the girls,

A few years later a couple of latchkey kids go tragically

Mad and everybody's standing around the television store at the mall trying to figure out what went wrong,

This guy says,

You think the life of a kid going to high school could've gotten so bad this other guy says nah,

It's just the words to one of them goddamn Marilyn Manson songs,

You know the one

Chorus

You know, every ten years or so our country and some other little country,

We start firing all of our newest weapons

At each other for some reason or another, right or wrong,

Like it or not, it happens, and when it happens

People get shot and when people get shot,

They show it on tv a lot every night at six o clock

And you don't even have to be eighteen to see it you don't even have to be in first grade,

First grade where they teach the kid pride

They tell him he'll need to thrive,

In a world where only the strong will survive,

So he's taught the art of more

To compare to and to keep score Monday thru Friday while

He stares at the floor til' Sunday they make him go to

School once more only this time they make him wear a suit and a tie

And listen to some guy who claims to know Where people go

When they die tell him that only the meek are gonna inherit the earth Well shit,

By this time the kid doesn't know what anything

Is worth, now brothers and sisters I am only one guy

And I don't even know the words to that song Louie,

Louie but I can tell you right now without batting an eye

That the next time some latchkey kid goes wrong

It aint gonna be cause that Eminem gets to say the word Fag in his song

And I'm not trying to preach to ya either,

I'm just trying to sing to ya too, you know string a few words together

Hey kids...

Lets get it on,

Lets get it on