Moody Blues – I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock & Roll Band)

This song I’m highlighting off of the  Seventh Sojourn album released in 1972. The song peaked at #12 in the Billboard 100 and #36 in the UK. Like Ride My See-Saw I like the tone of the guitar on this one…not as distinctive as Ride My See-Saw but still good. The song was written by Joh Lodge…this is John talking about it:

It was a strange time in the world [back in the 1960s), and I know we live in strange times now (laughs). The Vietnam War was going on, and at the same time, people around the world were looking for different things—looking for hope and looking for some way to get out of everything that was piling pressure on them.

I suddenly thought…just a minute…I’m only a musician. I didn’t know the answers to the questions that people were seeking. I wanted to say that. But also, there’s a reference in the song to a famous photograph from the Vietnam War. There’s a little girl running along the street who’s just been on fire, and so I had to write that in the song as well…the line, “scorching the earth.” So I wanted to put everything in [the song]. I wanted to tell you what is actually going on in the world, [but] it seemed we couldn’t do anything else about it. And that’s really what this song is about.

 

I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock & Roll Band)

I’m just a wandering on the face of this earth
Meeting so many people who are trying to be free
And while I’m traveling I hear so many words
Language barriers broken, now we’ve found the key

If you want this world of yours to turn about you
You can see exactly what to do, don’t tell me

I’m just a singer in a rock and roll band

A thousand pictures can be drawn from one word
Only who is the artist, we got to agree
A thousand miles can lead so many ways
Just to know who is driving, what a help it would be

So if you want this world of yours to turn about you
And you can see exactly what to do, don’t tell me

I’m just a singer in a rock and roll band

How can we understand
Riots by the people for the people
Who are only destroying themselves
And when you see a frightened
Person who is frightened by the
People who are scorching this earth, scorching this earth

I’m just a wandering on the face of this earth
Meeting so many people, who are trying to be free
While I’m traveling I hear so many words
Language barriers broken, now we’ve found the key

If you want this world of yours to turn about you
You can see exactly what to do, don’t tell me

I’m just a singer in a rock and roll band

I’m just a singer in a rock and roll band

How can we understand
Riots by the people for the people
Who are only destroying themselves
When you see a frightened
Person who is frightened by the
People who are scorching this earth, scor-scorching this earth

Music is the traveler crossing our world
Meeting so many people, we’re bridging the seas

I’m just a singer in a rock and roll band
I’m just a singer in a rock and roll band
I’m just a singer in a rock and roll band
We’re just the singers in a rock and roll band

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

16 thoughts on “Moody Blues – I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock & Roll Band)”

  2. As a Moody fan, this song is complicated for me. The sentiment behind it is obviously real, so why does it sound ego-driven to me? I don’t know the answer, but I’ve never liked the song from the first time I heard it on the radio as a little kid. It has some great lines, and is one of their most popular songs, so my opinion has not hurt them. :p

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    1. What I like about it isn’t the words…it’s the music and the drums of course. It’s really tight all the way through with a somewhat difficult arrangement…a little pretentious…

      It was either this one or Question last night.

      The next ones i will get into will be from Long Distance Voyager. That may be the first Moodies album I ever bought “new” when it was released.

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      1. Yes, the drums …and the pretentious are what stand out to me. The drums (and drummer) are great, I agree. The arrangement does seem complex, and for that I appreciate the song.

        I’m a big fan of Question and all of Long Distance Voyager.

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      2. I’ve always liked them but writing about them makes me like them more…they were a true band…not “Justin and the Blues” so to speak…everyone contributed.

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  4. I’ve always picked it as around the middle of my list of Moody Blues’ singles , far from my favorite but certainly not one I dislike either. Never paid much attention to the lyrics before though, I kind of have a bit more respect for it with that background.

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  6. That just shows how little I’ve listened to lyrics over the years… I hadn’t known about his putting anything about the photo/war into it. I presume the photo he means is the one of a little girl (and other children) running, screaming, from a Napalm attack. It’s incredibly chilling and to this day I’ve no idea how anyone could have taken it (I think it was a video, too) and not picked up the child and run with her. They were terrible times (and we think the times we live in now are bad: nothing like it) and news of the war was impossible to escape whatever part of the planet you lived in.

    All that aside, I love the song with its driving force and breathlessness and always have. I’m actually quite surprised it was released in the 70s, I thought it was earlier. There goes my memory playing tricks on me again.

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    1. Since I’ve been writing this blogs…there are many songs and events that I’ve been really surprised about…Ones that were released when I was a kid or in my teens…I usually had it wrong.
      Some songs that I thought were top 20 were at 67 or something like that…some didn’t chart at all.

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