In the beginning Back in nineteen fifty five Man didn't know 'bout a rock 'n' roll show 'N all that jive The white man had the schmaltz The black man had the blues No one knew what they was gonna do But Tschaikovsky had the news, he said Let there be sound, and there was sound Let there be light, and there was light Let there be drums, there was drums Let there be guitar, there was guitar, ah Let there be rock And it came to pass That rock 'n' roll was born All across the land every rockin' band Was blowin' up a storm And the guitar man got famous The business man got rich And in every bar there was a superstar With a seven year itch There was fifteen million fingers Learnin' how to play And you could hear the fingers pickin' And this is what they had to say Let there be light, sound, drums, 'n guitar, ah Let there be rock One night in a club called The Shakin' Hand There was a 42 decibel rockin' 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