Rock Ballad

Album: Just A Story From America (1977)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Rock Ballad" is Elliott Murphy's paean to the slow ballads he grew up listening to. In an interview with Songfacts, he specifically mentioned "Try A Little Tenderness" by Otis Redding and "Theme From A Summer Place" by Percy Faith.

    "These rock ballads would transport me to a place of teenage romanticism that I only wish I could return to today," Murphy said.
  • New York Dolls frontman David Johansen loved the song but didn't like the title. Murphy agreed with him on the title, but he also couldn't think of anything else, so it remained "Rock Ballad."
  • Despite the generic title, "Rock Ballad" has some beautiful lyrics. Lines like "You could hear crystal stars as they'd glisten" and "we all kept our cool like a hustler shoots pool" are anything but generic.

    In his interview for the Murphy documentary The Second Act of Elliot Murphy, Bruce Springsteen mentioned this song as being one of Murphy's best.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Lou Gramm - "Waiting For A Girl Like You"

Lou Gramm - "Waiting For A Girl Like You"They're Playing My Song

Gramm co-wrote this gorgeous ballad and delivered an inspired vocal, but the song was the beginning of the end of his time with Foreigner.

U2 Lyrics

U2 LyricsMusic Quiz

How well do you know the lyrics of U2?

Second Wind Songs

Second Wind SongsSong Writing

Some songs get a second life when they find a new audience through a movie, commercial, TV show, or even the Internet.

Joe Jackson

Joe JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Joe talks about the challenges of of making a Duke Ellington tribute album, and tells the stories behind some of his hits.

Matthew Wilder - "Break My Stride"

Matthew Wilder - "Break My Stride"They're Playing My Song

Wilder's hit "Break My Stride" had an unlikely inspiration: a famous record mogul who rejected it.

Queen

QueenFact or Fiction

Scaramouch, a hoople and a superhero soundtrack - see if you can spot the real Queen stories.