About The Song
“The Heart of Rock & Roll” is a song performed by Huey Lewis and the News, released as the third single from their 1983 album Sports in 1984. The single peaked at number six on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
The song was inspired by a gig the band played in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland, at the time was known for its rock scene, but the band remained defiant of this claim believing their hometown of San Francisco had the better scene. After playing the show Lewis relented, with initially the title phrase being “The heart of rock and roll is in Cleveland”, based on a comment Lewis made to the band, but he changed it to “The heart of rock and roll is still beating”. According to him the message of the song is “There’s real rock and roll in other places than LA or New York.”
The B-side to the single is a live version of “Workin’ for a Livin'”. The music video was recorded in March 1984 featuring skits with the band as well as footage of concerts filmed in New York City and Los Angeles.
Upon the suggestion of their record company, the band produced various regional versions of the single in which, after mention of Detroit toward the end of the song, Lewis calls out one or more cities not in the lyrics of the album version, including New Haven, St. Louis, and Toronto.
Video
Lyrics
New York, New York, is everything they say
And no place that I’d rather be
Where else can you do a half a million things
All at a quarter to three
When they play their music, ooh that modern music
They like it with a lot of style
But it’s still that same old back beat rhythm
That really, really drives ’em wild
They say the heart of rock and roll is still beating
And from what I’ve seen I believe ’em
Now the old boy may be barely breathing
But the heart of rock and roll, heart of rock and roll is still beating
LA, Hollywood, and the Sunset Strip
Is something everyone should see
Neon lights and the pretty, pretty girls
All dressed so scantily
When they play their music
That hard rock music
They like it with a lot of flash
But it’s still that same old back beat rhythm
That really, really kicks ’em in the
They say the heart of rock and roll is still beating
And from what I’ve seen I believe ’em
Now the old boy may be barely breathing
But the heart of rock and roll, heart of rock and roll is still beating
Johnny, ow
DC, San Antone and the Liberty Town, Boston and Baton Rouge
Tulsa, Austin, Oklahoma City, Seattle, San Francisco, too
Everywhere there’s music, real live music, bands with a million styles
But it’s still that some old rock and roll music
That really, really drives ’em wild
They say the heart of rock and roll is still beating
And from what I’ve seen I believe ’em
Now the old boy may be barely breathing
But the heart of rock and roll, heart of rock and roll is still beating, yeah
In Cleveland
Detroit
Uh, heart of rock and roll