Since I featured “The Beat Goes On” in my August 19th column, it kept going through my head and I realized that many of the “modern” references are themselves badly outdated. And that’s in addition to the fact that Sonny Bono seems to have written it in one draft, leaving in lines that offend either meter or sensibility or both. So I present a new set of lyrics, written by yours truly while trying to retain as much of the original wording and/or comparisons as possible. The lyrics sung by the male (Sonny) part are in italics, those by the female (Cher) part in regular type. And I’ve helpfully provided the original instrumental track if you’d like to sing it out loud.
The Beat Goes On
music & original lyrics by Sonny Bono; new lyrics by Maggie McNeill
The beat goes on
The beat goes on
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain
La-di-da-di-di
La-di-da-di-da
Disco, it was once the rage, uh-huh
History has turned a page, uh-huh
“Fast fashion” is the current thing, uh-huh
The president’s now like a king, uh-huh
And the beat goes on
The beat goes on
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain
La-di-da-di-di
La-di-da-di-da
Admen now claim all machines are “smart”
But in a few years, they still fall apart
States keep marching soldiers off to war
Electrically, they track your phone and car
And the beat goes on
The beat goes on
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain
La-di-da-di-di
La-di-da-di-da
Older folks still like to reminisce
Identity’s defined by who you kiss
Computers, they get smaller all the time
Singers still twist lines to get a rhyme
And the beat goes on
The beat goes on
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain
La-di-da-di-di
La-di-da-di-da
And the beat goes on (Yes, the beat goes on)
And the beat goes on (And the beat goes on, on, on, on, on)
The beat goes on
And the beat goes on (On, on, on, on)
The beat goes…
