Radio Ga Ga - The Song

Heading - The Song

In February 1971, having experimented with a number of line-ups, four young students from London formed Queen - the band that would go on to become one of the world's greatest. Their concerts were universally acclaimed as being the initiators of what became known as stadium rock.

After monumental success throughout the 1970's, drummer Roger Taylor wrote a song for the 1984 studio album - The Works. That song was Radio Ga Ga. It made number 2 on the UK charts, number 16 in the US and number 3 in Australia.

On this page, we present the lyrics and two versions of the song - the first being the original film clip and the second, a live performance at Live Aid in 1985 - arguably the best live performance by any band - ever:

I'd sit alone and watch your light My only friend through teenage nights And everything I had to know I heard it on my radio You gave them all those old time stars Through wars of worlds - invaded by Mars You made 'em laugh - you made 'em cry You made us feel like we could fly Radio So don't become some background noise A backdrop for the girls and boys Who just don't know or just don't care And just complain when you're not there You had your time, you had the power You've yet to have your finest hour Radio - radio All we hear is radio ga ga Radio goo goo Radio ga ga All we hear is radio ga ga Radio blah blah Radio what's new ? Radio, someone still loves you We watch the shows - we watch the stars On videos for hours and hours We hardly need to use our ears How music changes through the years Let's hope you never leave old friend Like all good things on you we depend So stick around 'cos we might miss you When we grow tired of all this visual You had your time - you had the power You've yet to have your finest hour Radio - radio All we hear is radio ga ga Radio goo goo Radio ga ga All we hear is radio ga ga Radio goo goo Radio ga ga All we hear is radio ga ga Radio blah blah Radio what's new ? Someone still loves you Radio ga ga (ga ga) Radio ga ga (ga ga) Radio ga ga (ga ga) You had your time - you had the power You've yet to have your finest hour Radio - radio


At the end of every program, we play a piece of music appropriately titled "Going Home - Theme For A Local Hero". This outstanding instrumental is often played at the end of any Knopfler concert but was originally written for the film "Local Hero" (1983), starring Burt Lancaster. This film is set in Scotland and tells the story of a large American oil company wanting to purchase land to build an oil refinery in a village called Ferness. This piece of music is played at the end of the film - it is this soundtrack version that is used as the closing theme of our program. The clip on the right is from a performance in London in 2006.