Chords for Jeff Lynne & Bev Bevan - How The Brits Rocked America (2012)

[Ab] Between 1967 [Gb] and 1976, [F] British rock [Gm] groups became lords and masters
of a new [Cm] stadium-based touring empire. _
[Db] Oh, my goodness, I hope the Beatles are on after us.
[Eb] _ Because there's just too many people.
[G] They ain't come just to see us, are they?
_ [Gb] _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ [Eb] The first gig was in Detroit,
[N] at a place called the Grandee Ballroom, with Iggy and the Stoogies.
And then, just from Detroit, which is one hell of a drive,
we then drove to Los Angeles on Route 66.
[B] _ _ [Gb] _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ We stayed one night and when we stopped in a motel,
in real redneck country, these cowboys started, honestly,
you know, look at that freak, look at these freaks, guys.
And we actually got into a fight with these cowboys, proper fight.
And we had to jump in the car, you know, and the tyres screaming
[Gb] _ and these guys throwing stuff at us, and there weren't any shots fired.
It wasn't that [F] bad.
In the previous decade, New York had been the portal
through which Britain had invaded.
But in the 70s, Los Angeles became the hub of the rock world. _ _ _
[A] For those hailing from Britain's rock city, Birmingham,
[Dm] LA was a paradise.
[G] You get off the plane, it's like all the air smelled like [Bb] orange blossom.
It was just gorgeous.
The sky was blue, [C] sun was belting down, you [F] know, it was fantastic.
[Fm] So it was like totally [E] unlike anything we'd ever experienced.
So we get round the corner to the [G] hotel, which was the [Em] Hyatt, [A] on sunset,
and it [Bb] was all, like, magical.
_ [F] _ _ [C] _ [D] In this dark blue sky, please tell us why
[Am] You had to hide away for [F] so long
_ [Eb] We [Bb] got in there and went for a walk on the [G] afternoon
and in this open-top sports car came this car full of girls
and as they came past they went,
Woo-hoo!
[Eb] And we all went, [Bb] Good here, innit?
[C] _ For a long-haired British [F] rock musician in the 70s,
America was [A] a stairway to heaven.
[Dm] _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ The [Gb] Starship may have been the height [Bb] of luxury,
but ELO could go one better.
_ The stage was basically a spaceship.
It's like a flying saucer.
And there's all this dry ice and lasers flashing
[Bbm] and then it would open very, very slowly.
[D] _
The band would come up on, like, risers onto [A] the stage
and it was a [Eb] spectacular opening to a show.
_ [Bbm] _ _ [Am] _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ [C] _ _ [Db] _ [Dm] We did the last [C] number and then it would all close down again,
[G] this incredibly loud music.
[Bb] _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ I used to go [F] out in the audience and watch it.
[Bb] At the end, [F] I'm off and I'd be off down there,
[Bb] just round the front of it to have a look at it close,
cos there was this enormous crash-bang [Gm]-wallop finale,
like machinery [Gb] whirring and [Gb] hissing and whooshing noises.
There was no question [Ebm] we were going to come out and do an encore
or something because [C] people just knew that was the end.
[Am] The spaceship had taken off, basically, it had gone again.
It's like people going, Wow!
I might not have loved you_
It used to go down better than us, most times.
Cos I used to clap it myself. _ _ _ _ _