You’d have me down, down, down on my knees
Now wouldn’t you, Barracuda?

I have heard people say that women don’t do rock n roll as good as men. They obviously haven’t heard the band Heart. “Barracuda” has everything: Nancy Wilson’s iconic guitar intro–with wailing guitars throughout–rival any song out there. Ann Wilson delivers her vocals with as much bite as any Dylan song with the voice of Robert Plant.

Supposedly “Barracuda” is about their frustration with a record company executive. The lyrics don’t exactly tell that story perfectly, but we get the feeling that they are pissed at somebody without getting into the details. A barracuda is a great image for something nasty: like a snake, but it sounds cooler.

The multi-part guitar solo is underrated. Overall, I feel this song is underrated. I never see this on the list of “best guitar solo” lists or “best guitar songs”, or hear people playing this in Guitar Center. In my mind the guitar part is slightly less iconic than the guitar solo staples, but just as good. If I were a young woman learning guitar this would be the first song I’d want to learn.

You might also like Jefferson Airplane.

Barracuda Lyrics

So this ain’t the end, I saw you again, today-
I had to turn my heart away.
Smiled like the sun, kisses for everyone,
And tales, it never fails.

You lying so low in the weeds,
I bet you gonna ambush me.
You’d have me down, down, down on my knees,
Now wouldn’t you, Barracuda? Oh

Back over time we were all trying for free
You met the porpoise and me.
No right, no wrong you’re selling a song, a name-
Whisper game.

If the real thing don’t do the trick,
You better make up something quick.
You gonna burn, burn, burn, burn, burn to the wick-
Oooo, Barracuda, oh yeah.

“Sell me, sell you” the porpoise said.
Dive down deep to save my head.
You, I think you got the blues too.

All that night and all the next
Swam without looking back.
Made for the western pools, silly, silly fools.

If the real thing don’t do the trick, no
You better make up something quick.
You gonna burn, burn, burn, burn, burn it to the wick-
Oooo, barra-barracuda

written by Nancy and Ann Wilson

Mommy’s alright, Daddy’s alright/
They just seem a little weird.

“Surrender” by Cheap Trick is a crazy song. It is even more fun/funny when you get into the lyrics. A teenager is having a conversation with his girlfriend about how his parents always warned him about girls like her. (Inferring she is loose and might have STDs). Then he starts to think about what he really knows about his parents.

What were they like in the old days when they were his age? Well, supposedly there were lots of women in the army, but mother was never one of those, so how exactly did dad meet her while he was in the army!?  Was she a prostitute?

Meanwhile, he’s always wondered what happened to people who were once happening but who just kind of faded away.  Then he looks over at his parents-who are making out on the couch, smoking weed and listening to rock n roll and realizes they all probably turned out ok like his parents, and his parents were probably a bit crazy back in the day. So, let’s surrender and get weird while we’re young…it doesn’t lead to harm.  It can even lead to a loving marriage.

“Surrender” is a crazy teenage anthem about teenagers and parents and coming of age and the stories we tell our kids. Rob Zander delivers the vocals perfectly as an angsty teenager. The guitar work is standard power chords but it manages to feel alive. The drumming and keyboard work is stellar as well, but the vocals really steal the show.

Surrender Lyrics

Mother told me, yes, she told me,
That I’d meet girls like you.
She also told me, “Stay away
You’ll never know what you’ll catch.”

Just the other day I heard
Of a soldier’s falling off,
Some Indonesian junk
That’s going round.

Your Mommy’s all right,
Your Daddy’s all right,
They just seem a little weird.
Surrender,
Surrender!
But don’t give yourself away.
Hey, heeeey.

Father says, “Your mother’s right,
She’s really up on things.
Before we married, Mommy served
In the WACS in the Philippines.”

Now, I had heard the WACS recruited
Old maids for the war.
But mommy isn’t one of those
I’ve known her all these years.

Your Mommy’s all right,
Your Daddy’s all right,
They just seem a little weird.
Surrender,
Surrender!
But don’t give yourself away.
Hey, heeeey

Whatever happened to all this season’s
Losers of the year?
Every time I got to thinking
Here’d they disappear?

But when I woke up, Mom and Dad
Are rolling on the couch.
Rolling numbers, rock and rollin’,
Got my KISS records out.

Your Mommy’s all right,
Your Daddy’s all right,
They just seem a little weird.
Surrender,
Surrender!
But don’t give yourself away.
Hey, heeeeeey.

Away. Away.
Surrender,
Surrender,
But don’t give yourself away.
Surrender,
Surrender!
But don’t give yourself away.

written by Rick Neilsen