We Built This City – English Lyrics

• By: Starship
• Album: Knee Deep in the Hoopla

Lyrics & Translation

Explore the complex story behind Starship's "We Built This City," a song that both topped charts and earned the title of 'worst song ever.' Discover the song's origins as a lament for struggling music venues, its transformation into a synth-pop anthem, and the contrasting opinions of its own creators. Dive into its lyrics and cultural impact to understand why this song continues to spark debate and capture the essence of 1980s music industry dynamics.

[English]

We built this city

We built this city on rock and roll

Built this city

We built this city on rock and roll

...

Say you don't know me or recognize my face

Say you don't care who goes to that kind of place

Knee deep in the hoopla, sinking in your fight

Too many runaways eating up the night

Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don't you remember?

We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll

We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll

Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll

...

Someone's always playing corporation games

Who cares, they're always changing corporation names

We just want to dance here, someone stole the stage

They call us irresponsible, write us off the page

Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don't you remember?

We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll

We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll

Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll

...

It's just another Sunday in a tired old street

Police have got the choke hold, oh, then we just lost the beat

Who counts the money underneath the bar?

Who rides the wrecking ball into our guitars?

Don't tell us you need us 'cause we're the ship of fools

Looking for America, coming through your schools

(I'm looking out over that Golden Gate bridge)

(On another gorgeous sunny Saturday)

(And I'm seein' that bumper to bumper traffic)

Don't you remember? (Remember)

(Here's your favorite radio station)

(In your favorite radio city, the city by the bay)

(The city that rocks, the city that never sleeps)

Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don't you remember?

We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll

We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll

Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll

Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll

Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll

...

We built, we built this city, yeah (Built this city)

We built, we built this city

We built, we built this city yeah (Built this city)

We built, we built this city

We built, we built this city yeah (Built this city)

We built, we built this city (Built this city)

...

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
city /sɪti/ A1	noun - a large town
rock /rɒk/ A1	noun - a large mass of stone forming a hill, cliff, or part of the earth's surface noun - a form of popular music, typically with a strong beat, electric guitars, and a vocal group
roll /rəʊl/ A1	noun - an act of rolling something noun - (in 'rock and roll') a style of popular music, often associated with rock music
recognize /ˈrɛkəɡnaɪz/ A2	verb - identify someone or something from having encountered them before; know again
face /feɪs/ A1	noun - the front part of a person's head from the forehead to the chin, or the corresponding part in an animal
hoopla /ˈhuːplɑː/ B2	noun - excitement and activity connected with an event or situation, especially when considered to be unnecessary or exaggerated
runaways /ˈrʌnəweɪz/ B1	noun - people who have run away, especially from home
corporation /ˌkɔːpəˈreɪʃən/ B1	noun - a large company or group of companies authorized to act as a single entity and recognized as such in law
irresponsible /ˌɪrɪˈspɒnsəbl/ B2	adjective - not showing a proper sense of responsibility; careless or reckless
choke /tʃəʊk/ B1	verb - (of a person or animal) have severe difficulty in breathing because of a constricted or obstructed throat or a lack of air noun - a hold in wrestling or martial arts that restricts an opponent's breathing
wrecking /ˈrɛkɪŋ/ B2	adjective - causing or capable of causing destruction or damage (as in 'wrecking ball')
fools /fuːlz/ A2	noun - a person who acts unwisely or imprudently; a silly person (plural of 'fool')
bridge /brɪdʒ/ A1	noun - a structure carrying a road, path, railway, etc. across a river, road, or other obstacle
traffic /ˈtræfɪk/ A2	noun - vehicles moving on a road or public highway
bay /beɪ/ A2	noun - a broad inlet of the sea where the land curves inward
tired /ˈtaɪəd/ A1	adjective - feeling a need to rest or sleep
beat /biːt/ A2	noun - a main accent or rhythmic unit in music or poetry verb - strike (a person or an animal) repeatedly and violently
stage /steɪdʒ/ A1	noun - a raised platform in a theatre, concert hall, etc., on which actors, performers, or speakers perform

Key Grammar Structures

• We built this city on rock and roll

  ➔ Present Perfect Tense

  ➔ The phrase uses the present perfect tense with 'have built' (contracted to 'built') to indicate an action completed in the past with results relevant to the present.

• Say you don't know me or recognize my face

  ➔ Subjunctive Mood

  ➔ The verb 'say' is used in the subjunctive mood to express a hypothetical or contrary-to-fact situation.

• Knee deep in the hoopla, sinking in your fight

  ➔ Prepositional Phrase

  ➔ The phrase 'knee deep in the hoopla' uses a prepositional phrase to describe a state of being deeply involved in a situation.

• Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio

  ➔ Present Tense

  ➔ The verb 'plays' is in the present tense, indicating a habitual or general action.

• They call us irresponsible, write us off the page

  ➔ Present Tense with Coordinated Verbs

  ➔ The sentence uses two coordinated verbs 'call' and 'write' in the present tense to describe simultaneous actions.

• Don't tell us you need us 'cause we're the ship of fools

  ➔ Contractions and Causative Conjunction

  ➔ The contraction 'don't' and the causative conjunction 'cause' are used to express a command and its reason.

• Looking for America, coming through your schools

  ➔ Gerund Phrase

  ➔ The phrases 'looking for America' and 'coming through your schools' use gerunds to describe actions in a noun form.

• (I'm looking out over that Golden Gate bridge)

  ➔ Present Continuous Tense

  ➔ The phrase uses the present continuous tense with 'am looking' to describe an action happening now.