[Verse 1]
They're taking an old religion
Fitting it with a different name
Now we're cutting our own incisions
And inserting their hurting pain
There's another innocent victim
Shivering in the frigid cold
They're making a dirty fortune selling something that's barely working
An inferior version of rock and roll
Or whatever else ever has touched your soul
Call it what you will, there's a billion of them they sold
They're taking credit that they're not earning
Any good thing they ever sold they stole
Oh yeah

[Verse 2]
They're making a television different than the old one was
A limited deluxe edition, it's a superior version of
The previous week's installment, but ain't it all the same? (Pretty much)
Yet I comfort myself at night with transmission by satellite
It's like a good enough facsimile of real love
I guess I got a habit same as everyone else does
We're all banging down doors, trying to grab that stuff
But we never should have left it up to the judge
That passed the bill that illegalized us
They illegalized us
[Instrumental Break]

[Verse 3]
The inferior version (Ooh-ooh)
It isn't really rock and roll (Ooh yeah)
It's but a shallow imitation (Ooh-ooh)
It doesn't really get ya goin' (Ooh yeah)
And there ain't no good explanation (Ooh-ooh)
Why it's flying off the shelves (Ooh yeah)
It's a sorry situation (Ooh-ooh)
Entire world's going to hell (Ooh yeah)
But I in no way blame myself
Though I helped those bastards to sell that inferior version we love so well
An inferior version of rock and roll
An inferior version of rock and roll
They're making a dirty fortune off an inferior version of rock and roll
Whoa, yeah