Song Lyrics

You try to play it cool like you just don't care
But soon I'll be playing in your underwear
I'm like a mage with a magic spell
You'll come like a dog when I ring yo bell

I've got the money and I've got the fame
You've got the hots to ride on my plane
You're giving me all that I desire
'Cos down with me, I'm taking you higher

(yelling over riffage)
I'm the baddest of the bad
I'm the best that you've ever had
I'm the tops
I'm the thing
All the girls get up when I sing
I'm the meanest in the place
Step up, I'll mess with yo face
I don't care where you are
Look up and follow the star

(falsetto)
I'm gonna tear down the wall
I may not be here when you call
So best be giving me your all

(Bohemian Rhapsody-style choir vocals)
After the havoc I am gonna wreak
No more words will critics have to speak
I've got the answers to the tangled knot
Sleep tight in your cot

(80s-rock falsetto)
Oh baby
I've been told that I am going crazy
Oh baby
But I can't be held down
Oh baby
Somehow I'm keeping it steady
Oh baby
I'm tearing up this town

(fast-paced rock)
Hey, this is what I like
Cut my heart with a martyr's spike
Hey, this is nothing new
I've got more than enough for you

(bouncy pop)
I can take on anybody
I can do my thing
I don't wanna hurt nobody
But a bee has got to sting
Imma fix it if you mix it up
Talk smalk and I am gonna shut you up

(epic vocals)
I am the greatest man that ever lived
I was born to give
I am the greatest man that ever lived
Radio idea

(spoken)
Somebody said all the world?s a stage
And each of us is a player
That's what I've been trying to tell you
In act 1, I was struggling to survive
Nobody wanted my action dead or alive
Act 2, I hit the big time
And bodies be all up on my behind
And I can't help myself
'Cos I was born to shine
If you don't like it, you can shove it
But you don't like it, you love it
So I'll be up here in a rage
'Til they bring the curtain down on this stage

(Beach Boys-style overlapping vocals)
I am the greatest man that ever lived (x4)

(fact-paced pop becoming rock)
I am the greatest man that ever lived
I was born to give and give and give
I am the greatest man that ever lived
Radio idea
I am the greatest man that ever lived
I was born to give
Ohhhh!

Rivers Cuomo

The duration of The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn) is 5:52 minutes and seconds.