Def Leppard

Released: July 6, 1981

Songwriter: Joe Elliott Richard Savage

Producer: Robert John Lange

[Verse 1]
Union Jack is back with a hole in his head
He's getting badly burned every time
He's laughing at me and dancing on my sneakers
And his sixties songs are blowing up my speakers

[Chorus 1]
I say, "You got no respect
Respect for authority
You're just playing your dirty tricks
And then come crying to me"

[Chorus 2]
Hit and run
Hit and run
It's just a hit and run
Another hit and run

[Verse 2]
The bulldog lost his bite and his breath has gone bad
And the whole damn world is really laughing mad

[Chorus 1]
I say, "You got no respect
Respect for authority
You're just playing your dirty tricks
And then come crying to me"

[Chorus 2]
Hit and run
Hit and run
It's just a hit and run
Another hit and run

[Bridge]
Hit it, oh yeah
Oh, bring it down
Oh, you bring it down

[Verse 3]
I say you ain't got no respect
I say you ain't got no respect
No you ain't got no respect
And you hit me when I'm down

[Chorus 2]
Hit and run
Hit and run
It's just a hit and run
I said it's just another hit and run

[Outro]
Oh yeah, hit and run
Hit and run
Hit and run
Hit and run
Hit and run
It's just another hit and run
Hit and run

In 1977, Rick Savage, Tony Kenning, and Pete Willis were students at a secondary school in Sheffield, England. They had a band called Atomic Mass. Lead singer Joe Elliott joined later that year, and suggested a new band name. Within 10 years, that name, Def Leppard, became one of the most recognised in English rock music. To date, they have released more than 40 singles.

Def Leppard was a definitive part of the new wave of British heavy metal bands in the late 1970s. Their first three albums had tremendous momentum, each outselling the one before. Then, after the release of Pyromania in 1983, drummer Rick Allen lost his arm in a car accident. The band stuck by him through his recovery and retraining.

When Def Leppard came back, they came back hard. Their fourth album, 1987’s Hysteria, was a hard rock masterpiece that took the world by storm. By then the music video had matured as a film style, and Hysteria’s singles and videos had enough pop, sex, colour, and glam to put it over the top. Hysteria was one of the biggest-selling albums of the 1980s.

more tracks from the album

High ‘n’ Dry

From the albums

High ‘n’ Dry (1981)
Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection (2005)

Def Leppard popular songs

Another Hit and RunDef Leppard

Def Leppard

High ‘n’ Dry