Def Leppard

Released: July 6, 1981

Songwriter: Joe Elliott Richard Savage Steve Clark

Producer: Robert John Lange

[Verse 1]
Saturday, I feel right
I been drinking all day
Yes, I got a date, a midnight ride
I had to get it away

[Chorus 1]
Yeah, I'm not a loner, I'm not a fool
Don't need a reason, reason to be cool
I got my whiskey, I got my wine
I got my woman and this time the lights are going out

[Chorus 2]
(Saturday night) High
(Saturday night) High 'n' dry
(Saturday night) I'm high
(Saturday night) High 'n' dry

[Verse 2]
Ow, I feel bad, I feel mean
I'm up and down and in between
On the bottle, I'm on the line
I'm up and feeling fine

[Chorus 1]
Oh, I'm not a loner, I'm not a fool
Don't need a reason, reason to be cool
I got my whiskey, I got my wine
I got my woman and this time the lights are going out

[Chorus 2]
(Saturday night) High
(Saturday night) High 'n' dry
(Saturday night) I'm high
(Saturday night) High 'n' dry
Oh, take me high

[Verse 3]
Saturday, kicking out
Her train was coming to me
I gotta move, number one
Saturday night on the run

[Outro]
(Saturday night) High
(Saturday night) High 'n' dry
(Saturday night) Got my whiskey
(Saturday night) Got my wine
(Saturday night) Got my woman
(Saturday night) High 'n' dry
You gotta try me tonight

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

Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection

From the albums

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

Def Leppard popular songs

High ‘n’ Dry (Saturday Night)Def Leppard

Def Leppard

Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection