Def Leppard

Songwriter: Joe Elliott Phil Collen Richard Savage Vivian Campbell

Producer: Def Leppard Pete Woodroffe

Why don't you tell me what's behind the green door
Why don't you tell me, 'cause I heard it all before
You know the answers, got 'em under lock and key
So why don't you tell me, end this misery

You're a dagger in my side, stripped of all my pride
I listen at you lie
Gonna raise my hand, it's time to make a stand
A voice across the land
Demands

Why don't you tell me the truth
Why don't you tell me the truth

Why don't you tell me, you got things to say
Why don't you do it, gonna throw it all away
Why don't you hear me, when I shout it out so loud
How do you sleep at night with your head up in the clouds

You're the devil in disguise, I'm sick of all your lies
Your hints and alibi's
Gonna raise my hand, it's time to take a stand
A voice across the land
Demands

Why don't you tell me the truth
So I can say I've got a question
Now listen

Can you tell me what the hell is happening
Why the sky is falling
And the heart is calling
And the youth is stalling
And it's over and over again

Come on, come on, come on
You gotta tell me the truth
You don't listen, do ya
The left hand gives
And the right hand takes away
That's the law of the jungle
But you have to learn to play

Why don't you tell me the truth
You better tell me the truth
Come on, why don't you tell me the truth
You gotta tell me the truth

You try with all your might
You never get it right
Can't see the morning light
Was never in your sight

Just like the truth

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

Slang

From the album

Slang (1996)

Def Leppard popular songs

Truth? (Original Version)Def Leppard

Def Leppard

Slang