Saturday Night Live Transcripts
Season 1: Episode 1
75a: George Carlin / Billy Preston, Janis Ian
Billy Preston performs “Nothing From Nothing”
from the album: The Kids & Me (1974)
…..Billy Preston
[ open on a close-up of a set of drums, as the opening notes of the song begins to play ]
[ cut to the back wall of the musical stage, focus on a mural featuring the likenesses of Billy Preston. Zoom out to reveal Preston and his band jamming cheerfully on their instruments. ]
Don Pardo V/O: And, now – Billy Preston, with “Nothing From Nothing!”
Billy Preston:
“Nothing from nothing leaves nothing
You gotta have something, if you wanna be with me.
Nothing from nothing leaves nothing
You gotta have something, if you wanna be with me.
Yeah, yeah!
That’s right, baby
Yeah, baby.
Yeah!
I’m not tryin’ to be your hero
‘Cause that zero, is too cold for me – brrr!I’m not tryin’ to be your highness
‘Cause that minus is too low to see.
Oh, yeah
Yeah!
Yeah, yeah
Yeah!
Nothing from nothing leaves nothing
And I’m not stuffin’, believe you me
Don’t you remember I told ya, I’m a soldier
In the war on poverty.
Yes, I am
Yeah, yeah
Yeah!
Yeah, baby.
[ break ]
Nothing from nothing leaves nothing – isn’t that right?
You got to have something, if you wanna be with me – oh, baby!
Nothing from nothing leaves nothing
You got to have something to be with me.”
Yeah, baby
Yeah!
That’s right!
Yeah
Go ‘head!
You got to have something, if you wanna be with me
You got to bring me something, girl – ha! – if you wanna be with me
You got to know how to party
You got to know how to party
You got to know how to party, it’s alright
If you wanna be with me!”
