Live 1975-1985

I come from down in the valley where mister when you're young
They bring you up to do like your daddy done
Me and mary we met in high school when she was just seventeen
We'd ride out of that valley down to where the fields were green

We'd go down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh down to the river we'd ride

Then i got mary pregnant and man that was all she wrote
And for my nineteen birthday i got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse and the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle
No flowers no wedding dress
That night we went down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
On down to the river we did ride

I got a job working construction for the johnstown company
But lately there ain't been much work on account of the economy
Now all them things that seemed so important
Well mister they vanished right into the air
Now i just act like i don't remember, mary acts like she don't care
But i remember us riding in my brother's car
Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir
At night on them banks i'd lie awake
And pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take
Now those memories come back to haunt me, they haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
Or is it something worse that sends me
Down to the river though i know the river is dry
Down to the river, my baby and i
Oh down to the river we ride

In the summer that i was baptized my father held me to his side
As they put me to the water he said how on that day i cried
We were prisoners of love a love in chains
He was standin' in the door i was standin' in the rain
With the same hot blood burning in our veins
Adam raised a cain

All of the old faces ask you why you're back
They fit you with position and the keys to your daddy's cadillac
In the darkness of your room your mother calls you by your true name
You remember the faces the places the names
You know it's never over it's relentless as the rain
Adam raised a cain

In the bible cain slew abel and east of eden he was cast
You're born into this life paying for the sins of somebody else's past
Daddy worked his whole life for nothing but the pain
Now he walks these empty rooms looking for something to blame
You inherit the sins you inherit the flames
Adam raised a cain

Lost but not forgotten from the dark heart of a dream
Adam raised a cain

I'm driving in my car, i turn on the radio
I'm pulling you close, you just say no
You say you don't like it, but girl i know you're a liar
`cause when we kiss, fire

Late at night i'm takin' you home
I say i wanna stay, you say you wanna be alone
You say you don't love me, girl you can't hide your desire
`cause when we kiss, fire

You had a hold on me, right from the start
A grip so tight i couldn't tear it apart
My nerves all jumpin' actin' like a fool
Well your kisses they burn but your heart stays cool

Romeo and juliet, samson and delilah
Baby you can bet their love they didn't deny
Your words say split but your words they lie
`cause when we kiss, fire

Well a great black river a man had found
So he put all his money in a hole in the ground
And sent a big steel arm drivin' down down down
Man now i live on the streets of houston town

Packed up my wife and kids when winter came along
And we headed down south with just spit and a song
But they said "sorry son it's gone gone gone"

Well there's men hunkered down by the railroad tracks
The elkhorn special blowin' my hair back
Tents pitched on the highway in the dirty moonlight
And i don't know where i'm gonna sleep tonight

Parked in the lumberyard freezin' our asses off
My kids in the back seat got a graveyard cough
Well i'm sleepin' up in front with my wife
Billy club tappin' on the windshield in the middle of the night
Says "move along man move along"

Well big limousine long shiny and black
You don't look ahead you don't look back
How many times can you get up after you've been hit?
Well i swear if i could spare the spit
I'd lay one on your shiny chrome
And send you on your way back home
So if you're gonna leave your town where the north wind blow
To go on down where that sweet soda river flow
Well you better think twice on it jack
You're better off buyin' a shotgun dead off the rack
You ain't gonna find nothin' down here friend
Except seeds blowin' up the highway in the south wind
Movin' on movin' on it's gone gone it's all gone

I stood stonelike at midnight suspended in my masquerade
I combed my hair till it was just right and commanded the night brigade
I was open to pain and crossed by the rain and i walked on a crooked crutch
I strolled all alone through a fallout zone and came out with my soul untouched
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said `sit down' i stood up
Ooh-ooh growin' up

The flag of piracy flew from my mast my sails were set wing to wing
I had a jukebox graduate for first mate she couldn't sail but she sure could sing
I pushed b-52 and bombed `em with the blues with my gear set stubborn on standing
I broke all the rules strafed my old high school never once gave thought to landing
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said `come down' i threw up
Ooh-ooh growin' up

I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere and you know it's really hard to hold your breath
I swear i lost everything i ever loved or feared i was the cosmic kid
Well my feet they finally took root in the earth but i got me a nice little place in the stars
I swear i found the key to the universe in the engine of an old parked car
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said`sit down'i stood up
Ooh-ooh growin' up
Ooh-ooh growin' up

Hey little girl is your daddy home
Did he go away and leave you all alone
I got a bad desire
I'm on fire

Tell me now baby is he good to you
Can he do to you the things that i do
I can take you higher
I'm on fire

Sometimes it's like someone took a knife baby
Edgy and dull and cut a six-inch valley
Through the middle of my soul

At night i wake up with the sheets soaking wet
And a freight train running through the
Middle of my head
Only you can cool my desire
I'm on fire

Well i came by your house the other day, your mother said you went away
She said there was nothing that i could have done
There was nothing nobody could say
Me and you we've known each other ever since we were sixteen
I wished i would have known i wished i could have called you
Just to say goodbye bobby jean

Now you hung with me when all the others turned away turned up their noise
We liked the same music we liked the same bands we liked the same clothes
We told each other that we were the wildest, the wildest things we'd ever
Seen
Now i wished you would have told me i wished i could have talked to you
Just to say goodbye bobby jean

Now we went walking in the rain talking about the pain from the world we hid
Now there ain't nobody nowhere nohow gonna ever understand me the way you did
Maybe you'll be out there on that road somewhere
In some bus or train traveling along
In some motel room there'll be a radio playing
And you'll hear me sing this song
Well if you do you'll know i'm thinking of you and all the miles in between
And i'm just calling one last time not to change your mind
But just to say i miss you baby, good luck goodbye, bobby jean

Got a wife and kids in baltimore jack
I went out for a ride and i never went back
Like a river that don't know where it's flowing
I took a wrong turn and i just kept going

Everybody's got a hungry heart
Everybody's got a hungry heart
Lay down your money and you play your part
Everybody's got a hungry heart

I met her in a kingstown bar
We fell in love i knew it had to end
We took what we had and we ripped it apart
Now here i am down in kingstone again

Everybody's got a hungry heart...

Everybody needs a place to rest
Everybody wants to have a home
Don't make no difference what nobody says
Ain't nobody like to be alone

Everybody's got a hungry heart...

Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick i took was when i hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up

Born in the u.s.a., i was born in the u.s.a.
I was born in the u.s.a., born in the u.s.a.

Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man

Born in the u.s..a....

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man said "son if it was up to me"
Went down to see my v.a. man
He said "son, don't you understand"

I had a brother at khe sahn
Fighting off the viet cong
They're still there, he's all gone

He had a woman he loved in saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go

Born in the u.s.a., i was born in the u.s.a.
Born in the u.s.a., i'm a long gone daddy in the u.s.a.
Born in the u.s.a., born in the u.s.a.
Born in the u.s.a., i'm a cool rocking daddy in the u.s.a.

I was eight years old and running with a dime in my hand
Into the bus stop to pick up a paper for my old man
I'd sit on his lap in that big old buick and steer as we drove through town
He'd tousle my hair and say son take a good look around
This is your hometown, this is your hometown
This is your hometown, this is your hometown

In `65 tension was running high at my high school
There was a lot of fights between the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a saturday night in the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed in a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come to my hometown
My hometown, my hometown, my hometown

Now main street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back to
Your hometown, your hometown, your hometown, your hometown

Last night me and kate we laid in bed talking about getting out
Packing up our bags maybe heading south
I'm thirty-five we got a boy of our own now
Last night i sat him up behind the wheel and said son take a good
Look around
This is your hometown

One soft infested summer me and terry became friends
Trying in vain to breathe the fire we was born in
Catching rides to the outskirts tying faith between our teeth
Sleeping in that old abandoned beach house getting wasted in the heat
And hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
With a love so hard and filled with defeat
Running for our lives at night on them backstreets

Slow dancing in the dark on the beach at stockton's wing
Where desperate lovers park we sat with the last of the duke street kings
Huddled in our cars waiting for the bells that ring
In the deep heart of the night to set us loose from everything
To go running on the backstreets, running on the backstreets
We swore we'd live forever on the backstreets we take it together

Endless juke joints and valentino drag where dancers scraped the tears
Up off the street dressed down in rags running into the darkness
Some hurt bad some really dying at night sometimes it seemed
You could hear the whole damn city crying blame it on the lies that killed us
Blame it on the truth that ran us down you can blame it all on me terry
It don't matter to me now when the breakdown hit at midnight
There was nothing left to say but i hated him and i hated you when you went
Away

Laying here in the dark you're like an angel on my chest
Just another tramp of hearts crying tears of faithlessness
Remember all the movies, terry, we'd go see
Trying to learn how to walk like heroes we thought we had to be
And after all this time to find we're just like all the rest
Stranded in the park and forced to confess
To hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
We swore forever friends on the backstreets until the end
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets

In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway american dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on highway 9,
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected and steppin' out over the line
Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young
`cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

Wendy let me in i wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs round these velvet rims
And strap your hands across my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run till we drop, baby we'll never go back
Will you walk with me out on the wire
`cause baby i'm just a scared and lonely rider
But i gotta find out how it feels
I want to know if love is wild, girl i want to know if love is real

Beyond the palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
The girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you wendy on the streets tonight
In an everlasting kiss

The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight but there's no place left to hide
Together wendy we'll live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday girl i don't know when we're gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us baby we were born to run

Take me now baby here as i am
Pull me close try an understand
I work all day out in the hot sun
Stay with me now till the mornin' comes
Come on now try and understand
The way i feel when i'm in your hands
Take me now as the sun descends
They can't hurt you now
They can't hurt you now
They can't hurt you now

Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us

What i got i have earned
What i'm not i have learned
Desire and hunger is the fire i breathe
Just stay in my bed till the morning comes
Come on now try and understand
The way i feel when i'm in your hands
Take me now as the sun descends
They can't hurt you now
They can't hurt you now
They can't hurt you now

Because the night...

Your love is here and now
The vicious circle turns and burns without
Though i cannot live forgive me now
The time has come to take this moment and
They can't hurt you now

Because the night...

The screen door slams
Mary's dress sways
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and i want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside
Darling you know just what i'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me

You can hide `neath your covers
And study your pain
Make crosses from your lovers
Throw roses in the rain
Waste your summer praying in vain
For a savior to rise from these streets
Well now i'm no hero
That's understood
All the redemption i can offer, girl
Is beneath this dirty hood
With a chance to make it good somehow
Hey what else can we do now?
Except roll down the window
And let the wind blow
Back your hair
Well the night's busting open
These two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back
Heaven's waiting on down the tracks
Oh-oh come take my hand
Riding out tonight to case the promised land
Oh-oh thunder road, oh thunder road oh thunder road
Lying out there like a killer in the sun
Hey i know it's late we can make it if we run
Oh thunder road, sit tight take hold
Thunder road

Well i got this guitar
And i learned how to make it talk
And my car's out back
If you're ready to take that long walk
From your front porch to my front seat
The door's open but the ride it ain't free
And i know you're lonely
For words that i ain't spoken
But tonight we'll be free
All the promises'll be broken
There were ghosts in the eyes
Of all the boys you sent away
They haunt this dusty beach road
In the skeleton frames of burned out chevrolets

They scream your name at night in the street
Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet
And in the lonely cool before dawn
You hear their engines roaring on
But when you get to the porch they're gone
On the wind, so mary climb in
It's a town full of losers
And i'm pulling out of here to win.

Rosalita (come out tonight)

Spread out now rosie doctor come cut loose her mama's reins
You know playin' blind man's bluff is a little baby's game
You pick up little dynamite i'm gonna pick up little gun
And together we're gonna go out tonight and make that highway run
You don't have to call me lieutenant rosie and i don't want to be your son
The only lover i'm ever gonna need's your soft sweet little girl's tongue and rosie you're the one
Dynamite's in the belfry playin' with the bats
Little gun's downtown in front of woolworth's tryin' out his attitude on all the cats
Papa's on the corner waitin' for the bus
Mama she's home in the window waitin' up for us
She'll be there in that chair when they wrestle her upstairs `cause you know
We ain't gonna come
I ain't here for business, i'm only here for fun

Rosalita jump a little lighter, senorita come sit by my fire
I just want to be your lover ain't no liar, rosalita you're my stone desire

Jack the rabbit and weak knees willie you know they're gonna be there
Ah sloppy sue and big bones billie they'll be comin' up for air
We're gonna play some pool skip some school act real cool stay out all night it's gonna feel alright
Rosie come out tonight, rosie come out tonight
Windows are for cheaters chimneys for the poor
Closets are for hangers winners use the door

Rosalita jump a little...

Now i know your mama she don't like me `cause i play in a rock and roll band
And i know your daddy he don't dig me but he never did understand
Papa lowered the boom he locked you in your room
I'm comin' to lend a hand
I'm comin' to liberate you confiscate you i want to be your man
Someday we'll look back on this and it will all seem funny
But now you're sad your mama's mad
And your papa says he knows that i don't have any money
Tell him this is last chance to get his daughter in a fine romance
Because a record company rosie just gave me big bucks

My tires were slashed and i almost crashed but the lord had mercy
My machine she's a dud out stuck in the mud somewhere in the swamps of jersey
Hold on tight stay up all night `cause rosie i'm comin' on strong
By the time we meet the morning light i will hold you in my arms
I know a pretty little place in southern california down san diego way
There's a little cafe where they play guitars all night and day
You can hear them in the back room strummin'
So hold tight baby `cause don't you know daddy's comin'

Rosalita jump a little...

Well i rode that ribbon highway
I saw above me the endless sky
I saw below me the golden valley
This land was made for you and me

I've roamed and rambled and followed my footsteps
Through the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was calling
This land was made for you and me

This land is your land
This land is my land
From california
To the new york island
From the redwood forest
To the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me

Well the sun came shining and i was strolling
Through wheat fields waving and dust clouds rolling
And a voice was sounding
As the fog was lifting
Saying this land was made for you and me

This land is your land
This land is my land
From california
To the new york island
From the redwood forest
To the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me

Sandy the fireworks are hailin' over little eden tonight
Forcin' a light into all those stoned-out faces left stranded
On this fourth of july
Down in town the circuit's full with switchblade lovers so fast
So shiny so sharp
And the wizards play down on pinball way on the boardwalk way past dark
And the boys from the casino dance with their shirts open like latin
Lovers along the shore
Chasin' all them silly new york girls

Sandy the aurora is risin' behind us, the pier lights our carnival
Life forever
Love me tonight for i may never see you again, hey sandy girl

Now the greasers they tramp the streets or get busted for trying to
Sleep on the beach all night
Them boys in their spiked high heels ah sandy their skins are so white
And me i just got tired of hangin' in them dusty arcades bangin' them
Pleasure machines
Chasin' the factory girls underneath the boardwalk where they promise
To unsnap their jeans
And you know that tilt-a-whirl down on the south beach drag
I got on it last night and my shirt got caught
And that joey kept me spinnin' i didn't think i'd ever get off

Oh sandy the aurora is risin' behind us
The pier lights our carnival life on the water
Runnin' down the beach at night with my boss's daughter
Well he ain't my boss no more sandy

Sandy the angels have lost their desire for us
I spoke to `em just last night and they said they won't set
Themselves on fire for us anymore
Every summer when the weather gets hot they ride that road down from
Heaven on their harleys they come and they go
And you can see `em dressed like stars in all the cheap little seashore
Bars parked making love with their babies out on the kokomo
Well the cops finally busted madame marie for tellin' fortunes better
Than they do
This boardwalk life for me is through
You know you ought to quit this scene too

Sandy the aurora's rising behind us, the pier lights our
Carnival life forever
Oh love me tonight and i promise i'll love you forever

I got a sixty-nine chevy with a 396
Fuelie heads and a hurst on the floor
She's waiting tonight down in the parking lot
Outside the seven-eleven store
Me and my partner sonny built her straight out of scratch
And he rides with me from town to town
We only run for the money got no strings attached
We shut `em up and then we shut `em down

Tonight tonight the strip's just right
I wanna blow `em off in my first heat
Summer's here and the time is right
We're goin' racin' in the street

We take all the action we can meet
And we cover all the northeast state
When the strip shuts down we run `em in the street
From the fire roads to the interstate
Some guys they just give up living
And start dying little by little piece by piece
Some guys come home from work and wash up
Then go racin' in the street

Tonight tonight the strip's just right
I wanna blow `em all out of their seats
Calling out around the world
We're going racin' in the street

I met her on the strip three years ago
In a camaro with this dude from l.a.
I blew that camaro off my back and drove that little girl away
But now there's wrinkles around my baby's eyes
And she cries herself to sleep at night
When i come home the house is dark
She sighs "baby did you make it all right"
She sits on the porch of her daddy's house
But all her pretty dreams are torn
She stares off alone into the night
With the eyes of one who hates for just being born

For all the shut-down strangers and hot rod angels
Rumbling through this promised land
Tonight my baby and me we're gonna ride to the sea
And wash these sins off our hands

Tonight tonight the highway's bright
Out of our way mister you best keep
`cause summer's here and the time is right
We're goin' racin' in the street

Crazy janey and her mission man were back in the alley tradin' hands long came wild billy with his friend g-man all duded up for saturday night
Billy slammed on his coaster brakes and said anybody wanna go on up to greasy lake
It's about a mile down on the dark side of route 88
I got a bottle of rose so let's try it
We'll pick up hazy davy and killer joe and i'll take you all out to where the gypsy angels go
They're built like light
And they dance like spirits in the night (all night) in the night (all night)
Oh you don't know what they can do to you
Spirits in the night, in the night
Stand up now and let it shoot through you

Well now wild billy was a crazy cat and he shook some dust out of his coonskin cap
He said "trust some of this it'll show you where you're at or at least it'll help you really feel it"
By the time we made it up to greasy lake i had my head out the window and janey's fingers in the cake
I think i really dug her `cause i was too loose to fake
I said "i'm hurt" she said "honey let me heal it"
And we danced all night to a soul fairy band
And she kissed me just right like only a lonely angel can
She felt just right just like as sweet as a spirit in the night
In the night baby don't know what she do to you
Spirits in the night, in the night
Stand up now and let her shoot right through you

Now the night grew bright and the stars threw light in billy and davy
Dancin' in the moonlight
We were down near the water in a stone mud fight
Killer joe'd passed out on the lawn
Well hazy davy got really hurt he crawled into the lake in just his socks and a shirt
Me and crazy janey were makin' love in the dirt singin' our birthday songs
Janey said "hey little brother don't you think it's time now we go"
So we closed our eyes and said goodbye to gypsy angel row felt just right
Together we moved like spirits in the night, all night
Baby don't know what it do to you
Spirits in the night, all night
Stand up now and let it shoot right through you