Born to Run

by Bruce Springsteen

In the day we sweat it out
On the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory
In suicide machines
Sprung from cages on Highway 9
Chrome-wheeled, fuel-injected
And stepping out over the line
This town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We got to get out while we're young
'Cause tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run

Let me in, I want to be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims
And strap your hands 'cross my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run till we drop
We'll never go back
Will you walk with me out on the wire?
'Cause I'm just a scared and lonely rider
But I got to know how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
Babe, I want to know if love is real

Beyond the Palace
Hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
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 the mist
I want to die with you, baby, 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 we can live with the sadness
I'll love you
With all the madness in my soul
Someday, girl, I don't know when
We're going to 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

American Skin (41 Shots)

by Bruce Springsteen

41 shots and we'll take that ride
'Cross the bloody river
To the other side
41 shots cut through the night
You're kneeling over his body in the vestibule
Praying for his life

Is it a gun? Is it a knife?
Is it a wallet? This is your life
It ain't no secret
No secret, my friend
You can get killed just for living in your American skin

41 shots, Lena gets her son ready for school
She says, 'On these streets, Charles
'You've got to understand the rules
'If an officer stops you, promise me you'll always be polite
'And that you'll never ever run away
'Promise Mama you'll keep your hands in sight'

Is it a gun? Is it a knife?
Is it in your heart? Is it in your eyes?
It ain't no secret
No secret, my friend
You can get killed just for living in your American skin

41 shots and we'll take that ride
'Cross this bloody river
To the other side
41 shots, got my boots caked with this mud
We're baptized in these waters
And in each other's blood

Incident on 57th Street

by Bruce Springsteen

Spanish Johnny drove in
From the underworld last night
With bruised arms and broken rhythm in a beat-up old Buick
But dressed just like dynamite
He tried selling his heart
To the hard girls over on Easy Street
But they sighed, 'Johnny it falls apart so easy
'And you know hearts these days are cheap'

And the pimps swung their axes
And said, 'Johnny, you're a cheater'
Well the pimps swung their axes
And said, 'Johnny, you're a liar'
And from out of the shadows came a young girl's voice
Saying, 'Johnny, don't cry'

Puerto Rican Jane
Won't you tell me what's your name?
I want to drive you down to the other side of town
Where paradise ain't so crowded
There'll be action going down on Shanty Lane tonight
All them golden-heeled fairies in a real bitch fight
Pull .38s and kiss the girls good night

Good night, it's all right, Jane
Now let them black boys in to light the soul flame
We may find it out on the street tonight, baby
Or we may walk until the daylight maybe

Well like a cool Romeo he made his moves
Oh, she looked so fine
Like a late Juliet she knew he'd never be true
But then she didn't really mind
Upstairs a band was playing, the singer was singing
Something about going home
She whispered, 'Spanish Johnny, you can leave me tonight
'But just don't leave me alone'

And Johnny cried, 'Puerto Rican Jane
'Word is down the cops have found the vein'
Oh all them barefoot boys, they left their homes for the woods
Them little barefoot street boys, they say homes ain't no good
They left the corners
Threw away all their switchblade knives
And kissed each other good-bye

Johnny was sitting on the fire escape
Watching the kids playing down the street
He called down, 'Hey little heroes, summer's long
'But I guess it ain't very sweet around here anymore'
Janey sleeps in sheets damp with sweat
Johnny sits up alone and watches her dream on
And the sister prays for lost souls
Then breaks down in the chapel after everyone's gone
Jane moves over to share her pillow
But opens her eyes to see Johnny up and putting his clothes on

She says, 'Those romantic young boys
'All they ever want to do is fight'
Those romantic young boys
They're calling through the window
'Hey Spanish Johnny, you want to make a little easy money tonight?'

And Johnny whispered, 'Good night, it's all tight, Jane'
I'll meet you tomorrow night on Lover's Lane
We may find it out on the street tonight, baby
Or we may walk until the daylight maybe

Spirits in the Night

by Bruce Springsteen

Crazy Janey and her mission man
Were back in the alley trading hands
Along came Wild Billy with his friend G-man
All duded up for Saturday night
Well 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
Oh, you don't know what they can do to you
Spirits in the night, all night
Stand right up now and let it shoot through you

Well now, Wild young 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 were 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 so nice
Just as soft as a spirit in the night, all night
Janey don't know what she do to you
Like a spirit in the night, all night
Stand right up and let her shoot through me

Now the night was bright and the stars threw light
On Billy and Davy dancing in the moonlight
They were down near the water in a stone-mud fight
Killer Joe gone passed out on the lawn
Well now, Hazy Davy got really hurt
He ran into the lake in just his socks and a shirt
Me and Crazy Janey was making love in the dirt
Singing our birthday songs
Janey said it was time to go
So we closed our eyes and said goodbye to gypsy angel row
Felt so right
Together we moved like spirits in the night, all night
Baby don't know what they can do to you
Spirits in the night, all night
Stand right up and let it shoot right through you

Jungleland

by Bruce Springsteen

The Rangers had a homecoming
In Harlem late last night
And the Magic Rat drove his sleek machine
Over the Jersey state line

Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge
Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain
The Rat pulls into town, rolls up his pants
Together they take a stab at romance
And disappear down Flamingo Lane

Well, the Maximum Lawmen run down Flamingo
Chasing the Rat and the barefoot girl
And the kids around here look just like shadows
Always quiet, holding hands

From the churches to the jails
Tonight all is silence in the world
As we take our stand
Down in Jungleland

Well, the midnight gang's assembled
And picked a rendezvous for the night
They'll meet 'neath that giant Exxon sign
That brings this fair city light

Man, there's an opera on the turnpike
There's a ballet being fought out in the alley
Until the local cop's cherry top
Rips this holy night

The street's alive as secret debts are paid
Contacts made, they vanish unseen
Kids flash guitars just like switchblades
Hustling for the record machine

The hungry and the hunted
Explode into rock and roll bands
That face off against each other out in the street
Down in Jungleland

In the parking lot
The visionaries dress in the latest rage
Inside, the backstreet girls
Are dancing to the records that the DJ plays

Lonely-hearted lovers struggle in dark corners
Desperate as the night goes on
Just one look and a whisper
And they're gone

Beneath the city, two hearts beat
Soul engines running through a night so tender
In a bedroom locked, in whispers of soft refusal
And then surrender

In the tunnels uptown, the Rat's own dream guns him down
The shots echo down them hallways in the night
No one watches as the ambulance pulls away
Or as the girl shuts out the bedroom light

Outside, the street's on fire in a real death waltz
Between what's flesh and what's fantasy
And the poets down here don't write nothing at all
They just stand back and let it all be

And in the quick of a knife
They reach for their moment and try to make an honest stand
But they wind up wounded, and not even dead
Tonight in Jungleland

Lost in the Flood

by Bruce Springsteen

The ragamuffin gunner is returning home
Like a hungry runaway
He walks through town all alone
'He must be from the fort,' he hears the high school girls say
His countryside's burning with wolfman fairies
Dressed in drag for homicide
They hit and run, plead sanctuary
'Neath a holy stone they hide

They're breaking beams and crosses
With a spastic's reeling perfection
Nuns run bald through Vatican halls pregnant
Pleading immaculate conception
And everybody's wrecked on Main Street
From drinking unholy blood
Sticker smiles sweet as gunner breathes deep
His ankles caked in mud

And I said, 'Hey, gunner man, that's quicksand
'That's quicksand, that ain't mud
'Have you thrown your senses to the war?
'Or did you lose them in the flood?'

That pure American brother
Dull-eyed and empty-faced
He races Sundays in Jersey
In a Chevy stock Super Eight
He rides her low on the hip, on the side he's got Bound For Glory
In red, white, and blue flash paint
He leans on the hood telling racing stories
The kids call him Jimmy The Saint

Well the blaze and noise boy, he's gunnin' that bitch
Loaded to blasting point
He rides head first into a hurricane
And disappears into a point
And there's nothing left but some blood where the body fell
That is, nothing left that you could sell
just junk all across the horizon
A real highwayman's farewell

And I said, 'Hey kid, you think that's oil?
'Man, that ain't oil, that's blood'
I wonder what he was thinking when he hit that storm
Or was he just lost in the flood?

Eighth Avenue sailors in satin shirts
Whisper in the air
Some storefront incarnation of Maria
She's putting on me the stare
And Bronx's best apostle stands
With his hand on his own hardware
Everything stops, you hear five quick shots
The cops come up for air

And now the whiz-bang gang from uptown
They're shooting up the street
And that cat from the Bronx starts letting loose
But he gets blown right off his feet
And some kid comes blasting round the corner
But a cop puts him right away
He lays on the street holding his leg, screaming something in Spanish
Still breathing when I walked away

And someone said, 'Hey man did you see that?
'His body hit the street with such a beautiful thud'
I wonder what the dude was saying
Or was he just lost in the flood?

Hey man, did you see that?
Those poor cats are sure messed up
I wonder what they were getting into
Or were they all just lost in the flood?

4th of July, Asbury Park

by Bruce Springsteen

Sandy, the fireworks are hailing
Over Little Eden tonight
Forcing 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, and sharp
As 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
Chasing all them silly New York girls by the score

Sandy, the aurora is rising 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 hanging in them dusty arcades
Banging them pleasure machines
Chasing the factory girls underneath the boardwalk
Where they all 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 spinning
I didn't think I'd ever get off

Sandy, the aurora is rising behind us
The pier lights our carnival life on the water
Running 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 them 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 them dressed like stars in all the cheap little seashore bars
Parked with their babies out on the Kokomo
The cops finally busted Madame Marie
For telling 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
Love me tonight, and I promise I'll love you forever

Thunder Road

by Bruce Springsteen
(edited by Steven Mitchell)

The screen door slams
————'s dress waves
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
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 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
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 down on the tracks

Come take my hand
We're riding out tonight to case the promised land
Oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road
Oh Thunder Road
Lying out there like a killer in the sun
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, when all the promises will 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 ————, climb in
It's a town full of losers
And I'm pulling out of here to win