
01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Good Rockin´ Tonight´
´´This is Detroit, huh ? (cheers) you guys are tough guys, huh ?
(cheers)....”
01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Heartbreak Hotel´
´´There was a....there was a song written by a lady by the name
of Mae Axton back in about 1955, she was Hoyt Axton´s mother...and I guess
if my mother´d wrote this song....she wouldn´t be in California
and I would be in New Jersey but uh (chuckles)....but I, I think it´s
a beautiful song, (?) my most favorite song and uh....it´s a song about
what happens when you get so lonely that you could die....”
01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Factory´
´´I grew up in this small town, a town called Freehold, New Jersey,
about 10,000 people.... and uh....in the early 50´s, late 50´s there
was a part of town they called, for one reason or another, I don´t know,
they called it ´Texas´ (?)....they used to have a, there was this
big rugmill, took up about two city blocks....you´d hear the machines
running inside all day.... and uh, I drove back there about, had a couple days
off and I drove back through town about three in the morning about three weeks
ago....and the places was all demolished, the windows were all smashed....it
closed down but I remember that.....my father, he worked there and his grandfather,
his father, he worked there and I wrote this song for him.....”
01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Thunder Road´
´´I wrote this....next song about....1974, 1975, I had this old
‘57 Chevy...I was living about a block off the beach....and I wrote it
because I liked this Robert Mitchum movie so much, you know....but I didn’t
ever know if there was ever a....there was ever a real place like it or not,
you know...and it was two summers ago, or was it in the middle of last summer
that me and Steve and two friends of ours....we drove through Salt Lake City
down to Reno, Nevada....it was somewhere out along the desert, we came upon
this house that this indian had built from stuff that he’d scavanged all....all
off the desert and built into this sculpture....out in front it had a big picture
of Geronimo, over top it said ‘Landlord’....then there was this
big white sign and painted in red, it said ‘This is the land of peace,
love, justice and no mercy’ and it pointed down this little dirt road
that said ‘Thunder Road’....´´
01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Jungleland´
´´You guys be careful down here, alright ? you guys are getting
knocked all around (?) what you think ? think, you´re gonna touch this,
it´s gonna make you a millionaire ? it´s like (chuckles)(?) take
your seats ´cause we´re gonna be playing long, we´re gonna
play pretty long, you´re gonna squash everybody down here.....”
01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Lost in the Flood´
´´(?)...you gotta gimme some lights over here....this is a song
off the first album....and I don´t remember the words for this one (?)(chuckles)
but uh....this is, uh, never done this song, might´ve did it a few times
but recently we haven´t done it in about four or so years (?) (chuckles)....”
01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Chimes of Freedom´
´´I wanna try something, uh....why, what the hell, right ? (chuckles)
I got, I got, I wanna do this song that once again I don´t know these
words, we had just thought about doing this last night and so I´m gonna
read the words, ok ? (?)....wait till you get how ridicilous this next move
looks, where´s that, where´s that thing ? (chuckles) where´s
that thing ?....where is it ? get ready for this, get ready for, like, high
school, alright ?....this is embarrassing (a music rack is brought onto the
stage)....(?).... this is, this is really wild (chuckles) now....this was one
of my favorite songs....this will get in the way of rocking out (?)(chuckles)....here
we go, here we go, alright, let´s give it a shot, alright.... ”
01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Growin´Up´
´´Let me think....where did this all begin ?...well, I remember....it
was the night after my 13th birthday....I looked outside....and there was a
full moon....didn´t think nothing of it....so I went to bed (Roy plays
a lullaby)....I kept being woken by this strange sound (crowd howls) I went
into the bathroom....I looked in the mirror....I had on my football pyjamas....when
I looked in the mirror, all of a sudden I realised that I had hair grown all
over my face.....over my body too, my fingers got longer and out the side, right
around the (?) popped a gold guitar...thought I was dreaming, went back to bed.....I
awoke the next morning to another strange sound....went to school, ate my arithematic....ate
my book (chuckles) and pissed in my desk....got sent home....was told by the
Sisters that I needed deep psychiatric attention ....my mother took me over
to my brother-in-law....he was a practising nut....and in the basement of his
mobile home we went through long scientific experiments until it was discovered
that by some strange coincidence....I....was the teenage werewolf....now, this
would scare some guys....I took it in stride....I passed out....this went on
and on until finally they took me to a doctor....he strapped me down on this
bed, I was growling and growling ....they didn´t realise that it wasn´t
I was sick, I was trying to get it to nurse....anyway, the doc comes over to
me, he says ´Kid, when did you start acting this way ?´....I said
´Doc, I´m glad you asked me that....because one night I looked outside
my window, there was this big bright light and Doc, as sure as I´m lying
here strapped to this bed with this hair all over my face....I stood stonelike
at midnight.....
(....) This went on for years.....every full moon I grew all this hair....this
guitar´d come out, I used to haunt the arcades in Asbury Park.....but
one day my mother and father got together with the local police and decided
that I was....now much more than a public nuisance....I was definitely a big
fucking pain in the ass....so they tried to catch me....they tried to track
me down.....I was on top of the ferris wheel of the Palace Amusements, they
slammed into it with a cop car, I jumped down onto the roof and down into the
middle of Kingsley Avenue ....got on Asbury Avenue started heading towards the
Route 35 Circle....hit the Route 35 Circle, got on Route 33 all the way into
Freehold....hit the Freehold Circle, went straight out heading straight out
for the New Jersey Turnpike.....but by now I had the Asbury Park police force,
the Freehold local police, I had, I had, uh, the state police, I had the United
States army, I had the United States navy, I had the United States Marines all
on my trail....well, I hit the New Jersey Turnpike and the motor cooled down,
the heat cooled down, that´s when I heard that highway sound, rain was
blowing under my hood, knew that was doing the engine good....but they were
catching up....and all of a sudden....a black Sedan pulled over on the side
of the road....I looked through the front window....and on the frontseat....I
saw a saxophone....the driver rolled down the window, said ´Kid, I don´t
know what you done but how did you get your hair that way ?´....he said
´Step inside, I like your style´....I got in the passanger seat,
Clarence slammed it to the floor.....we were in a Earl Shy special, we must´ve
been doing, we must´ve hit....I don´t wanna exaggerate, no, we must,
we must, we were, we were going, we were going fast, we were (?) we, we must´ve
hit 55 !....now I stuck my head out the window and something else too and all
I could hear was the chief of the Asbury Park police yelling through the megaphone
: ´Somebody stop that son of a bitch with that gold guitar !´....but
it was too late !....”
01.09.78 Detroit, MI, middle of ´Backstreets´
´´Hey, little girl....hey, little girl....baby, I remember you....I
remember you....it´s good to see you back again....and I know you remember
me too....(?) when you were standing on the corner....baby, you owned that corner
down on Richmond Avenue....with your hair up high and that wild look in your
eye for every boy that was passing you by....sweet darling....and back then
I swore....back then I promised....that I´d drive all night....anytime
anyplace...I´d drive all night....anytime anywhere.....I´d drive
all night....anytime anyplace....I´d drive all night....anytime anywhere.....just
to buy you some shoes....and to taste your tender charms.... to have you hold
me in your arms....and for just one kiss....baby, just one kiss....and a look
from your sad eyes....a look from your sad eyes....all the time they were crying,
cry-cry-crying, baby, they were cry-cry-cry-crying....they were cry-cry-cry-crying,
and we´d drive outside of town....(?)...in the middle of this field was
this stripped down old Cadillac with nothing but the backseat....and baby, down
and down, I remember that night because the kids set fire to the old abandoned
farmhouse up the road and you got out....you started running across the fields
towards the flames....running across the fields towards the flames
....running across the fields towards the flames....running across the fields
towards the flames ....and when you turned around....I could see that you were
crying, I could tell that you were crying, I could see that you were crying,
could tell that you were crying but I didn´t know.... baby, I didn´t
know....that you were lying....all the time you´d been lying....all the
time you´d been lying....you were young and you could tell such pretty
lies....you´d been lying....well, now you´re back....well, baby,
I´m back too....and I´ve been out.....and I´ve found out some
things....about me....about you..... we´ve gotta stop....we´ve gotta
stop.... we´ve gotta stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, STOP
!... ”
01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Rosalita´
´´(whistles)(chuckles) Let´s rock, this is for the guys from
Creem.....
(....) On the piano....Mr.E=MC2 ...Professor Roy Bittan....on the guitar....master
of the soul, no ....poet of the soul, master of rock and roll, Miami Steve Van
Zandt....on the bass guitar... the elegance, Mr.Garry W. Tallent....on the drums....the
Mighty One, Max Weinberg.....on the organ, Mr.Daniel Federici....and last but
not least....king of the world....master of the universe....emperor of the North
Pole....mayor of half of (?)....your next president....the Big Man Clarence
Clemons....”
01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Born to Run´
´´I wanna thank everybody for coming down tonight to the show, thank
you all very much.... and I wanna thank you for, we haven´t been to Detroit
that much and I wanna thank you for the support that you´ve showed the
band (?)....thanks a lot....doesn´t go unappreciated....and I wanna do
this for you guys and for Bob Seger (?)....”
01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Because the Night´
´´This is for Frankie....(?) the first, to show you first like what
an E-chord was on the guitar is my cousin and he lives up here now and I went
over to his house and uh.....I looked through the chord charts and I didn´t
know what they were and he says ´Oh, that means you put this finger here
and this finger here and watchout for that finger´ so (chuckles) this
is, Frankie, this is for you and for all the little Frankies there, alright....”
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi