
02.11.84 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Reason to Believe´
´´Here´s a song about believing in ghosts....it´s about
blind faith and its....tragic results ....”
02.11.84 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Used Cars´
´´Thank you, this is, uh....this is a song about old things, I guess,
used cars.... everybody´s had one of those, I think....unless you was
born into the good life (chuckles)....but uh, I remember when I was a kid, it
used to be a big deal when....you know, once a year...my father´d take
us down to the car lot and he´d pick out a car, it was the only time that
me and my sister ever got together on anything, you know.... we´d be begging
him all the way down there to get a convertible, we always wanted a convertible....you
know, we had that whine, you know, like kids can get like ´Please, please´
(chuckles) ´Please, Dad, we´ll be good for the rest of the year´....(?)
he´d say ´I´ll think about it´ and you get down there....he´d
look around and.....look around.... anything under a 100 dollars was fair game
so (chuckles)....yeah, so....anyway, he´d end up buying like a Studebaker
hardtop, you know (chuckles)....we used to, we used to able to get him back
´cause me and my sister knew the exact spot in the backseat where no matter
what we did while he was driving, he couldn´t reach us....(?) ´Wait
till I get home´, you know....(?)....but when we got home (chuckles)....
02.11.84 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Johnny Bye Bye´
´´Thanks....I guess there´s certain events....that happen
that people kind of mark their lives by....I know, uh....I can remember exactly
where I was, I was 13, I was in high school when John Kennedy was killed....I
remember I was in gym class and somebody came running across the field and told
me....and I remember where I was when....the day that Elvis Presley died....and
uh....sometimes, sometimes a dream coming true is a dangerous thing.....”
02.11.84 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Glory Days´
´´This is a song now....this is a song about....ancient history....I
don´t mean like the Babylonians or the Mesopotamians....or the Neapolitans
or the Italians....I mean I´m talking personal stuff....details of my
own personal life....that you will read soon after my demise in the National
Enquirer...I feel like confessing....now, when I was but a lad ....there was
three things I was interested in....one was the guitar....the other one was
pool....my father was a pool player and his grandfather was so I decided I wanted
to be one....and then the third one....now, one Christmastime my folks got me
a pooltable, cost 69.95 down at Sears....and it was just big enough to where
it fit in my bedroom.... so like I would come home with my girlfriends, you
know, and I would say ´Dad, we´re gonna go up to my bedroom and
play some pool´....and he´d say ´Ok´....now, now, he
used to sit in the kitchen all the time and that was right underneath my room
....so if he didn´t hear the guitar and if he didn´t hear the poolballs
knocking around.... he had a broom and he´d start banging on the ceiling....but
I kind of got wise ´cause I pulled the pooltable way over close to the
bed, you see, then every once in a while I would reach up and knock the balls
around little bit....but anyway, out of those three things....the only thing
I really became proficient at....was the guitar....pool I gave up on....now,
the third one....I´m still looking for some dedicated volunteers to practise,
practise, practise....anyway...I´ll get it, I´m gonna get it, Big
Man, one of these days, one of these days....here we go, boys, let me tell the
story....”
02.11.84 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Shut Out the Light´
´´Oh....this is, uh, I guess in ´70....´78, I was, I
was in Phoenix, Arizona....I stopped at this drugstore and I found a book called
´Born on the Fourth of July´....and it was by a Vietnam Veteran
named Ron Kovic....it was his story....and uh, this is a song about, uh ...coming
home....it´s called ´Shut out the Lights´....”
02.11.84 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´My Hometown´
´´Thanks....this is, uh....this next song, I know when I was a kid,
I grew up with a real, kind of love-hate-relationship with the place that I
was born.....I remember I was about 16, I used to, I used to hate that town
so bad and wanna get out so bad....and as I got a little older I found that
when I get home, I´d, I´d end up like taking my car and driving
back through there....and uh....I guess someday you gotta kind of confront the
things that frighten you, I guess when I was....I was always scared of admitting
that, that some way I belonged to something....and I guess that´s what
this song is about, it´s about responsobility to the place that you live....and
uh, tonight, during intermission, out in the hall you´ll see some folks
from....the Steelworkers-Oldtimers Foodbank.... and uh...what they do is they
feed people that are down-and-out, that been hit hard.... suffering from unemployment....they
feed 5,000 families a month and they´re helping to make your town a better
place to live....so....check ´em out, I know they´d appreciate your
support, thank you.....this is your hometown....”
02.11.84 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Pink Cadillac´
´´Well, now, this is a song....about the conflict....between worldly
things and spiritual health....between desires of the flesh....and spiritual
ecstasy ....now, where did this conflict begin ?....well, it began in the beginning....in
a place called the Garden of Eden....now, the Garden of Eden was originally
believed to have been located in Mesopotamia.....but the latest theological
studies have found out that its actual location was ten miles south of Jersey
City, off the New Jersey Turnpike....that´s why they call it the Garden
State !....now understand, in the Garden of Eden there were none of the accoutrements
of modern living....I mean you didn´t have no TV, you didn´t have
no little toaster that you could put your little Pop-Tarts in and then go watch
Johnny Carson at night....you didn´t have no little bed you could snuggle
in and tuck your head on the little pillow, you couldn´t go out on to
the highway and buy a cheeseburger if you wanted one....in the Garden of Eden
there was no sin....there was no sex....man lived in a state of innocence....now,
when it comes to no sex, I prefer the state of guilt that I live in....but before
we went out on tour I decided to make a spiritual journey... to answer some
of the questions for myself, to the location of the Garden of Eden....I went
out and found that it was now occupied, that area is now occupied by Happy Dan´s
Celebrity Used Car Lot....I walked in, Dan said ´Son, you need a yellow
convertible , a four-door DeVille with a Continental spare, wide chrome wheels,
air-conditioning, automatic heat, fold-out bed in your backseat, eight-track
tapedeck , TV and a phone so you can speak to your baby when you’re driving
all alone’...I said ‘I’ll take two’...then I said ´But
Dan, can you answer, what I wanna know, I wanna know about the mysteries of
temptation....I wanna know why sometimes my soul pulls me this way and why my
flesh pulls me that way....He said ´Well, son, that´s easy....you
see, because right here....on these ten beautiful acres of industrial zone....before
it was a toxic waste dump...set the prettiest little paradise you ever seen
on earth....and in the beginning....there were many wonderous things : there
was a Tree of Life, there was a Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil....there
was Adam, there was Eve, and she was fine....there was an apple, there was a
snake, there was temptation. there was sin....and parked curbside....for 99.95
and no money down....there was a getaway car...a pink..... Cadillac....”
02.11.84 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Racing in the Street´
´´She´d be calling me ´Bobby, Bobby´....I´d
be running around the house trying.... trying to find my keys ´cause she
always hid ´em on me....sometimes she´d be crying ....´cause
she didn´t like me going out at night....and it was just so hard to make
her understand....that....that when I took the car out and when I won....it
was the only time I ever really felt good about myself....´cause it was
something that I could do good.... to have just one thing....just one thing
that you can do....that makes you feel proud of yourself...I don´t think
that´s too much for anybody to ask....
(...) Well, that was the night that we left.....we still don´t know where
we´re going yet ....but I guess that´ll come in time....and as for
this place....well, there´s a lot of things that we´ll always remember...”
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi