03.09.78 Saginaw, MH, intro to ‘Good Rockin’Tonight’:
”How many of you guys were in Detroit the other night ? (cheers)....how
many were not in Detroit the other night ? (cheers)....it’s ‘bout
a half - a half, ok......trying to think how we should start it....let’s
do ‘Good Rockin’Tonight’.....”
03.09.78 Saginaw, MH, intro to ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’:
”I lost my heart......(long pause)......here´s a song I wrote about
1970.....no, it was ‘round 1970....5 or 76, wrote about half of ‘Darkness’....this
is uh......it’s called ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’....”
03.09.78 Saginaw, MH, intro to ‘It’s My Life’:
”What ?....I promise we’ll do that one later on......(?) tune my
guitar, I’ll get it right back, we’ll do this song (cheers)....we
ain’t done this in a long time so the band’s gotta follow me on
this....”
03.09.78 Saginaw, MH, intro to ‘Factory’:
”(?) with ‘em big words (chuckles)....(music starts)....I was born
on September 23rd 1949 in this little town......called Freehold.....my grandfather,
me and my mother.... my father , we all lived at my grand....at my grandparents’
and....in a house in town, it was a house that had the first....had the first
church service and it had the first funeral in town in this house.....and uh......my
grandfather, he was an electrician.....and he used to fix second-hand radios.....and
I remember when I was five years old.....before we were to leave, he used to
take me with him outside of town in the summer.....and they used to have mining
workers, used to come off from the South and work in the fields outside of town,
he used to sell ‘em....radios that he’d buy and fix, bring ‘em
out there in the trunk of the car and take me with him.....I remember my old
man.....back in town there was this rugmill, took over ´bout two city
blocks....he worked there for a long time....then he quit.....and he worked
for a truck driver, he was a truck driver for a while and quit....he was a guard
at the jail for a while and he quit.....and I remember he was working in this
plastics’factory.....my mother , she used to, if he forgot his lunch,
she used to have to ....she used to have to bring it down to him.....and all
I remember when we used to go in that place was him standing near ‘em
loud fucking machines (cheers)....”
03.09.78 Saginaw, MH, intro to ‘Heartbreak Hotel’:
”One, two, gimme some slapback on this thing.....one two....I need more
than that, one....one....it is down at the end of lonely street.....”
03.09.78 Saginaw, MH, intro to ‘Racing in the Street’:
”Almost hurt myself....we got Max Weinberg on the drums, we have.....Clarence
and Danny on the organ.....you guys sit down, we’re gonna.....relax, we
got a lot of time (cheers).....you guys gonna be dead by the time we walk out
of here (cheers).... see, I’m lucky, somebody carries me out , you guys
gotta walk on your own (chuckles).... this is for the Big (?).....’Racing
in the Street’....”
03.09.78 Saginaw, MH, intro to ‘Thunder Road’:
”Long time ago, there was this, uh.....Robert Mitchum movie.....’bout
moonshine runners....and I.....took the title and wrote a song....’bout...and
I.....but I didn’t think there was ever any place....that was like really....really
like this place....and uh, me and Steve and two friends......(?) we were driving
from Salt Lake City, Utah down to Reno, Nevada in the summer.....and on a side
of the road we came upon this, something like we’d never seen before ,
there was this house that this indian built from stuff that he’d scavanged
all out of the desert....and out in front.....out in front, he had a big picture
of Geronimo.....over top, it said ‘Landlord’....and then he had
a big white sign...that said ‘Do not trespass....This is the land of peace
, love, justice and no mercy’ (cheers)....and it’s pointing down
this little dirt road that said ‘Thunder Road’....”
03.09.78 Saginaw, MH, intro to ‘Jungleland’:
”This is for Frankie....and your little girls.....”
03.09.78 Saginaw, MH, intro to ‘Fire’:
”Just keep (?).....we’re working now (chuckles)...now we’re
gonna do this song, uh.... this was on....Robert Gordon’s second album,
this is a song, these girls asked for it down here.....it’s called ‘Fire’....where
you guys from ?....Canada ? (cheers).....
Canada, (?) is long ways from here (cheers)....No ?...it’s close, oh (chuckles)....
Canada, I thought that was (?)....alright, alright (chuckles).....it’s
a long ways from New Jersey (cheers).....(?).....where’d you get that
hat ? Your mother must’ve bought you that hat.....alright (?)(chuckles)....alright,
this is for all these, for these little girls down here.....”
03.09.78 Saginaw, MH, intro to ‘Sherry Darling’:
”(giggles) You guys are funny, funny.....alright, we got a party song
coming up....did anybody see that movie Animal House ? (cheers).....(?)(chuckles)....here’s
a song called ‘Sherry Darling’, it’s a fraternity rock song.....the
audience has to make twice as much noise as the band .....(?).....”
03.09.78 Saginaw, MH, intro to ‘I Don’t Wanna Hang Up Rock and
Roll Shoes’:
”(tunes his guitar) My guitar’s all out of tune now (giggles)....(keeps
tuning) I can’t, I can never do this under the, under the pressure of
performance, you know....(keeps tuning)...doing the best I can, right (chuckles)...how
about shouting like ‘Let the roadie do it !’, let’s try that.....the
band is shouting that (chuckles).....I have to take a little walk into the back
of the stage for a few minutes, I’ll be right back, don’t worry
....oh .....nice out tonight, yeah (chuckles).....oh, Detroit, Detroit was good,
Detroit was good, we had a great time there (cheers)....yeah, yeah....(giggles)
I got one, oh, I got one, we’ll do, uh.....while my guitar’s resting,
alright....the guitar has to rest every few songs, it’s (giggles).....great,
great, yeah, I saw Bob last night, Bob Seger , he was terrific (cheers).....oh,
let’s do, uh, let’s do the one we practised this afternoon.....
’Well, my mother told me, I don’t like that rock and’ , right.....alright,
here we go, we got a special surprise for you, (?) it’s the biggest surprise
if we can play it to the end (chuckles)....I have to start.....alright.....little
echo, echo (chuckles).....”
03.09.78 Saginaw, MH, intro to ‘Growin’Up’:
”I remember....I was asleep one night....and I was woken.....by a strange
sound..... (crowd howls)....different story tonight (cheers)....stuck my head
out the window, looked up at the stars....well....after I opened my eyes.....
(….) One day....I came home from school.....I was about 17....and my mother
and father.... were sitting at the kitchen table....walked in the house.....’Hey
Mom, hey Pop’....no answer.....that’s nothing ‘cause they
used to ignore me all the time.....used to try to make believe like I wasn’t
there......like I never had a room in my house .....think, it was like, ‘The
Room’, it was called ‘The Room’....like ‘Where is it
?’ ‘It’s in the Room’.....so I was on my way to the
Room....and all of a sudden.....I heard my father call my name....(crowd: ‘Bruce!’)...this
was a surprise....even though I was 17, I wasn’t sure that he knew it
yet.....I sorta (?) being called like.....’Son of a bitch’, no....
‘Come back here’, you know (chuckles) so anyway.....I go back, I
sit down ....and they look a bit in a state of shock.....my mother, she’s
sitting there real serious, he’s real serious.....and they thought that
it was time that......I also became real serious with them.....so they said
‘Listen.....you gotta start thinking about your vocation, about your career
(chuckles)....we made an appointment for you to go see the Father.....over at
the rectory.....and you go over and you talk to him about what you wanna be’.....and
my father looks at me....he gets about this close....he says ‘When you
go over there....you tell him you wanna be a lawyer....you tell him you wanna
be a author....but don’t you tell him nothing...about that (crowd : ”Goddamn
guitar!”).....goddamn guitar!’....I said ‘Ok, ok (?)’....I
go over to the rectory, I ring the buzzer.....priest comes to the door.... and
uh, we walk around the church a few times...and he’s talking to me, I’m
talking to him and he decides that this is too big a problem.....you know, he
says ‘Listen....what you gotta do is you gotta do what I do all the time,
he says ‘You gotta go....directly.... to God about this.....Now, when
you go to Him, you tell Him you wanna be a lawyer or you wanna be a author....but
don’t you tell him nothing about (Bruce and the audience together) that
Goddamn guitar ! .....I said ‘Ok’....so I’m thinking to myself
‘Gotta go see God....it’s a tough one...what street’s He live
on.....what kinda house He lives in....you know.....He don’t live on E
Street (chuckles)....and I know He ain’t in Asbury Park (chuckles)....so....I
figure there’s only one man who knows the answer to this question that
puzzles all men...and that is.....(crowd: ”Clarence”) The Big Man
(chuckles).....so I take my mother´s Rambler and I go over to his house.....I
say ‘Clarence.....I gotta go see God, I gotta go see Him to-night.....I
can’t waste no time.... can you hook me up ?’.....he says ‘Yeah,
I can set you up......but I tell you one thing.... you ain’t going in
that car out there, are you ?’.....I say ‘Yeah, that’s my
mother’s Rambler, it’s the only car I got, we gotta go in that car’....he
says ‘No way.....there´s gonna be guys up there in Monte Carlos....there’s
gonna be guys up there in Lincoln Continentals (cheers).....in Cadillacs......Cameros.....you
think, you think He’s gonna notice you in that piece of junk ?’....so
I thought about it, figured he had a point....I drove it down to Earl Shy.....it
was 39.95 at the time......I talked to Earl himself, I told him to do it midnight
blue.....I left the windows down and he did the interiors for free....so it
was a sticky ride up the hill that late night (chuckles).....as we went to see...
(chuckles).....we get up there, Clarence says ‘You see that dark spot
way up at the top of the hill next to the cemetary ?’....I say ‘I
see it’.....’That’s His Friday night spot’... said ‘Alright’....I
started lumbering up the yard......it was dark, scary noises coming out of the
woods (screams).....I started lumbering back down the hill.....bump into Clarence,
he makes me go back up......I get up at the top.....I find a little space.....place
is jammed, there’s people all over the place.....and not all of them are
praying, I tell you that......I find my spot.....I say ‘God’.....He
says (crowd : ‘What ?’) (chuckles).... I say ‘God....my father.....says
I should be a lawyer...because lawyers own the world.... and my mother, she
says I should be an author ....now....I need some quick advice’..... I
heard some thunder (Max drums)....heard little lightning (more drumming).....and
then He said....’Be a lawyer’ (giggles)......only joking (chuckles)...’Let
it rock !’.....”
03.09.78 Saginaw, MI, middle of ´Backstreets´
´´Baby, I remember you....I remember you.....standing on the corner....of
Richmond Avenue ....with your hair up high, that crazy look in your eye for
every boy that was passing you by ....and I swore I´d drive all night,
I´d drive all night, I´d drive all night, I´d drive all night,
I´d drive all night, I´d drive all night, I´d drive all night,
I´d drive all night....just to buy you some shoes.....or to taste your
tender charms....to have you hold me in your arms....for just one kiss ....baby,
just one kiss....and a look from your sad eyes.....you had such lonely, sad
eyes..... you had such lonely, sad eyes....and all the time they were crying.....me....I
played your fool ....baby, I played your fool....baby, I played your fool....I
thought that I could stop your crying, I thought that I could stop your crying,
thought that I could stop your crying but I didn´t know....I didn´t
know....that you´d been lying....you´d been lying.....you´d
been lying ....you were so young and you could tell such pretty lies....you
were so young and you could tell such pretty lies and baby, you´d been
lying....all....along....you....had....baby, you were lying.....and now you´re
back.....well, baby I´m back too....and I´ve been out.....and I´ve
seen some things.....about me, about you and I learned.....baby, I´ve
been burned.....(?)....and I learned you´ve got to stop, little girl,
you got to stop, little girl, we´ve got to stop, little girl, we´ve
got to stop, little girl, we´ve got to stop, little girl, we´ve
got to stop, little girl, we´ve got to stop, little girl, we´ve
got to stop and we STOP.....´´
03.09.78 Saginaw, MH, intro to ‘Born to Run’:
”Wanna thank everybody for coming down here ‘cause we haven’t
been to Saginaw before, thank you all very much for coming to the show (cheers).....let
you know, we appreciate it a whole lot....”
03.09.78 Saginaw, MH, intro to ‘Quarter to Three’:
”Are you tough enough to stand one more ? (cheers)...are you tough enough
? (cheers)....are you ready ? (cheers)....let’s go.....”
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi