
04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ‘Shut Out the Light’
´´This is uh....I remember, I guess, it was 1967....I had this band....it
was the first real band I was ever in....and uh....I remember we had a drummer,
his name was Bart..... he was the kind of guy that was always joking around,
always getting in trouble....like nothing real serious but like his mother was
always going down to the police-station to pick him up, you know (chuckles)....Bart
Haynes....and I remember one day he quit the band.... and we didn´t see
him for a while...and then when he came in, he came in laughing....in a marine
uniform, said he´d enlisted....and a little while later he came in and
said he was going to Vietnam .... and we said ´Bart....man, where is that
?´, he said ´I don´t know´...and uh....I guess he got
sent over and in about....´bout six months later, I remember his mama
lived next door to us got a letter he was missing in action....and before this
tour I went down....to Washington and ....I went to the Lincoln Memorial and
I visited the Vietnam Veteran´s Memorial.....which, uh....(?) has 50,000
names of guys that did not come back....and uh....that´s a story that
ain´t over, it´s getting lived out every day in my country and it´s
still being lived out here in your country where you got 47,000 Australian Vietnam
Veterans....just fighting against the problems of Agent Orange....and the problems
of just....coming back home....this is a song about coming home so if there´s
any Veterans out there tonight, this is for you....”
04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ´The River´
´´This is a song about when I was....I was growing up, I remember....my
old man´d come home every night.....through the back and go right into
the kitchen and he had his chair.... don´t mess with his chair (chuckles)
he´d sit down and, and my mother´d bring him his, his dinner when
she come home from work....and he´d sit there all night long, till long
after we´d all been to bed....and he used to hate for you to turn the
lights on.....couldn´t stand it, he´d sit there in the dark, drinking
a six-pack and uh....and my mom used to sit up in the, in the livingroom with
just the TV on with a blue bathrobe and slippers with big flowers on the toes
(chuckles) she´d fall asleep around 11 o´clock every night ´fore
we´d come in....my dad used to be slick, he used to lock up that frontdoor
so that me and my sister used to have to come in around the kitchen, he could
tell what time you came in....so I remember some nights if it was late, I´d
be standing out in the driveway, I used to slick my hair back real tight so
he couldn´t tell how long it was ´caus ehe hated it (chuckles)....I´d
get up on the porch and he´d let me slip through the kitchen....and then
he´d slip through the livingroom....and just as I got my foot on that
bottom step and thought I made it, I´d hear ´Bruuuce´....so
I´d go back and he´d say ´Sit down, I wanna talk to you´,
I´d sit there and his first question would always be ´Well, what
do you think you´re doing with yourself ?´ (chuckles)....sometimes
it got to, what I used to do was I bought this sleeping bag and I´d stick
it out on the edge of these woods, tucked it under these rocks and if it got
too late, I´d just wait till the next morning....till he had a chance
to get a little sleep...and uh, I´d lay out there at night if it wasn´t,
wasn´t too cold, I´d sleep in some of my friends´ cars, if
they let me, or on somebody´s porch....and uh, now sometimes when I go
home, I always go back past those spots, I say ´Yeah, I used to sleep
there´, you know (chuckles) a lot of times those places felt more to me
like, like they were mine, that they belong to me than my own house did....so
anyway, this is a song, I guess, this is uh....I guess everybody needs some
place they can go on them nights when they can´t go home....”
04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ´Glory Days´
´´Now, this is a song about....how time slips away....how it sneaks
by on you....when you ain´t watching it....and me and the Big Man....old
time has slipped by on us several times.... now, a little more time has slipped
by on him than on me, though....but as you can see, the man has maintained his
youthful beauty....no doubt about it....”
04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ´No Surrender´
´´This is a song, I....I was 16, I went into this....they had these
little dance clubs....and I went in and there was this guy on stage....he was
playing a Paul Revere and the Raiders´ song..... called ´Kicks´....and
uh....(?) and we became real good friends, traveled up into the city all the
time....they used to have matinees in Greenwich Village on the weekends, we´d
go up and sit there and watch the guitar players, just watch their hands all
day, see what they were playing...then we´d come back home and....go down
to his basement, try to get the same sounds on our guitars...never quite sounded
the same, for some reason....but uh, this is for Little Steven....wherever he
is tonight, I guess he´s back home....he had a record out called ´Voice
of America´....came out not that long ago, it´s a real good record,
if you get a chance, you ought to pick up on it....it´s called ´Voice
of America´ by Little Steven, this is for him....”
04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ´I´m on Fire´
´´I remember my dad always....telling me how....I was never gonna
amount to anything....and he´d sit, sit at that kitchen table and think
about....just the little things that he didn´t have.... until he´d
get you thinking that way....and you´d stand out on the corner and watch....the
girls in the cars that went by....just thinking and thinking and thinking....until
you felt like you were just gonna....like someday you were just gonna.....”
04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ´Pink Cadillac´
´´Now wait just a minute....wait just a minute....now, this is a
song....about temptation .... and sin !....it´s about conflict....between
worldly things and spiritual health....between desires of the flesh....sexual
desires....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, and you´ll be reading about
this in the newspapers any day, that its actual location was ten miles south
of Tamborine Highway....that´s why they call this the Garden State !....but
now understand, in the Garden of Eden there was none of the accoutrements of
modern living....there wasn´t no little bed you could go home to at night
and crawl up into and snuggle your little head into the pillow ....you couldn´t
watch no TV ...you couldn´t go out on to the highway and buy a cheeseburger
if you wanted one....they didn´t have any those, uh, those, uh, those
Vegemite sandwiches....no, Sir !....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 think I prefer the state of guilt that I constantly live in....well,
we got into town a little early the other day so I decided I´d take a
ride out to that location to see if I could find the answer to some of these
mysteries....why my soul pulls me in one way and my body pulls me another....so
we drove on out there and we found out that that spot is now occupied by Happy
Dan´s Celebrity Used Car Lot....a shame....I walked in, the man said to
me ´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, that´s not the reason why I came....see,
I wanna know the answer to this temptation that I feel all the time and this
conflict, why it´s pulling me apart all the time, why it´s splitting
me right down the middle, why my spirit wants to go one way and my body wants
to go another´....he said ´Well, son, that´s easy because
right here on these ten beautiful commercially-zoned acres was the sweetest
little paradise that man has ever seen, in the Garden of Eden there were many
wonderous things : there was a Tree of Life, there was a Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil, there was a man, Adam, there was a woman, Eve, and she looked
so fine.....and when Adam kissed her, it was the first time that a man had ever
kissed a woman....and she had legs that were long and soft to the touch....and
when Adam touched her, it was the first time that a man had ever touched a woman....and
then they walked out into the green fields and that´s when the trouble
started ....they lay down....they whispered sweet things into each other´s
ears....and then when Adam....well, let´s just say it was the first time....but
there was something else in the Garden of Eden on that day, old Satan came slithering
up on his belly and somehow he turned their love into a betrayal and sent them
running down into the darkness below....but that´s alright because right
here tonight on this backlot for 99.95 and no money down and don´t worry
if you´ve got bad credit, it´s good here, I´ve got their getaway
car....and if you´ve got the nerve to ride....I´ve got the keys....to
the first....pink....Cadillac....”
04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ‘Racing in the street’
‘‘I guess it was right around this time of year....it was like towards
the end of summer when ....when the weather’d still be really warm in
the day but it’d really cool off at night ....I remember I’d bought
this.....this old Camaro that we fixed up, bought it for 500 dollars....and
uh....at night I remember we, me and friend of mine, we’d throw on a couple
of t-shirts and a sweatshirt....put on leather jackets....and we´d get
out in the thing and we’d put the top down ....drive down along the coast.....and
the only problem was that the top went down but it didn’t go up.....so
when it rained, it rained....but it was a good car.... and we used to go down,
there was this strip little ways in off this river....and I guess it was like
an old junkyard where folks would bring stuff down from town and leave it off
there just to rust out in the rain....but there was this little clearing where
on weekends we’d....we’d get together....and that was, that was
where I first met her....and when we first started going out, it was like, uh
.....I guess it was like it always is when you first start going out with somebody,
you know, everything is, uh.....everything is great, you know, laughing at each
other’s stupid jokes and ... seems like you’re having fun all the
time..... and uh, for a long time we did, we had a real good time that summer....but
I don´t know what happens, I don´t know what changes people, time,
time passes....and she got to where....she didn’t talk as much as she
used to, didn’t like going out at night....and started hiding my keys
so I couldn’t take the car out .... and uh....I don´t know what
it was.... I know we were good friends ....for a long time....and I know that
she understood that when I took the car out....and when I won....that it was
the only time.... that something was happening to me....wasn’t happening
at my job or with my friends....and it didn’t matter if people thought
it was stupid or if they didn’t think it was stupid....it was a time when
I really...I started to feel....like something.....and to have one thing.....just
one thing in your whole life that you do.....that makes you feel proud of yourself
....well, I don’t think that’s too much for anybody to ask....anywhere....
(....) Well, that was the night that we, we got out of there, we just packed
up our bags....and we still don´t know where we´re going yet....but
I guess that´ll come in time....but sometimes it seems like time gets
running so short on you....like things are happening that....that you can´t
explain....and there´s not much you can do....we´re just gonna keep
going....and keep searching...and to keep on going, gonna keep on going, keep
on going and keep on going....”
04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ´Can´t Help Falling in
Love with You´
´´Thanks, this is our, uh....this is our last night in Australia
here....I´d just like to take a minute and thank everybody for coming
down to the shows we´ve done here in Melbourne ....and I´d like
to also thank you for the support that you´ve shown our band over the
years when we haven´t gotten down here, I want you to know we appreciate
it....and I hope we´ll be getting back to see you in not too long.....this
is for you....”
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi