09.07.81 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ‘Independence Day’:
”I grew up...in this house....where....nobody ever talked to each other....we used to live on the left side....of this little three-room house.....there was a frontroom and a kitchen and two bedrooms and a bedroom upstairs.....and....with everybody living that close .... it seemed that.....nobody ever sat down....without being angry.....telling each other what was on their minds....I could never talk to my old man, he could never talk to me, my mother couldn’t talk to him....so I was glad....when I....I finally got old enough ....and I started, started to live alone.....then for about ten years I never saw my folks so.....that much....and just recently, we came back....from Europe......and.....if you get a chance, you gotta...gotta go there because you can’t imagine it....it...it’s not what you think it is or what you read in the papers.....but we got back and my father got....I gotta a phone call a night or two later that my father had gotten sick....and I went out to California where he was in the hospital there....I started thinkin’on the way out about all the....about all the things that I always wanted to say to him that I never said and....I always figured , well , someday we’ll sit down and we’ll talk about all this stuff....talk about why it was the way it was when I was young.....talk about why he felt the way he did....but the years go by and it never....it never comes up....I guess it feels like a dangerous subject or something....but he got sick and I realised that he was getting old and that.....and that....if I had something to say to him.....I should say it now and.....you know....’cause family is forever and it’s something that (cheers)....it’s something that don’t ever go away, no matter how far you move away from each other or no matter what your feelings are towards each other.....it’s just there ....in your blood all the time....in your blood....so if you got....if you got folks at home and have been waiting....waiting to say stuff to ‘em, don’t waste too much time....’cause you’ll always regret it.....”

09.07.81 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ‘This Land Is Your Land’:
(Bruce begins the harmonica intro and a firecracker explodes in the crowd)
”Whoever just threw that firecracker, do me a big fucking favor.....(cheers).....you know.... and don’t do it.....if anybody was around that guy, point him out, and throw his fucking ass outta here (cheers).....if you don’t have.... you don’t the respect for yourself, at least respect the people that are sitting around you....you, you guys paid your money, you got the right to sit here.....without worrying about somebody throwing something, hit you on the head and try to blow you up with something.....so....so whoever you are, you....you are no friend of mine, do not (?).....this is a song......uh....that’s about respect.... ‘bout having respect for yourself.....for the land that you live in.....”

09.07.81 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ‘Johnny Bye Bye’:
”This is uh....back in ‘77 ....we played in Memphis....and....Elvis was still alive....at the time we played (?).....and....I remember after I heard he’d died, I was.....I used to sit back and wonder how somebody that....that once had.....won so much.....could....could lose as big as he did.....and....it seemed like....in life it’s important to have the right friends around (cheers)....people that....that can tell you when you’re screwing up....and.....I think Elvis couldn’t have had many friends like that....this is uh....this is a song that’s for Elvis...”

Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi