
13.07.84 East Troy, WI, intro to ‘Nebraska’:
”This is a song about, uh....there’s always, I was reading in the
papers about how..... television and all the media and stuff is bringing.....the
whole world closer together.... but uh.....seems like in these times (?) people
get.....they get isolated from their jobs, sometimes they get isolated from.....friends
and from their families...until uh....till you get that sense of powerlessness.....and
just explode....”
13.07.84 East Troy, WI, intro to ‘Darlington County’:
”Yes....time to get out of town....”
13.07.84 East Troy, WI, intro to ‘Glory Days’:
”Oh....it is loose up here tonight (chuckles)(cheers)....this is...this
is a song about.... how...you get out of school....and then , you know, there´s
always a few years later... you meet somebody that you knew in high school.....and.....this
happens to me all the time....I meet somebody, they say ‘Hey, Bruce.....how
you doing , how’s the band ?.... how’s everything going ?’....you
know....it’s always kinda funny because you always remember how.....they
wouldn’t talk to you when you were back in high school (chuckles)(cheers).....’cause
in high school, I was bad (cheers).....I mean I was bad in everything....I was
bad at sports, I was bad at....studying....I was shy....I’m a very shy
person (cheers)....(chuckles) but anyway, you always meet these guys later and
girls and you sit down and they say, always say ‘Boy, wasn’t they
great times ?....that was the most fun....remember the night that we went out
.....and you were with that girl you really liked....and them guys spilled a
beer all over your head....and you got mad and then they knocked you out ?....Man,
that was fun, that was a great time, boy’ .... you know, you go ‘Yeah,
yeah, that was fun’ (chuckles)....you know.....(?) glory days they start
.....they start ‘soon as you’re a sophomore.....mine started ‘soon
as I was born..... I sit down with my mom.....’Remember, mom, when I was
in your womb ?’, you know....’Man, that was fun’...I’m
starting a back-to-womb (?)......
13.07.84 East Troy, WI, intro to ‘Used Cars’:
”(?)....when I was a kid, I had a, I had a room that was....right over
the backyard....and uh.....it was kinda like right above the kitchen....and
the first sound I used to hear in the morning was my dad out....underneath the
car trying to get it started to go to work....every morning, just when the sun
comes up, I’d hear him out....outside on his back on the ground.....and....he’d
never buy, could never buy (?) that cost like 500 dollars or 600 dollars and
he was always fixing up these junkers.... and....I remember he had this one
car, it didn’t.....muffler fell off it.....and he used to....he’d
be, he’d be looking around for the police all the time and every time
he’d see one, he....turned the engine off and he goes by (chuckles)(cheers)...and
he had one of those cars that..... that, uh, doesn’t go in reverse.....so....but
you wouldn’t know when it was not gonna go in reverse (chuckles)....we
used to have to, we’d.....pushing it out, out of the parking spaces all
the time....get it back out on the street.....but.... anyway.....we used to
love going down to that car lot....with my old man.....lobbying him to get a
convertible (cheers)....when I grew up, I swore I would own nothing but convertibles
(chuckles)(cheers)...and I do (chuckles)....a great moral victory (chuckles).....”
13.07.84 East Troy, WI, intro to ‘No Surrender’:
”Thanks....oh boy....how’s everybody way back up there on the grass,
alright ? (cheers)....there on the hill ?.....alright.....I’ll send this
out to you.....this is kinda a song about all the promises you make....to yourself
when....when you’re a kid.....I been kinda lucky ‘cause I....I dreamed
something when I was real young and I got to do it (cheers).....and....and I
never....that’s a special thing....so, hope everybody’s happy tonight
(cheers).....”
13.07.84 East Troy, WI, intro to ‘Pink Cadillac’:
”Oh yeah.....this is a song....about....unrequited....desire....is that
right ?.....unrequited passion.....’cept once in a while , some nights
it gets requited....then it goes back to being unrequited again for most of
the time (chuckles)....oh!....now it seems.....way back...before history started.....that’s
a long time....there was.....a Garden of Eden.... and in the Garden of Eden.....they
had two of every animal, no, that, that was on the Arc, in the Garden of Eden,
there was Adam and Eve, right (cheers)....I went to catechism class.....I went
to Catholic school for eight years, I know all about this stuff (cheers).....have
mercy (chuckles).....there was Adam and there was Eve....and supposedly Eve
had the Apple and.....and you know Adam took the bite.....and women, they been
getting blamed for everything ever since (cheers)....that’s not right,
he didn’t have to take a bite if he didn’t wanna, ‘course
she shouldn’t have picked the Apple either, no (chuckles)....anyway....occassionally
before I lie in bed at night, after I say my evening prayers.....I....wonder
if I’d have been happier....in the Garden of Eden or here on Earth....now....Garden
of Eden’s got....nice weather.....got a lot of fruit in the trees.....but
Earth.....has got air-conditioning (cheers)....cheeseburgers (cheers).....Saturday
night (cheers)...and sin ! (chuckles)...which once in a while.... if you don’t
overdo it....oh ! (laughter)....”
13.07.84 East Troy, WI, intro to ‘Bobby Jean’:
”If you’ve come down with an old friend tonight, anybody who means
a lot to you.... this is for you....”
13.07.84 East Troy, WI, intro to ‘Rosalita’:
”Oh, where are you tonight, baby ?.....’cause I’m looking
for a.....kiss.....
(....) Ladies and gentlemen....it’s my pleasure to introduce to you tonight.....on
our stage (laughter)....beginning.....to the far left.....on the piano....Professor
Roy Bittan (cheers)....on the vocals , Miss Patti Scialfa (cheers)...on the
drums....author of The Big Beat.....the man with the (?)....Mighty Max Weinberg
on the drums (cheers)....on the bass, the man who brings you the thunder from
down under, Mr.Garry W.Tallent (cheers)....to the far right, on the organ....the
mysterious, the illusive, the inimitable, the unforgettable, the unredeemable,
the unimaginable Phantom Dan Federici on the organ (cheers)...and on the guitar,
a man who brought you ten years of rock and roll, drumroll please, Mr.Nils Lofgren.....(Nils
does his trampoline stunt)...that’s incredible! .....now last but not
least....how can I say it.....how can I express my feelings....just let me say....that
‘C’ is for his cool which grows and grows.....’L’ is
for his loop which comes and goes.....’A’ is ‘cause he’s
the apple of my eye....’R’ is though because he’s the king
of the world , he’s just a regular kinda guy....’E’ is ‘cause
he’s everything that’s near and dear to me.....’N’ is
‘cause there’s nothing like him and there’s never ever gonna
be....’C’ is for that C-note he´s owed me since 1963 .....and
‘E’ is for everything else, you put that all together, now what’s
that spell ? .... what’s that spell? ....what’s that spell ?....Clarence
Big Man Clemons (cheers).....”
13.07.84 East Troy, WI, intro to ‘Born to Run’:
”Thank you....thank you...I’d like to, I’d like to thank everybody
for coming down to the shows we’ve done here (cheers)....we appreciate
it....got a real beautiful place here .....you know and.....I grew up in this
little town, was really...was pretty stifling and.... and I guess I felt like
I never....I never learned much till I was.....listening to the radio one night.....there’s
a bug on my microphone (chuckles)...and....and I was just kinda laying there
in bed.....and the music came out and told me that there was uh....kinda, there
was another way to live if I looked for it and I searched for it.....and I guess
in short it just kinda said ‘Let freedom ring’....and that’s
what this is all about, that’s why we’re here tonight and uh (cheers)....and
we gotta fight for it every day....”
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi