
15.02.77 Detroit, MI, intro to ‘It’s My Life’:
”I grew up in this small town, was about ten thosand people....about twenty
miles inland from the coast....and uh.....I lived in this two-family house....it
was on this main....main street in town....and my mother she was a....secretary....and
she worked downtown for all the lawyers.....in the big office buildings....and
my pop, he was.... he was a guard at the jail for a while and sometimes.....sometimes
he worked in a plastics factory.... and .... sometimes he got some jobs driving
trucks but....a lot of times he was just home.... and....we used to live next
door to this , uh....this gas-station, I remember in the summertime....I used
to....there was this little roof.....off of my room, I used to open the window
and drag my mattress outside and.....(?) sleep outside.....at night..... and
that station used to close up about.....close up about one o’clock.....I
remember all night long, there’d be these different guys, different cats
pulling in....some cats were older cats I knew from school.....other guys I
didn’t know, I seen them around town, they’d pull in.....all night,
meet each other there, drive off....down the highway , on towards the beach,
on towards the coast....and I’d lay there at night (?)....as soon....
soon as I hit 16, I started to head out to.....to New York City as much as I
could..... me and this friend of mine, this guy named Steve (cheers)....we used
to get these jobs downtown, we worked down in Village for a while....in cafes
or we would....just hang around in Port Authority till we ran outta money....or
till the cops (?) us and sent us back home on the bus....call our folks....and
I remember my pop, I used to hate going back home because the old man every.....every
night at nine.....nine o’clock every night, he’d shut off all the
lights in the house and.....he’d sit in the kitchen in the dark with just
a six pack of beer, smoke cigarettes.....and my mom, she’d just sit in
the frontroom with all the lights out, just watching TV all night till she fell
asleep..... woke up next morning, go to work.....and I knew no matter what time
I got home or whether I’d been gone.....for a few days or....if I was
just coming in late at night, I knew the old man would be sitting at that table
waiting for me.....and he used to lock up the front-door so that me and my sister
couldn’t come in.....couldn’t come in ‘round the front so
we used to have to go ‘round the side through the kitchen.......(?)....I’d
stand there in that driveway, I could look through the screen door and see the
light of his cigarette.... I’d stand there and I’d slick my hair
back real tight so he couldn’t tell how long it was.....I’d get
up on the porch and try to make it through the ....kitchen....and he’d
wait every night, he’d wait.....he’d wait till I hit that bottom
step.... just (?) heading upstairs, thought I’d make it to my room....he’d
call my name to come back and sit down with him at that kitchen table.....and
(?) if it was early, it wasn’t too bad ‘cause he hadn’t been
sitting there too long , but if it was late and he’d been sitting there
all night, drinking and all that.....I’d sit there in the dark, he’d
be telling me....telling me things....I remember I could always....sitting there,
I could always hear his voice..... but I remember I could never see his face.....(?)....he’d
start off talking to me about..... nothing too much, how things was going.....if
I was making it out all right....pretty soon he´d be asking me....pretty
soon he’d be asking me where I’d been getting my money from....or
what I thought I was doing with myself.....and (?) we’d end up screaming
at each other.....my mother’d end up running in from the frontroom crying.....trying
to keep him off me, trying to keep us from fighting with each other.....I’d
end up screaming....screaming, running out the backdoor....telling him.....telling
him....telling him.....telling him he’s gonna have to understand....that
it’s my life and I was gonna do what I wanted to do....”
15.02.77 Detroit, MI, intro to ‘Thunder Road’:
”This is for the Duke and the (?)....and everybody that’s been waiting
so long.....”
15.02.77 Detroit, MI, middle of ‘Backstreets’:
”Just me and you , baby.....just me and you, girl....I remember....well,
I remember..... I was gonna take all my money out of the bank......and you were
gonna quit your job and I was quit my job too....and....I remember you promised.....I
remember you swore that you was never.....you said you was never, never gonna
go anyplace....without me....I remember you promised that....we both swore that....that
you was never gonna go anyplace.....without me.....I remember....I remember....I
remember it was (?), I was standing at the bus station....standing there in
the rain....and the rain came tumbling down....I remember your bus was gone
and....I was standing and I remembered you promised.....you were never gonna
go anyplace without me.....and the rain came tumbling down....I was standing
there, I remember I was just thinking, all I was thinking ‘bout was you
promised....you never gonna go anyplace without me.....and the rain came tumbling
down.....and the rain came tumbling down.....and I was standing there.....that’s
when I knew....I was standing in the rain.....and I figured it all out.....
I had it all figured out.....(?)...you lied !....you lied !....you lied !.....”
15.02.77 Detroit, MI, intro to ‘Rosalita’:
‘‘This song is uh.....(?)....’cause this song is like connected
to one of the big..... tragedies in my life, you know, so like....it’s
like a very seriously depressive number ....it’s like every time I go
out to West Coast.....my mother....I used to go out with this girl.....down
along the shore....and like yeah, it was....she wrote all this stuff, you know,
in my yearbook when I was graduating and stuff......stuff ‘I love you
forever and we’ll never break up, at least my part won’t’
(cheers)....you know what kind of stuff so it was like (cheers)....please no
applause, you know, it’s like so (chuckles) .....and so, uh.....I go out
west and my mom, she makes me look at it everytime I go out there, teaching
me a lesson......it’s because she, she broke (?) and ran away with this
guy that owned this gas-station down along the coast.....and uh.....and uh.....what
the fuck, right ? (cheers).....I get philosophical about stuff like that.....
(….) On the piano....of all these luminaries tonight.....to the far left.....of
the stage .... the man with all the degrees and all the keys.....Professor Roy
Bittan (cheers).....play it, Roy !....and he can do that stuff all day long,
let me tell you....on the guitar....how can I say it ?....author....composer...producer....man
who brought you such great hits as.... ‘I Don’t Wanna Go Home’....’Sweeter
Than Honey’....poet of the soul, master of rock and roll.....the magnificent
Miami Steve Van Zandt (cheers)....oh yeah.....on the bass guitar, you all know
him , you all love him.....from Long Branch, New Jersey, Mr.Garry W.Tallent
(cheers)....on the drums, all the way from North Jersey ....this guy´s
been with me for two years.....and if I can help it....I’m gonna fire
his ass tomorrow, no.....Mighty Max (cheers)....on the organ Phantom Dan Federici
(cheers) ... play it, Danny....in the background, coming to you all the way
from Philadelphia ..... (?)....the magnificent Miami Horns.....last but not
least.....king of the goddamn world.... master of the motherfucking universe.....Mr.Hollywood.....stage
of star and screen..... no, of stage and screen....the magnificent....on the
saxophone....the Big Man, Clarence Clemons (cheers).....”
15.02.77 Detroit, MI, intro to ‘Detroit Medley’:
”We ain’t done this song in a while, we’re gonna do it for
uh.....somebody that’s here tonight, hope I remember all the words (?).....”
15.02.77 Detroit, MI, intro to ‘Born to Run’:
”This is for uh.....Bob Seger....”
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi