
17.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ‘Reason to Believe’
´´This is a song, this is about blind faith....that´s like
if your girlfriend comes home in the middle of the night and her clothes are
all messed up....you see somebody pulling away from in front of your house....and
you ask her where she´s been, she says she´s been with her girlfriends....you
say ´OK´, that´s blind faith....or when the president says
he´s gonna do something about the arms´ control, that´s blind
faith too....”
17.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ´Mansion on the Hill´
´´Here´s a song, uh....when I was a kid, I....my dad used
to sit in the kitchen late at night....I remember the only lights we used to
have on in our house after about 9 o´clock was the light from my dad´s
cigarette and the light from the TV screen (chuckles) you know....(?) and uh...
sometimes late at night he´d ask me if I wanted to take a ride, I´d
get in the car with him, he´d me take out to the edge of town where....there
was this big white house, used to sit on this hill....and uh....I guess, I think
it was a doctor´s house or something and he´d kind of pull over
by the side of the road and he´d sit there and roll the window and smoke
a cigarette.... kind of look up at it....I couldn´t tell if he loved it
or if he, if he hated it....”
17.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ´I´m Goin´Down´
´´This is uh....this is a song about the rise and fall of relationships,
kind of how, you know, when you first meet somebody, everything they do is just
great and they´re looking (?) you tell ´em they look beautiful all
the time, you´re holding hands with ´em everywhere you go.... before
you go over and pick ´em up, you´re always, you know, standing in
front of the mirror and fixing yourself up....and all those things that are
wrong with ´em or something, you know, you don´t see it all, you
know....I remember I used to stand in front of the mirror and I used to think
my nose was too big and....and you know when you´re sitting around hugging
at night, you go ´Honey, oh, do you think my nose is too big ?´
and she´d say ´No, it´s perfect just the way it is´....(?)
you know like ´Honey, what movie do you wanna go see ?´ ´Oh,
baby, I don´t care, anything you wanna see´....you can´t keep
your hands off ´em all the time, you know, you´re making love to
´em all the time....but you come back about six months later and it´s
like ´Oh honey, ain´t you gonna kiss me goodnight ?´, it´s
like ´I would if I could get around that thing that´s on front of
your face´ (chuckles)....love is so fleeting.... anyway, ends up like.....”
17.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ´Glory Days´
´´Now, this is a song that´s about old times....you don´t
gotta be very old to start having old times...I got my share....Clarence´s
got more than me.....but he has maintained his youthful beauty....no doubt about
it....I guess it´s about like....I was watching, every time I go home
after the show, we get done, it´s late, the only thing on is like ´Twilight
Zone´-re-runs or something like that....I was watching ´Twilight
Zone´ one night about this actor...and he was like old, all he did was
sit around all the time thinking about what a great time he had when he was
like a young man....he was thinking how all the girls were after him all the
time and ....you know, he got all the good parts and.....all he used to do was
sit around moping and so he´s sitting there and all of a sudden.... (plays
a snippet of ‘Outer Limits’)....he goes into the Twilight Zone....anything
can happen in the Twilight Zone now....I think Tacoma may be the Twilight Zone
(?)....but, anyway, he goes back and when he gets back there and he´s
young again, he finds that everybody that he thought was nice to him was treating
him like a dog and his girlfriend was cheating on him with some other guy....and
you know, he ends up wishing he was back his own age and....so he goes back
to the other side....the reason I bring this stupid thing up is because (chuckles)
that happens to me all the time, every time I go out, I always got somebody
coming up to me in a bar going ´Bruce, oh, what a great time we had in
high school....man, we had some fun in high school.....high school, that was
the best time of my life´, they tell me ´Didn´t we have some
fun there ?....Wasn´t that fun ?´....now, personally, I hated high
school....I didn´t have no fun in high school !....in high school I was
only interested in two things....one was the guitar....and the other one....now,
the guitar is the one that I became proficient at....the other one, I´m
still looking for some volunteers who wanna practise, practise, practise....alright,
anyway, anyway....in the end, it ain´t nothing but glory days and Big
Man....all things must pass....”
17.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ´My Hometown´
´´Thanks, this is uh....this song, this is uh....I guess I originally
started to write this song about, uh....the town where I grew up in....in the
end, I guess, it´s really a song about.... responsobility...to the place
that you live....and uh...(?) right here in Washington that you got a group
called Washington Fair Share and uh....they´re trying to live up to that
responsobility, they´re a coalition of church and labor and committee
organizations that are working together trying to make this a better place for
you and uh....and they do a lot of work with, like, the toxic waste problem
that you have around here (?) in the places that you work and it gets, it gets
put out into your environment and your cities....and uh, I guess, they´re
a group you could say that believes that the people should come before profit
and it should be the community before the corporation...and they´re, they
can use your help, they got a 10-K-run coming up October 22nd and they could
use some volunteers to help ´em out on it so....if you need any information
on it, you can find the address and phonenumbers of Washington Fair Share in
intermission time out where the concessions are....so this is your hometown
so do something about it.....”
17.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ´Pink Cadillac´
´´Take it easy, boys....well, now,this is a song about the conflict....between
worldly things and spiritual health....between desires of the flesh....and spiritual
ecstasy ....between the mansion on the hill and the mansion in the sky....now,
where did this conflict begin ?....well, it began in the beginning....in a place
called the Garden of Eden....the birth of temptation ....now, people originally
believed that the Garden of Eden was located somewhere in the Middle East....but
the latest theological studies have found out that its actual location was ten
miles south of Jersey City off the New Jersey Turnpike....now, in the Garden
of Eden, there was none of the accoutrements of modern living....there was no
TV...there were no houses, there were no clothes, there was no bed or a pillow
you could snuggle into every night.... you couldn’t go out on to the highway
if you wanted to and get a cheeseburger....there was no sin ....there was no
sex.....man lived in a state of innocence ....now, when it comes to no sex,
I prefer the state of guilt that I constantly live in ....but before the tour
I made a spiritual journey to the location of the Garden of Eden and I found
it was occupied by Happy Dan´s Celebrity Used Car Lot....and I spoke to
Happy Dan and he said ´Son, to get to the bottom of this, it´s a
simple thing....you see, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth
and on the First Day, He separated the light from the darkness and he called
the light ´the day´ and he called the darkness ´the night´....and
the Lord sat and back and said ´This is good´....on the Second Day,
He grew hungry so He created the cheeseburger....and the Lord sat back and said
´This is good´ ....on the Third Day, He grew hot so He created air-conditioning....and
the Lord sat and back and said ´This is good´....on the Fourth Day,
He grew bored and created rock´n´roll.... and the Lord sat back
and said ´This is good´...now, on the Fifth Day, no matter what
Billy Graham or Jimmy Lee Swaggert or any of my competition have to tell you....on
the Fifth Day, He decided to take his baby for a drive...so He created the pink
Cadillac....and the Lord sat back and said ´This is wild´....”
17.10.84 Tacoma, WA, middle of ´Rosalita´
´´Alright now....ladies and gentlemen.....children of all ages....citizens
of Tacoma.....citizens of Seattle.....and whoever the hell else is out there....it
is now my pleasure to introduce to you the members of the E Street Band....I
would like to begin by introducing to you a gentleman that not only can he play
the piano but he´s smart too....he´s the only member of the band
with a high school diploma....a man who turned down a scholarship to Harvard
University where he was going for his PhD in unusual sexual practises....to
join the 1984 tour with the E Street Band....you may be aware of his studies
of the lost tribes of Hoboken, you may be aware of his theory of promiscuity,
ladies and gentlemen, the complicated, the educated, the sexually liberated,
´Professor´ Roy Bittan....next, on vocals, an alumni of Southside
Johnny and the Asbury Jukes....from Long Branch, New Jersey, the lovely, the
talented, the beautiful Miss Patti Scialfa on the vocals....then we got a man
who puts the bass in your face, brings you the thunder from down under, his
mother was a Tallent, his father was a Tallent, on bass guitar, Mr.Garry W.Tallent....now
we got a gentleman that puts the heat in the beat to get your asses out of your
seats and moving your feet....author of ´The Big Beat´, ´The
Mighty One´, ´Mighty´ Max Weinberg on the drums....and now
we got a gentleman who´s celebrating tonight his 15th anniversary as a
member of the E Street Band ....now, I´d like to take a moment here just
to show my appreciation, bring out the gifts.... Danny, for 15th years of dedication,
we have a portable hairdryer....and two tickets to tonight´s show....on
the organ, Mr.Dan Federici.....and we got a gentleman, the newest member of
the E Street Band....a man as sweet as life itself, on the guitar, Mr. Nils
Lofgren (Nils does his trampoline stunt)....that´s incredible....and now
we got a gentleman that needs no introduction....let´s just say that if
there was any justice in the world, he´d be the next president of the
United States....so gimme a C...L....A....R....E....N....C....E....what´s
that spell ?...what´s that spell ?....what´s that spell ?...Clarence
´Big Man´ Clemons on the saxophone....
(...) This is his last chance to get his daughter with something mean....´cause
I got my picture ...on the cover of People magazine.....”
17.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ´Follow That Dream´
´´Thank you, thanks....I wanna thank everybody for coming down to
the show tonight, thank you very much....and uh....I wanna remind you about,
uh, Washington Fair Share....it´s an organization here in your state and
your cities, Seattle and Tacoma, working for you....and uh, they can use some
support and some help...”
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi