
19.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ‘Atlantic City’:
”Thanks, hello....I feel so much better (chuckles)....”
19.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ‘Highway Patrolman’:
”Thank you, alright.....(?)....this is uh....this is a song about, uh....I
guess, blood ties..... and uh....and duty.....and what happens when those things....collide....”
19.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ‘Glory Days’:
”You people are very silly out there (chuckles)(cheers)....let’s
get my moves together now....alright....this is a song.....about how all things....must
pass.....here’s a song about how time marches on.....no matter what you
do....it’s how everybody gets older every day....now....some people....get
older quicker than other people....by the time I was about 27, I already felt
like I was about 32....by the time I was 30, I felt like I was about 35.....so
I’m just catching up to myself....now, Clarence, he’s way ahead
of me... but he maintains his youthful beauty (cheers)....anybody out there
old as Clarence ? (cheers)....you, no, you ain’t old as Clarence.....anybody
out there old as me ? (cheers)....oh damn, alright, are you ready Big Man ?....with
age, there comes , uh, what is it ?....foolishness ?....wisdom, wisdom....there
comes, uh....sexual perversity, I think, that’s right (chuckles)(cheers)....I
knew something came with age but I couldn’t think of what it was (chuckles)...alright
but you see.....”
19.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ‘My Hometown’:
”Thanks, this is uh....here’s a song, it’s kinda....about
sharing some of the responso-bility of the place that you live.....and uh....sometimes.....I
know now that when I was a kid that I used to have a real love-hate-relationship
with the place that I grew up.....I felt like I didn’t wanna.....I didn’t
wanna belong there....guess I was afraid of belonging to something....but uh....right
here in your town, there’s uh.....there’s an organization called
Northwest Harvest (cheers).....an uh.....what they do is....is they do something
real simple, they feed people....people that’ve been.....cut out by....some
of the injustices in our social system or by the economic policies....of the
current administration (cheers)...there’s uh.....there’s people
out there that are....they’re just hungry, they need something to eat...and
uh.....the name of the organization is Northwest Harvest...and they can use....if
you got extra food....you got anything that you can give ‘em.....their
number’s gonna be out on the concession stands during the break....and
they’re here in your town trying to make it, uh....more decent place to
live....so....if you get a chance, you should check ‘em out and help ‘em
out....’cause this is your hometown....”
19.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ‘No Surrender’:
”Thanks, oh.....oh, this is, uh....a song I wanna dedicate.....to , uh.....when
I was .....
when I was 16...and I was getting (?) rock and roll records....taking ‘em
home and.... like one of the little....stereos that come in like a little box....trying
to figure out the leads on ‘em.....I was lucky to have, uh, uh.....a good
friend that I met then and is been...I guess one of my very best friends.....for
my life, who’s not here tonight, his name is Little Steven (cheers)...and
uh.....he’s just put out a record called Voice of America.....which....uh,
is really, it’s a really great rock and roll record....and....it´s
called Voice of America by Little Steven if you get a chance.....pick it up,
I....I don’t think you’d be disappointed.....it’s a real important
record....so this is for him.... wherever he may be....”
19.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ‘Growin’Up’:
”Now this is a story.....happened a long long time ago.....in a far away
place way back east....
(.....) Now there I was....I was still in high school....but I was having a
real hard time.....wasn’t doing any good at my studies.....was getting
in trouble all the time.....I just couldn’t, I couldn’t figure out
what I wanted to do with myself, I didn’t know what I wanted to be, where
I was gonna go...so they sent me down to guidance counsellor.... I go down to
guidance counsellor and I sit there on a chair.....he says ‘Mr.Springsteen....
what’s the problem ?’ (cheers).....I said ‘Look.....see, I
don’t have no faith, I don’t have no hope....I don’t know.....I
don’t know what I wanna do with myself....I don’t know what I wanna
be....I don’t know where I wanna go’.....he says ‘That’s....that’s
too big a problem for me, you better go home and talk to your folks’...so
I go home.... I go in the kitchen.....my dad’s sitting at the kitchen
table....I say ‘Dad....I gotta....I´m in real trouble here and I
gotta talk to you for a minute....you see....I don’t know what I wanna
do with myself....I don’t know what I wanna be.....I’m all confused,
I got no faith or nothing, I got no hope or nothing....I just don’t know
what , you know....I don’t know what’s gonna happen here’....and
he said....and he said ‘Get me another beer out of the icebox’ (cheers).....so
I was just about to give up....I was gonna end it all...finish it all off....hitchhiked
down to Asbury Park (cheers)...I snuck in this little bar...went into mens’room
and on the wall.....there was a phone number.....it said ‘Clarence ‘He
who knows all’ Clemons (cheers).....For palm-reading, advice, fortune-telling.....call
this number’....I called the number ....phone rang once.....phone rang
twice....(Clarence : ‘Hello....’) (cheers)....I knew I was on the
lifeline then.....and so he invited me over to his house....went over, knocked
on the door....we kinda sized each other up....decided that we’d make
a good team (cheers)....and we went off to find.... the secret of the world
(cheers)....now, Clarence happened to have.....happened to have a map....to
where this was located.....we got into his Oldsmobile....we started to drive
south....south through the pines....down into the heart of New Jersey (cheers).....
through the swamps....it started snowing, it started raining.....it started
hailing....we had two flats.....we ran out of gas....broke up the carburetor...cracked
an engine block.... but we kept on driving.....but finally....the car died alongside
of this dirtroad....and we got out in the middle of the night.....and Clarence
said he seemed to remember....that what we were looking for might be just....on
the other side...of those.....woods (cheers)....so into the forest we went....it
was scary....there was spooky noises coming from every place (cheers)....we
bumped into this big shade tree ....we could tell it was a shade tree because...it
had its shades on (cheers)....we heard sounds like wolves coming out of the
forest (crowd howls)....big lions (crowd roars).....then we heard like....homicidal
cows (crowd moos)....and....Big Man, there ain’t....there ain’t
no like killer....killer beasts or....no killer squirrels or something in here....nothing
that’s gonna, you sure ? .....you sure it’s safe in here ?.....I
think I hear something....(yells) and there was this big grizzly bear but instead
of trying to come on us and eat us all up....he was kinda acting friendly...and
he said - oh, he gave me a kiss - he said that.... he said that he ran away
from the circus...and that he came out into these woods.... and that he wasn’t
mean , that he was just lonely....and if we’d be friends, he’d,
he’d help us out.... finding the secret of the world....now, I could tell....I
could tell by the way he wore his hat that he was....smarter than the average
bear (cheers)...and so....so we followed him into the forest....and then all
of a sudden, the clouds pulled away from the moon....and there in the clearing....we
found the answer to our quest....and then we stood there in the night.....and
when.....and when....and when we touched.....
19.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ‘I’m a Rocker’:
”As Shakespeare said.....’Is you or is you not a rocker ?’....”
19.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ‘Follow That Dream’:
”I’d like to thank everybody for coming down to the show tonight,
thank you very much....we appreciate it....and uh....I’d like to remind
you just of....those organizations in your city that are working here to make
a better life....for you and for the people that are hurting out there....it’s
the Northwest Harvest....they could use your help, that extra food or donation.....feeding
people that are hungry....that deserve, uh....deserve a better break....and
uh....and the Washington Fair Share , organization that are here.....working
for you to combat the toxic waste problem that you have here and a lotta other
issues (cheers).....that are....citizens’rights....that are important
to everybody who lives here so....”
19.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ‘Twist and Shout’:
”I’m starting to feel good now.....
(.....) I can’t do it.....I can’t go on....I’ve been so ill....I’m
just getting over it....I still feel so weak....well, shake it-a baby....”
19.10.84 Tacoma, WA, intro to ‘Santa Claus Is Coming to Town’:
”Alright now....it’s a little early for this song but....we might
not be seeing you so..... go ahead, Roy....
(....) Ah , here he comes.....ah, yeah.....how sweet it is.....now has everybody
been good ? (cheers).....you don’t have to be good yet, you can be bad
till about November (cheers)....then you gotta be good a little bit.....Big
Man, you been good ?....what about the boys in the band ?...what about the girls
in the band ?....I don’t know.....here we go.....alright, here we go now....”
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi