
20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Highway Patrolman´
´´Thank you, this is uh....this is a song about, uh....I guess,
family....and uh....and duty....and how sometimes...it´s hard to know
what the right thing to do is with the ones that you love...”
20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´I´m Goin´Down´
´´Oh yeah, this song is....it´s kind of about the rise and
fall of relationships....you know how when you first meet somebody, you know,
you, every place you go, you´re holding hands with ´em and like
you´re kissing ´em all the time....and you know you´ll be
sitting home and you´re going out to the movies, you´ll say ´Honey,
what do you wanna see ?´ and she´ll say ´Oh honey, I don´t
care, anything you wanna see´....and....you know, whatever they wear or
whatever they look like, ´Oh, you look so beautiful tonight´....and
like ´Gee, I don´t know if I wanna go out tonight or stay home ?´
´Well, honey, it don´t matter to me just as long as I´m with
you´....you know, and then about six months later, it´s ´Oh,
I wanna see ´Kramer vs. Kramer´ ´No, I wanna see ´The
Road Warrior´´, you know (chuckles) and ´Do you have to go
out wearing that shirt tonight now ?´....´Why can´t we go
out tonight ?´....and finally it ends up with just kind of one long, cold,
hard stare.....”
20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Glory days´
‘‘Now this is, this is a song....about old times....and how in this
life all things must pass.... but....now, the older you get, the more old times
you’ve got.....and you’re always bumping into somebody that wants
to tell you about it....now....when we used to ride on the bus .... after the
show....I used to get all of the band together....and we’d all sit on
the bus....and see, I had a captive audience.....and like....I’d start
saying .... ´Yeah, guys, you remember the time when we drove in a station
wagon and we met those girls on the way to the show in Detroit and you remember
the....what a great time we had when, when, when.....oh, wake up, wake up, wake
up’.... they’d always be falling asleep on me.....but anyway, I
saw this ´Twilight Zone´ the other night, I was up late.....and
it was about this actor....who, like, he kept remembering what a great time
he had when he was young and he was wishing he could go back and then all of
a sudden.....I get it in a minute .....(plays a bit of ‘Outer Limits’)
.... now, all of sudden he stepped into the Twilight Zone, you see..... and
he went back .....and everybody was treating him real nasty and then he came
back into his own time and he was a lot happier....but I always meet people
who tell me what a great time I had in high school and ‘Didn’t we
have all that fun ?’....like I’ve said, personally....I had a horrible
time in high school.....I hated high school....when fall comes around, I’m
still glad I don’t have to go to high school.....but anyway, I was out
in this bar....the other night and, and......”
20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´My Hometown´
´´Thank you, this is uh....I guess everybody at some point in their
lives....kind of ends up with a....with a love-hate-relationship with the town
they grew up in...where they, where they grew up....it´s uh, I know when
I was....when I was just growing up, I used to fight with that a lot, wanted
to....kind of wanted to separate myself from who I was and where I´d been
and uh....in the end I guess it´s....to admit that you´re a part
of something means you´re responsible for what happens to that, to that
thing....and uh, well, this is our place, this is our town and this is our state,
it´s our country....and I guess we all, we all share the shame and the
glory of the best and the worst of it....”
20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´No Surrender´
´´Thank you, oh (chuckles) yeah....oh, yeah, this is....this is
a song about....I guess....I´ve always considered myself...pretty lucky
because I found something that I like to do when I was real young....something
I dreamed about a whole lot and a lot of my dream came true.... so this is about
trying to find something you can hold on to and holding on to it....and about,
I guess, the....value of a good friendship....this is for Little Steven....”
20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Pink Cadillac´
”Now....as you should know by 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, between the cynics and the sceptics and the true believers, now,
what I wanna know....is how many of you out there tonight think that....if you
should, and I hope this doesn´t happen, if you should die during the show
due to the excitement....how many of you think that you´re gonna die and
go to heaven ? (cheers)....now, how many of you out there think that if you
should pass away during the final moments of tonight´s performance that....due
to cardiac arrest or some other terminal illness, that it´s possible that
you might take the down elevator ? (cheers)....that´s more crowd that
usual....well, now, me personally, I have no fear because I know that I´m
gonna go to heaven....my mother told me so....now, of course I´ll miss
the band but I´ll get used to it....you see, ´cause in the beginning
He created the heavens and the earth and the Lord sat back and said ‘This
is good’.....on the First day, He was hot and He created air-conditioning
and the Lord sat back and said ‘This is good’....on the Second day,
He grew hungry and He created the cheeseburger and the Lord sat back and said
‘This is good’....on the Third day, He grew bored and He created
rock and roll and the Lord sat back and said ‘This is good’.....on
the Fourth day....He created (someone : ´Bruuce !´) thank you for
the compliment but that´s not the way it works, alright....on the Fourth
day, He was gonna take his baby for a ride and He created the pink Cadillac....and
for the rest of those days He just drove on and the Lord sat back and said ´This
is wild’....”
20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, middle of ´Growin´Up´
‘‘Well, there we were....it was a night....just like tonight....there
was real coolness in the air ....it was a long long time ago....I’d just
met Clarence....he was working in the bowling alley, I was working at the gas-station.....we
had a combined bank account of 88 dollars and 50 cents....we had no direction
in our lives ....we had no guidance..... we had no inspiration.... we were lost.....we
needed some hope.....we needed some faith....we needed some close physical relationship
with members of the opposite sex....it was then that Clarence mentioned that
he´d met two girls who had a sense of availability about them....just
the previous night and that he knew where they lived just on the outskirts of
town....so we figured we´d forget about our problems and enjoy ourselves.....we
were basically happy-go-lucky kind of guys ....and we got in Clarence´s
Oldsmobile, we were feeling pretty good and we drove south on Route 9 .....down
through Freehold....down through Lakewood....down through Toms River ...down
deep into the pines....and then the unthinkable happened....we had a flat....we
were on this dark backroad.....we couldn´t decide whether to just roll
the windows up and stay in the car till morning.....or go out and see if we
had a flat....this being the days before I was Clarence´s employer, we
decided that we’d choose to see who´d go check the trunk.....I won
and then I went and checked the trunk....so.....there was nothing in there and
Clarence said that he knew where there was a gas-station .... just ....on.....the
other side...of those woods .... we started walking into the trees....there
was spooky sounds coming from all over the place (cheers)....Clarence, like,
do you believe in ghosts ? we don´t believe in ghosts, we believe in like
Frankenstein and the Wolfman....this is Wolfman territory, I´m telling
you, there´s uh, what about the Jersey Devil ? I´m telling you,
man....I believe in the Jersey Devil....so we got ...got walking....things were
going pretty good....Clarence, not so close, man.....get off my back, don´t
walk so close, it´s bad enough I can´t see where I´m going....you
need a manicure, Clarence, I´m telling you.....you must´ve been
to Flemington Furs lately or something....hi, Clarence.....whoooa!....oh, oh,
Clarence !....oh, Clarence !...hey, Clarence ! ....where are you, buddy ?.....where
are you, pal ? where are you, buddy ? oh, jeez, don´t scare me like that....oh
Jesus....and....then something shot down out of the sky....the clouds pulled
away from the moon.....and over in the clearing.....we saw the answer to our
quest .... first I picked up the mikestand....and we stood there in the moonlight....and
then.....when we touched.....”
20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, middle of ´Backstreets´
´´Until the end....I remember that we swore on it....and I remember
how you promised....and you said that if you got out first, you´d help
me....and if I got out first, I´d help you....and we swore on it....that
it´d be forever....and forever and forever....and it´d last forever
and forever....then you said it was nothing but a promise....how it wasn´t
nothing but a promise ....”
20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Rosalita´
´´Oh, gimme a little volume, Jim....this is for all the kids from
Red Bank out there....
(...) Ladies and gentlemen....we now come to the most exciting part of the show....this
is a chance that I get to introduce my pals and my band members of the E Street
Band....now, first....I would like to introduce....the newest member of the
E Street Band....comes to you from South Jersey....Jim the dancing bear.....don’t
worry, ladies and gentlemen, he’s completely docile....and next, to my
far left .....a man who gave up a scholarship....to Harvard University where
he was working on his PhD in unusual sexual practises to join this tour with
the E Street Band....he´s the educated, he´s the dedicated, he´s
the one, the only member of the band with a full high school diploma, Professor
Roy Bittan.....next, an alumni of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes....from
Long Branch, New Jersey....lovely Miss Patti Scialfa....and then the man that
puts the bass in your face with the thunder from down under, his mother was
a Tallent, his father was a Tallent, Mr.Garry W.Tallent on the bss guitar....on
the drums, we have the author of The Big Beat, the Mighty Max Weinberg....and
next....do we have a next ?....next, a gentleman who´s celebrating....this
week his 15th anniversary as a member of the E Street Band....let´s hear
it from him, folks, and Dan, to show my appreciation, bring out the gifts´
roster...for 15 years of dedicated service, a portable hairdryer....and two
tickets to tonight´s show....and next, we have....a man as sweet as life
itself, he works the entire night without a net.....drumroll, please....the
one, the only Nils Lofgren on the guitar (Nils says ´This is for you and
the E Street Band´ and then does his stunt on a trampoline)....and next,
ladies and gentlemen.... a man, who tonight we´re gonna put his name in
for the nomination to be the next president of the United States....it´s
time there was a Big Man in the White House and there´s just one thing
I wanna know... who’s the man whose cool just grows and grows ? (crowd
: ”Clarence!”)....who’s the man whose loop comes and goes
? (crowd: ”Clarence!”) .....who’s the man who´s the
apple of my eye ? (crowd : ”Clarence !”)....who´s the man
that though he’s the king of the world, he´s just a regular kinda
guy ? (crowd: ”Clarence!”)....who’s the guy who´s everything
that’s near and dear to me ? (crowd: ‘‘Clarence!”)....who’s
owed me a 100 bucks since 1963 ? (crowd: ”Clarence!”)....that´s
right, the Big Man, Clarence Clemons on the saxophone....”
20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Born to Run´
´´I´d like to...just take a second and I´d like to thank
all you guys for coming down tonight.... I´d like to, I know a lot of
you guys been here for more than one night (chuckles) almost everybody (chuckles)...and
if you can when you go home, thank your friends for making this stay here such
a great time for us....this was, uh, every night....and I´d like to thank,
I´d like to thank all the people that run this building, I´ve, I
play a lot of places like this and I wanna tell you that this is, this is really
one of the best run and most beautiful buildings like this in the country....really
is, I´d like to thank these boys down in front here for doing such a good
job....and....well, this is....ready, guys ?....let freedom ring.....”
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi