
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Adam Raised a Cain´
´´Thank you very much....alright, before we continue....a few ground-rules
(chuckles).... one is, uh....all kidding aside and all, a lot of this music
tonight was written, part of the composition of it is the silence in-between
the spaces so I really need your help in, uh, keeping the quiet during the songs....so
if you know the lyrics, I´m flattered (?) you wanna sing along, that´s
what you´re paying me for, alright ?....clapping along (?), you´re
an embarrassment for all and....and uh....during the course of the tune, uh,
uh, I really don´t need encouragement to, to know if I´m doing well
or poor, alright, so....so, that said, uh, that´s really important, it´s
the only way I´m gonna be able to give you my best tonight and uh.....otherwise
I´ll have to come down there.....start slapping people around....it´ll
ruin my ´good guy´-image....so, alright....”
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Straight Time´
´´(?)....this is a song, uh....it´s a song about a fella that,
he gets out of prison and is in....in the process of trying to....integrate
himself back into the world....and uh....what if the thing that you did best,
one thing you do well was something that would kill you....this is called ´Straight
Time´....”
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Highway 29´
´´Like I said last night, if I was gonna fuck up, I wanted to do
it in front of friends.....uh, this is a song, I guess about....learning about
yourself a little too late....this is called ´Highway 29´....”
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Murder Incorporated´
´´This is a song I guess that we´ve, uh....we´ve decided,
I guess, that some Americans are expendable and that their lives and their dreams
are simply the price of doing business....”
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Point Blank´
´´(someone yells ´I love you !´) I´m sure you´re
very nice too.....this is uh....this is something from ´The River´-album....I´ll
do it for my buddy....”
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´If I Should Fall Behind´
´´Thank you, thanks a lot....alright, this is uh....at least three-quarters
of this joint tonight are my relatives....I don´t know how any of you
other suckers got in ! (chuckles).... anyway, but uh....anyway, I´ll do
this for my gal....”
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Born in the U.S.A´
´´This is uh....this is the song that people´ve been telling
me since I recorded it that it was misunderstood....and uh, I don´t know
if that´s true or not, I´m not sure....I was thinking (?)...a lot
more people....had this record than any of my other ones....so I figured ´Ok,
so that means....that....records where I´m misunderstood´....you
know, you know where I´m going with this ?....and uh, I´m laying
in bed the other night and this was going through my head....this was the kind
of things I think about....(?) but uh, I don´t know, anyway, the songwriter
always has the chance to re-write the book and it´s, and if that´s
true that people misunderstood this song and got this record, my mother thanks
you and my father thanks you (chuckles)....but uh....see if I´ll get it
right this time....”
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Dry Lightning´
´´This is a song that I was telling the folks last night....that´s
kind of about getting it wrong in a relationship....I was saying I had it, I
got it wrong for about 35 years and....was the same relationship with different
women all the time....well, not all the time....”
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Spare Parts´
´´(a woman yells : ´Turn on the lights !´) It´s
a theater, honey, it´s supposed to be dark....”
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Youngstown´
"There´s a book that I, I bought in mid-80´s, it´s a
book called Journey to Nowhere and uh....(?) text by a fellow named Dale Maharidge
and there were photos by a fellow named Michael Williamson ...and uh....I bought
the book years ago and I stuck it away and for some reason as I was almost finished
with this record, I , I pulled it out....and basically these two, these two
guys, they (?) on the trains and they rode across the country chronicling what
....what was happening to....a whole segment of ....segment of Americans in
the course of the 1980´s, people getting squeezed out of their jobs, people
that could ....that were once.... hanging on to a middle-class status, slipping
down....people that were doing worse than that, ending up at the....ending up
on the road heading south, trying to find work down in Texas... this is uh...
(?) I think it´s out of print at the moment, trying to get it back in
print and I hope it will be back in print soon, it´s a book called Journey
to Nowhere and it´s very, very...it´s just, it´s very, very
real....so this is a song that I, I read, read the book and this song was inspired
by ....by that book....this is called Youngstown ....."
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Sinaloa Cowboys´
´´These, uh....these next series of songs are set....set on the
California-Mexico border (?) and uh....this first thing is uh....in the, uh....in
the, uh, in the 60´s in Southern California, uh....the metamphetamine
trade was basically handled by outlawed biker gangs and in the 70´s, Mexican
drug gangs took over....and uh, they´d come up north and they´d
hire migrant workers to.....cook metamphetamine in.....in these labs....and,
uh, this is a story about.....two brothers, very, very, very dangerous, flammable,
a very, very dangerous thing to do....this is a story about two brothers coming
(?)....”
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´The Line´
´´Here´s, uh.....next song about a border patrolman, uh, working
out at the, uh....out at the San Diego station....and uh, I guess what you get
is a lot of fellows get discharged from the army out there and they start, they
go to work for the INS....and uh....it´s a tough job, a confusing job....”
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Balboa Park´
´´(?)...this next song is a song called ´Balboa Park´,
there´s uh....little border kids coming ....come scooting across the river
and....they end up on this strip in San Diego, kids 13, 14 years old, where
they end up, uh, they end up selling themselves (?)....this is a song about
a park where....they´re doing it.....”
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Across the Border´
´´Thanks, this, uh....this next song....it´s sort of, uh....about
the mystery of human nature and how....how people just keep going.....almost
no matter, well, no matter what happens, they keep going....and uh....I remember
I was in my 20´s and.....and uh....the first time I saw this John Ford
picture ´Grapes of Wrath´....and.....I was about, I guess I was
around 26....and it had a deep, deep, deep effect on me, very deep....and uh....previous
to that, I don´t know if I´d....I wasn´t familiar with the
book, you know, I didn´t grow up in a house where there was a lot of books
or a lot of, lot of culture or people who´d steer you in that particular
direction so this was a real, it was a big experience....and uh....I, I don´t
know if you´ve seen the picture, if not it´s something that´s,
it´s worth seeing, there´s a scene with Henry Fonda at the end.....where
he, uh....he´s talking to his mama....and he has to leave and he says
´(?) and I´ll be all around you in the dark´ and she loses
her son and the last scene....they´re driving off in a truck and she´s
just saying ´Well, we need to keep going ´cause that´s what
we do....we just keep going´.... ”
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´This Hard Land´ (after ´Does
This Bus Stop at 82nd Street ?)
´´Well, that´s the, uh, that´s the song that explains
why I never did any hallucogenics (chuckles) it was already there, it was already
there for some reason....Oh, gonna do this tonight....for my good buddy Little
Steven....”
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Streets of Philadelphia´
´´Oh, I´m gonna give this a shot, I don´t know what´s
gonna happen....oh....I guess this was a song, there was a lot of things....that,
uh....that I, I´d kind of stopped writing about for about ten years for
some reason (chuckles)....and uh....and this was a song that....for which I
have to thank Jonathan Demme because, uh, he kind of got me back into it and
I don´t know if....I´d written this one, everything else would´ve
come pouring out now.... so I´m gonna give this a shot and we´ll
see how we do.....”
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Galveston Bay´
´´Yeah, uh, I knew there was a reason I did that song with a band.....hey,
I told you about fucking clapping....alright, this is uh....this is a song that,
uh.....it was based on actual events that happened in Texas in the mid-80´s,
uh, at the end of the Vietnam War, there was a lot of....let me, let me preface
this by saying that there´s always, particularly during an election year,
there´s always, uh, somebody out there trying to scapegoat somebody else
for what they perceive is right or wrong with the country and it´s always
somebody whose....skin is a little diffent color than theirs or who speaks a
little differently or who´s from some different place and you´ll
hear all these, you know, ´America for Americans´-statements and....and
you know, like we all, you know, were, were, uh, were here in the first place....so
I guess, um.... this is a song, at the end of the Vietnam War, a lot of the
Vietnamese refugees ended up down in Texas because....there was, there are parts
of it that was very similar to their home .....and they went into the shrimping
business and there was a lot of tension between the Texas Gulf fishermen and,
and the Vietnamese refugees and this is a song called, uh.... ´Galveston
Bay´....”
22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´My Best Was Never Good Enough´
´´Thank you....first of all I wanted to, uh....I wanna thank you
for being such a great audience, really, uh....(?)....but uh, really, uh, a
show like this is really, really, really co-operative effort between the audience
and, and the guy on stage and I can´t get it by myself and you really
gave me the room and the freedom that I needed to do it and I really wanna say
thank you, I appreciate it....so....(?)(chuckles)....anyway, this is uh....
(?) this is a song originally was, uh....I read a novel called ´The Killer
in Me´ by a fellow named Jim Thompson, a real good writer, the books are
a lot of fun (?) a Los Angeles writer who wrote a lot of....sort of noir, in
the vein something like James (?) and uh, he had this character, he was the
sheriff who went around and sort of spoke in cliches all the time and he was
like a real smart sort of a, a sinister character and he slowly killed off all
his enemies around town but he was always ´(?) Have a nice day´....(?)....so
I said ´I like that idea....the killing off all your enemies part´
(chuckles) and uh....(?)....”
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi