23.09.85 Denver, CO, intro to ‘Johnny 99’:
”Here’s uh....here´s a song about, uh....going through, uh....what’s
it called, the safety net.....”
23.09.85 Denver, CO, intro to ‘Seeds’:
”We were down....in Texas....on the first part of our American tour....there
down in Houston, you’d see a lot of folks...from up north....out of Pittsburgh....out
of Detroit... out of Youngstown, Gary, Indiana....would all move south....looking
for work....on the oil rigs or in the oil fields....and when they got down there
with their wives and their kids....the price of oil dropped....they were laying
them off, shutting them off..... there’d be no work.....no place to go.....you’d
see ‘em sleeping in tents out on the side of the highway.....or in their
cars at night....being told to just move on.....this is called ‘Seeds’....”
23.09.85 Denver, CO, intro to ‘The River’:
”How you doing out there tonight ? (cheers)....oh.....I wanna take a minute
and say hope we didn’t inconvenience too many of youse.....that were supposed
to come last night.....it’s a lot warmer tonight, right ? (cheers)....(?)
but uh....anyway....this kinda reminds me when...I was living at home with my
folks...and at the time in my life, when I wasn’t getting along too good
with my pop, I used to spend a lot of time..... outside, downtown....in the
summertime it wasn’t too bad....but when it got cold like this....cool
(chuckles)....my dad, he used to.....he used to lock up the frontdoor at night....and
sit in the kitchen with the lights out....smoking a cigarette....waiting to
see what time we were gonna come in.....and at the time.....I had like really
long hair, right, like there down to my shoulders (cheersr)....I was just 17....and
uh....I´d stand out there in that driveway....you know...I’d be
standing there in the cold and I’d look inside....I could just see the
light of his cigarette....I’d be getting my nerve up to go in the house...and
I remember I’d slick my hair back and tuck it....way down inside my collar
so he couldn’t tell how long it was.....he used to hate it....I’d
get my nerve up and I’d....get up on the porch and.....get through the
kitchen and he wouldn’t say nothing....I’d get through the livingroom....my
mom’d be sleeping on the couch..... with the TV on....I’d get....just
about upstairs and I hear from the kitchen.....
’Bruuce’....(crowd ‘Bruuces’)...he’d be calling
my name to come back and sit down with me.....and I’d go back down and
I’d sit there.....and for ten to fifteen minutes sometimes we wouldn’t
say anything to each other....then finally he’d ask me the same question
that he always asked me, he’d say.....’Well, what do you think you’re
doing with yourself ?’......and....the worst part about it was....I didn’t
know how to explain to him....it was like that old song used to say like trying
to tell a stranger about rock and roll (cheers)....but....I didn’t know....what
he was doing with himself either....and uh.... at the time I didn’t understand
what kinda pressures were on his life....what it was like looking for work all
the time....trying to....trying to raise a family, trying to do what you were
supposed to do....and it still not working out for you....and not understanding
why....you feel like you’re failing....and uh....we just came down.....beginning
this stretch of this tour outta Pittsburgh....where....(?) Valley was shutting
all the steel mills down.....was a lot of folks.....everywhere who....kinda
feel like....their country is sailing away from them.....and leaving ‘em
standing on the dock.....and what do you do when your community starts to disappear.....and
your family breaks down.....got no job and no place to turn....you end up living
in the shadow of a dream and that’s what this song is about (cheers)....”
23.09.85 Denver, CO, intro to ‘I’m Goin’Down’:
”This is uh.....this is a song about relationships, this next song, that’s
right....is anybody out there tonight like with a new boyfriend or.....a new
girlfriend ?....the weather gives you an excuse to like snuggle up to them.....anybody
married out there tonight ? (cheers).....(?)....this is how, you know, I’m
speaking from personal experience here (chuckles)....this how you first meet
somebody....you know like every-thing they say is brilliant and they look beautiful
all the time.....and uh.....like you know you can’t keep your hands off
‘em, you’re making love all the time (cheers)..... two or three
times a day.....then like if you’re gonna go out at night to the movies
or something, it’s like, uh.....’Honey, what movie do you wanna
go see?’.....’Oh, honey, I don’t care, whatever you wanna
see’....’I don’t care if we stay home tonight just as long
as I’m with you’ (cheers).....yeah....yeah....and then....you know,
the girls are like...putting perfume on all them other places besides behind
their ears and stuff (cheers)....you know, like you start, you know, taking
like about 20 minutes to a half-hour to shave, you know, make sure you got it.....(chuckles)
but anyway, you know, then you come back about a year later and it’s like,
uh.....’Are we going out tonight or do I have to sit around here and look
at your face all night ?’ (laughter)....’Are you gonna make love
to me tonight or do we have to wait for the full moon again ?’ (laughter)....no
more perfume (?) (chuckles).....oh, damn, I don’t know, why’s that
happen , why does it happen ?....anyway....all kinda ends up, uh.....”
23.09.85 Denver, CO, intro to ‘Glory Days’:
”I’m coming to get you now (cheers)....I’m gonna warm up your
little tootsies.....it’s my business up here....man....alright, here we
go (singalong)....sounds good, Denver.... (?)....Pavarotti, look out out there.....here’s
a song about ....growing old....that’s right....bring it down a little
bit, boys.....I mean...being that today is (cheers).....my b-b-b-b...my b-b-b-b....the
day I was born (cheers).....36 now, man (cheers)...that’s old (chuckles)...anybody
else my age out there ? (cheers)....man....but I feel young tonight (cheers)...I
feel handsome (cheers)....I feel at my sexual peak (cheers)....oh yeah (giggles)...oh
man.....I got some inspiration from the Big Man, he’s 44 (cheers)....
like he always maintains his youthful beauty somehow.....when it’s your
birthday, man, that’s a drag, I mean people coming up to you all day ....
singing Happy Birthday and calling you the birthday boy and....’you’re
looking like the monkey and you are one too’ and all those rhymes.....all
that birthday stuff, man .....anyway....sometimes my back hurts now and I lay
in bed at night, you know and ....I always sleep with my guitar....at first
my wife didn’t like it but she got used to it (cheers)....you gotta take
the whole package (chuckles)....anyway, I feel good and uh .....’cause
anyway in the end.... it ain’t nothing but glory days....are you ready,
band ? ....are you ready, Denverites ? (cheers)....”
23.09.85 Denver, CO, intro to ‘The Promised Land’:
”This is uh...this is uh....no matter how old you get....you gotta keep
searching....for that Promised Land....”
23.09.85 Denver, CO, intro to ‘My Hometown’:
”Thanks.....this is uh....this is uh....(?).....every place we go....it
seems like....whenever you mention the name of that place.....people always
cheer.....I’ll give it a shot.....
Denver (cheers).....what did I tell you ? (chuckles)....that works all the time...and
I been thinking I guess the (?) reason people cheer is ‘cause they’re
proud of where they come from (cheers)...and uh.....I guess I figured from that
if that’s the case....they’d be interested in doing stuff (?).....you
get a better place to live.....like tonight in the audience we have some representatives...from
the Colorado Food Clearing House..... and what that is is that’s a foodbank.....what
a foodbank is is every year....here in America 20 percent of the food that gets
produced....ends up just getting wasted..... or thrown away....meanwhile in
every city and in every state....there’s old folks....whose social security
checks don’t get ‘em through the month.....they got to decide between
buying themselves medicine or food.....these young kids ain’t getting.....right
nutritious kinda food....there’s single mothers raising their kids on
their own, they could use some help...there’s folks that been hit hard
by unemployment....they’ve dropped through the safety net into the bottom....and
uh....with the cutbacks in social spending.....these folks need all the help
that they can get....what a foodbank does is it gets the food that would normally
be wasted....and it gets it out to the agencies that serve the people.....the
Colorado Food Clearing House tonight’s gonna have food that’s gonna
serve....gonna serve Boulder, gonna serve Cheyenne, (?) (cheers)..... Colorado
Springs (cheers)....(?)(cheers)....and uh.....these are the people that are
out there every day making some of these ideas that I’m singing about....real
in people’s lives....and without them, what I’m doing up here tonight
is really just a....just a bunch of words.....they’re the ones (?) little
bit, little bit, just a little bit closer....to whatever Promised Land is....(?)....it’s
a real lonely....lonely country....by helping these folks out.....I think you’ll
make it a little less lonely for everybody.....and you get to make Denver....and
all the Colorado out there.....a fairer place to live for all of its citizens
(cheers)...when you go out into the lobby tonight, you’re gonna see the
phone number for the Colorado Food Clearing House and some numbers for the foodbanks
that are nearest to your town ....those are on a little tearsheet, you can tear
it off and stick it in your pocket and take it home.....or you can write that
number down.....so...you oughta do something about it because in the end this
is your hometown (cheers)....”
23.09.85 Denver, CO, intro to ‘Hungry Heart’:
(after the singalong) ” Very good, you little icemen out there.....”
23.09.85 Denver, CO, intro to ‘I’m on Fire’:
”I always remember....growing up....my folks always....working so hard.....my
mom..... always going down....to the finance company.....borrowing money....for
Christmas.... getting it paid just in time to....borrow money for Easter and
getting it paid back..... just in time to borrow money for our school clothes.....it
never seemed like it bothered her....but I always remember it bothered my dad....and
he’d sit at night at the kitchen table....like something was dying inside
of him.....and I’d watch him till I felt like..... there was something
dying inside of me....and I’d lay up in bed at night thinking that....
if something didn’t happen that I was just gonna.....that someday I was
just gonna.... if something didn’t happen....feeling like I was just.....like
someday I’d just.....like someday I’d just.....like I was just gonna.....just
gonna.....”
23.09.85 Denver, CO, intro to ‘Pink Cadillac’:
”Temptation.....do you know what I’m talking about ? (cheers)....sin.....have
you heard about it ? (cheers)....(?)....because this is a song about temptation.....it’s
about the conflict.....between worldly things and spiritual health.....between
the desires of the flesh and I’m talking about sexual desires (cheers).....and
spiritual ecstasy...now, where did this all begin ?.....well, it began in the
beginning in a place called the Garden of Eden.....I’d like to introduce
one of the world’s foremost scholars.....to come out and help me with
this discussion.....now....the Garden of Eden was originally believed to have
been located in Mesopotamia....somewhere about there.....but the latest theological
studies , and you’re gonna read about this any day, have found that its
actual location was ten miles south of Jersey City, off the New Jersey Turnpike
(cheers).....and that , ladies and gentlemen, is why they call it the Garden
State (cheers)....but now look.....in the Garden of Eden , there were none of
the accoutrements of modern living.....oh no, you couldn’t go home tonight
and jump in with that nice little electric blanket.....get that little ham-and-cheese
sandwich out of the icebox, jump in the sack with your baby and watch David
Letterman (cheers).... oh no !.....you couldn’t go down to the highway
and buy a cheeseburger if you wanted one.....no !....in the Garden of Eden there
was no sin.....there was no sex (boos)....man lived in a state of innocence.....when
it comes to no sex, I prefer the state of guilt that I constantly live in (cheers)....but
now, the Garden of Eden was filled with many wonderous things, there was a Tree
of Knowledge.....of Good and Evil, got everybody in trouble.....there was a
man, Adam and there was a woman, Eve and she looked so fine and when Adam kissed
her, it was the first time that a man had ever kissed a woman (cheers)....she
had legs that were long and soft to the touch and when Adam touched her, it
was the first time that a man had ever touched a woman (cheers)....and then
she touched him.....and it was the first time that a woman had ever touched
a man (cheers)....oh yeah....and then he snuggled up real close to her and he
started to sweet talk her, he said ‘Oh, Evie, I love you so’ (cheers)....and
they went walking out to the green fields.....and they lay down (cheers).....and
when Adam.....well, let’s just say it was the first time for that too
(cheers).....but there was something else in the Garden of Eden on that day,
old Satan came slithering up on his belly and somehow he turned their sweet
love into a betrayal and sent them running down in the darkness below.... but
that’s alright because right here tonight on this backlot, I’ve
got their getaway car (cheers)...and for 99.95 and no money down, don’t
worry if you got bad credit ‘cause it’s good here, we’ll finance,
we’ll take a chance on you, our trust is in you, if you got the nerve
to ride......I’ve got the keys....to the first.....pink....Cadillac (cheers)....”
23.09.85 Denver, CO, intro to ‘This Land Is Your Land’:
”Oh thanks.....yeah......I’d like to just take a minute and uh.....thank
everybody for coming down the show tonight, thank you very much (cheers)....once
again I apologise to you folks that are here that were supposed to be here last
night, I hope we didn’t inconvenience you too much......and uh.....I’d
like to thank you for, uh....spending my birthday with me (chuckles)(cheers)....yeah,
nice birthday party.....I’d like to uh...I’d like to do this next
song for you, this is....I guess about the greatest song .....that’s ever
been written about America.....it’s by Woody Guthrie.....and what´s
so great about it is it , it’s a song that gets right to the heart.....of
the promise of what our country was supposed to be about.....that´s a
promise that.....as we sit here tonight, is eroding for.... many of our fellow
Americans, I don´t know if you talk to.....steelworkers....in Pittsburgh
(?), I don’t know if they believe that this song is true anymore....and
I’m not sure that it is....but I know that it oughta be.....and uh.....I
guess I’d like to do this for you tonight wishing you all.....the longest
life.....and the best of absolutely everything (cheers).....and uh.....reminding
you that with countries, just like with people, it’s easy to let the best
of yourself slip away.....”
23.09.85 Denver, CO, intro to ‘Twist and Shout’:
”Is it getting warmer out there yet ? (cheers).....good because.....we
keep rocking.....till you start dropping there.....
(....) Little bit closer.....little bit closer....now, come a little bit closer.....and
tell me.....am I your kinda man, baby ? (cheers).....am I your kinda man, girl
? (cheers).....the mature type (chuckles).....
(....) Everybody all nice and cozy now ? (cheers).....(?)....get that blood
rising.....”
23.09.85 Denver, CO, intro to ‘Stand on It’:
”We’re gonna miss them Kojak re-runs, you see, we gotta......(?)....oh,
can’t go now, I just got warm, alright .....so you think you’re
tough, huh ? (cheers)....so you think you can take us, huh ? (cheers)....oh
yeah....oh yeah....oh yeah......”
23.09.85 Denver, CO, intro to ‘Traveling Band’:
”Are you ready to testify ?....
(.....) Next stop....Denver tomorrow night......”
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi