29.07.78 St.Petersburg, FL, intro to ‘Oh Boy !’:
”Hey, gimme some lights up here....where’d all you guys come from
?....I was outside and (?) seen nobody out there....gimme some echo on the mike,
it’s the first time that we been to St.Petersburg.....and we got one thing
to say....here we go....”
29.07.78 St.Petersburg, FL, intro to ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’:
”Alright....I got the moves.....thank you (chuckles)....somebody drooled
on my shirt..... (?)...alright.....I don´t know where all you guys come
from, I’m telling you I went outside today.....there were no cars....all
you people must live underground or something , that’s what I figured
out....where do they (?)....we’ve got a new album out now about two months
(cheers)....this is....this is Darkness on the Edge of Town.....”
29.07.78 St.Petersburg, FL, intro to ‘Factory’:
”I grew up, uh......(people shout out requests) yeah, we’re gonna
get to all those songs for you, we’re gonna be playing a long time (cheers)....(?)...but
uh....here’s a song that, uh....I grew up in this small town, about 10,000
people.....and uh....(?) in the 50s and the, uh.....40s , there’d be this
rugmill that my grandfather worked at , my father worked at.....and it finally....went
out of business and put everybody in town out of a job...my father was taking
(?)....he had a lotta different jobs, he was a truck driver for a while.....was
a guard at a jail for a while.....I remember I used to only see him about twice
each day....once was at night , I’d come in real late at night, he’d
be sitting in the dark....in the kitchen, I could see the light of his cigarette
butt (?), six pack of beer....and I just couldn’t.....I couldn’t
really see him, I’d walk by him and go up to my room and then in the morning....around
6 a.m, I had.....my room was over the backyard and my father used to buy these
100 dollar junkers....and 6 a.m every morning he’d be out there popping
the hood, trying to get that thing started and....to get to work.....and I wrote
this song for him ‘cause he did that for a real long time.....”
29.07.78 St.Petersburg, FL, intro to ‘The Promised Land’:
”He was always telling me ‘Be better than me’.....here’s
Promised Land....”
29.07.78 St.Petersburg, FL, intro to ‘Racing in the Street’:
”Got a lot of big roads out there, I didn’t see many cars today
but.....lotta room for racing in the streets....”
29.07.78 St.Petersburg, FL, intro to ‘Sandy’:
”Alright....hey, Davey....we’re gonna play a song , this is the
second time we’ve played it on this tour....how many folks from, uh .....(?)
New Jersey here ? (cheers).... (laughs) ....who’s from Florida ? (cheers)....(?)....(?)
the same people , they follow me around every place....think you’re big
deal, you sell out some place and it´s the same people coming (chuckles).....anyway,
this is for....this for all the folks from back home, this is uh....Fourth of
July Asbury Park....”
29.07.78 St.Petersburg, FL, intro to ‘Around and Around’:
(tunes his guitar)....I have trouble with this every night .....(keeps tuning)
....alright, uh....I don’t know what we’re gonna play now....let’s
play....let’s play Round and Round.....we never played this, I’m
gonna, I’m gonna screw ‘em up now....Round and Round.....from E,
from E, alright.....the joint....yeah, yeah, in E.....alright, here’s
a song we used to do, we were playing at a little bar, uh....in New Jersey called
the Student Prince.....yeah, yeah (?) (giggles)....here we go....”
29.07.78 St.Petersburg, FL, after ‘Around and Around’:
”You can’t play that without five beers....I still remember.....”
29.07.78 St.Petersburg, FL, intro to ‘Growin’Up’:
(strange feedback) Guitar’s on the loose up here.....oh, this next song.....I
remember I auditioned.....with this next song, you know.....and uh....you know,
audition, that’s funny....I was 22....and I had this.....old guitar (?)
and went up to CBS, right.....now, CBS is this big black building in New York
City....and.....and you go up there and it’s funny because....I was there,
I remember I was with my manager....and I was with his lawyer....and I was with
uh.....we went up there, we saw record company...and with all their lawyers.....and
about 10 or 15 minutes into the meeting , I realised that....the only guy who
didn’t have a lawyer was me (chuckles)....so....you know, (?) you get
in an elevator, you go up and when you go up to the audition, you go up to this....floor
X.... it’s above all the other floors because what happens you hit....you
hit like 35th floor and you keep going up and you are going thru the clouds
and you get out, I remember...Clive Davis was sitting there in a long white
robe with little fig-leaves around his head (laughter)....and then you (?) a
few times and (chuckles) .....sign your life away , anyway (chuckles).....this
is called uh...it should’ve been called ‘I Was a Teenage Werewolf’.....Professor,
start it please.....I remember it was about....three in the morning....back
in 19....60....and my father chased me outta the house as usual.... my father
used to sit in the kitchen and I used to get....make it to the kitchen....but....
but I’d never get thru the kitchen without an argument, you know, we’d
always have an argument , no matter what time I came in.....it’d end up
with him chasing me around the kitchen table.....and me running out the screen
door.....(?)....and I never did get to see what the dining-room or livingroom
looked like (chuckles)....but anyway....I was outside, I got chased out of the
house.....went down to the beach.....I was sitting there and I looked up.....and
there was this big bright light in the sky.....and all of a sudden I started
feeling all this hair all over my face.....and my hands got real furry....and
a guitar grew out of my left side (cheers)....and for once....
(….) I remember the next night....I came home....I still had all this
hair all over my face (laughter)....I walked in the kitchen door and there was
my mother and my father sitting at the kitchen table....with their hands folded,
looking real serious, you know .... they said ‘Son, sit down’....so
I sat down.....they didn’t say nothing about the way I looked, right,
said ‘Listen.....me and your father, we decided....that it’s time....that
you do something serious with your life.....you gotta stop fooling around with
this guitar, stop all that....that’s ok for a hobby’, my mother,
she was a secretary, she used to say....’There´s men in my office,
they work at a good job during the week and then they....they play on the weekends....and
make extra.....extra dollars’....said ‘You know, you should’....my
father said ‘Listen....if you’re gonna get any place....you gotta
be a lawyer (laughter).....because lawyers , they own the world, you see’.....and
my mother said I had to be an author.....and they both decided that....the decision
was too big for them to make, you know, they said....my mother, she was Italian....my
father, he’s Irish (cheers)....and so....the thing that was they called
up their priest and they sent me over to the rectory and you’re supposed
to talk with the priest about your vocation, you know, what you wanna do with
yourself....so I said.....’You gotta go over and see Father Ray’,
they said, I said ‘OK’, they said ‘Now, listen....you tell
the priest that you wanna be a lawyer....or you wanna be an author.....but don’t
you tell him nothing about that goddamn guitar’....so I said ‘Ok,
Ok, Ok, Ok’ so over to the rectory I go, knock on the door....Father comes
out....I say ‘Father Ray, I’m Mr.Springsteen’s son , they
sent me over here.....to talk about what I wanna be’....so he comes out.....and
we walk around the rectory.....and all the priests, I can always remember they
always used to have like....grand .....illusions of the Bells of St.Mary .....they
all thought they were Patrick O’Brien or something, you know (laughter)
....he´s trying to be real cool, he’s walking around.....and I talk
to him about it, I say ‘My father, he wants me to be a lawyer and my mother
wants me to be an author but I got this guitar, you know’....and the priest
says ‘Listen.....this is too big a decision for me to make.....what you
gotta do....you gotta find a nice quiet place....you gotta kneel down....you
gotta talk to God about this.....you tell him that you wanna be lawyer....or
you wanna be an author....but don’t you tell him nothing about that goddamn
guitar’ (cheers).....I go ‘Alright, ok, ok’....so I walk home....and
try to figure out where I’m gonna find this God, you know, it’s
like I don’t go to church....you know, I can’t go back there, I
don’t know.....said I know what I’ll do....I’ll go over to
Clarence’s house ‘cause Clarence, he knows everybody (cheers)....so
I go over there, I knock on the door, I say ‘Clarence......I’m in
this fix ....I gotta see God right away (chuckles)..... can’t wait’....he
said ‘Listen...no problem, I know just where he is but you gotta come
back at midnight’....so at midnight I come back to Clarence’s house....and
he takes me out in a car...he takes me way outside of town....and we’re
out there and he (?) pulls over on the side of this dark road....points up on
top of this hill where I can’t see anything, right next to the grave-yard....and
he says ‘You see up on top of that hill ?’ ....I say ‘Hmm’....he
says ‘Well, that....is where you can find God tonight’....I say
‘Are you sure, it’s awful dark up there ?...sure that’s the
right guy ?’...he says ‘That’s the guy’, I say ‘Ok,
ok.’....I get out of the car and say ‘You better be here when I
get back’ (chuckles)(cheers).... so.... up the hill I go, right.....and
let me tell you it is dark.....and it is scary, I’m hearing all these
spooky sounds coming out of the woods (cheers)....so.....at least that bad it
was, I’m telling you....finally I get to the top of the hill....and I
look around....and the place is packed (laughter).....there’s people all
over the place kneeling down.....I look over here and see my producer Jon Landau.....I
say ‘Jon, what are you doing on this hill in the middle of the night ?’....he
said ‘I’m praying to be a cheeseburger’ (laughter).... I said
‘Oh, oh’....said ‘But you’re Jewish’....’It’s
all the same up here’ (laughter)....I said ‘Ok, ok’ so I find
a quiet spot....kneel down....look up...start praying, I said ‘Listen,
God....my father, he wants me to be a lawyer....got that ?....my mother wants
me to be an author....but....they told me not to tell you nothing about this....but
I got this guitar, you see’....and it was real quiet....for a long time.....and
all of a sudden I heard this thunder.....all of a sudden was this lightning....and
this voice came out of the sky....and all it said was just three words....’Let
it rock !’.....”
29.07.78 St.Petersburg, FL, middle of ‘Rosalita’:
”We got a galaxy of stars for you tonight....ladies and gentlemen.....to
the far left of the stage.....the only member of the band....with a full high
school diploma....boy genius.... Professor Roy Bittan (cheers).....Professor,
please (Roy plays some classical music)....and that’s what education’ll
do for you......on the guitar....poet of the soul, master of rock and roll....man
who brought you such hits as.....’I Don’t Wanna Go Home’....’Sweeter
Than Honey’....’Saturday Night Fever’....and many others....
Miami Steve Van Zandt (cheers)....on the bass guitar , Mr.Garry W.Tallent (cheers)....on
the drums....representing everybody from North Jersey.....the Mighty Max (cheers)....on
the organ....Dan Federici (cheers)....and last but not least.....(?) I say his
name ?.... do I have to say his name ?....king of the world.....master of the
universe.....the macho man himself.....Clarence Clemons, the Big Man (cheers)...”
29.07.78 St.Petersburg, FL, intro to ‘Born to Run’;
”Thank you....I wanna thank everybody for coming down here tonight (cheers)....(?)
we never been here before.....and we didn’t expect nothing like this (chuckles)(cheers)
....you guys are unbelievable.....thank you all very much....”
29.07.78 St.Petersburg, FL, middle of ´Backstreets´
´´Hey little girl....it´s good to see you back again.....my,
my, you´re still looking fine.....and I remember you.....baby, I remember
you.....standing on the corner of Richmond Avenue with your hair done all up
high and that (?) look in your eye....and back then I swore....baby, I swore.....that
I would drive all night.....(the source tape is missing a part)....a look from
your sad eyes.....you had such lonely sad eyes.....you had such lonely sad eyes
that they cried till they were all cried out, you let ´em cry till they´re
all cried out, till they´re all cried out....and me, I was your fool....I
thought that maybe I could stop your crying....maybe I could stop your crying.....I
thought that maybe I could stop your crying.....(?)....but I didn´t know....
´cause only you knew....that baby´d been lying.....baby´d
been lying.....baby´d been lying..... little girl´d been lying.....them
things you said, baby, you knew that they were not true.....
them things you said, baby, you knew that they were not true.....them things
you told me, baby, you knew that they were not true.....you were so young....and
you could tell such pretty lies.....you could tell such pretty lies.....you
could tell such pretty lies.....you could tell such pretty lies.....and you
knew I´d believe you.....you had my heart and soul.....you had my heart
and soul.....but now you´re back, well, baby, I´m back too....now
you´re back, well, baby, I´m back too.....I want you to look into
my face, into my face.....you´ve got to stop, stop, stop, stop, stop,
stop, stop, you´ve got to STOP....´´
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi