Bruce Springsteen
The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story

CD 1 - The Promise - Thrill Hill Vault - Houston ’78 Bootleg: House Cut

  SAVE MY LOVE (Holmdel, NJ 76)
Now there's something coming through the air that softly reminds me
Tonight I'll park out on the hill and wait until they find me
You slip in through the ether, a voice is coming through
So keep me in your heart tonight and I'll save my love for you

So turn up your radio and darling dial me in close
We're riding on the airwaves and we're travelling coast to coast
Over river and highway your voice comes clear and true
And though we're far apart, tonight I'll save my love for you

Hold me in your arms and our doubts won't break us
If we open up our hearts, love won't forsake us
Just let the music take us and carry us home

There's a prayer coming through the air and it's shot straight through my heart
It's tearing open the evening sky and it's tearing me apart
Now I'll ride that signal down the line till I'm home again with you
So turn up the radio and I'll save my love for you
Turn up the radio and I'll save my love for you

  CANDY'S BOY (Holmdel, NJ 76)
In Candy's room there are pictures of her saviour on the wall
But to get to Candy's room, you got to walk the darkness of Candy's hall
Strangers from the city call my baby's number, and they bring Candy toys
But when I come knockin', she smiles pretty, she knows tonight I'm gonna be Candy's boy

Well in the olden days when the Mongolian gangs rode herd out on route nine
We go ridin' in the rain, runnin' south, way down through the pines
Weekends in the sun in that cheap motel down by the Dynamo
We loved each other till their was nothing left, and drove that old car as hard and fast as she would go

Well I got a cold winter wind blowin' behind me and you
But Candy's got a man who takes care of her better than I do
Alright

Well there's machine and fire, waitin' for us on the edge of town*
And there's some boys for hire, and there waitin' to blow me and Candy down
That's all right cause they can't touch us now baby you'll see
Cause you know I
But I know her name, and I will forever be Candy's boy...
Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm ever, forever be Candy's boy
Alright

  SOMETHING IN THE NIGHT (Red Bank, 1976)
I'm riding down Kingsley,
figuring I'll get a drink
Turn the radio up loud,
so I don't have to think,
I take her to the floor,
looking for a moment when the world seems right,
And I tear into the guts,
of something in the night.

You're born with nothing,
and better off that way,
Soon as you've got something they send
someone to try and take it away,
You can ride this road 'till dawn,
without another human being in sight,
Just kids wasted on
something in the night.

Nothing is forgotten or forgiven,
when it's your last time around,
I got stuff running around 'round my head
That I just can't live down

When we found the things we loved,
They were crushed and dying in the dirt.
We tried to pick up the pieces,
And get away without getting hurt,
But they caught us at the state line,
And burned our cars in one last fight,
And left us running burned and blind,
Chasing something in the night

  DON'T LOOK BACK (NYC 78)
Cold rain running down the front of my shirt
I'm flat on my back wheels in the dirt
Angel makes her face up out on Baker Street
She's straddling the shifter in my front seat
There's nothing to lose, it's a heartbreak
The deck's stacked
So put your foot to the floor and darling don't look back

We're making night tracks through the blazing rain
Blowin' pistons, workin' the fast lane
Red line burnin', pocket's full of cash
Angel writes her name in lipstick on my dash
There's nothing to lose
It's a bad break but baby we're backed
Tonight we'll blow off the doors and honey we won't look back
We held it in our hearts in the pourin' rain
We made it through the heart of a hurricane
We tore it apart and put it together again

Well angel, won't you believe in love for me
C'mon and meet me tonight, darling, out in the street
We'll move with the city in the dark
You got to walk, it talk, it in your heart
There's nothin' to lose it's a heartache
The deck's stacked
So put your foot to the floor, darling
Tonight we'll blow off the doors, baby
We're gonna even the score
And honey we won't look back

  AIN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU (NYC 78)
You don't like the way, like the way I walk
You don't like, like the way I talk
You don't like, the things I do at night
You complain, say that I'm not right

You complain, about the way I dress
You complain, say my hair's a mess
Criticise, all the things I do
No alibi's satisfy

Hey little darling
No matter what I do, it's not good enough for you
No matter what I do, it's not good enough for you
No matter what I do it ain't enough for you

  THE PROMISE (NYC 78)
Johnny works in a factory and Billy works downtown
Terry works in a rock and roll band
Lookin' for that million-dollar sound
I got a little job down in Darlington
But some nights I don't go
Some nights I go to the drive-in, or some nights I stay home
I followed that dream just like those guys do up on the screen
And I drive a Challenger down Route 9 through the dead ends and all the bad scenes
And when the promise was broken, I cashed in a few of my dream

Well now I built that Challenger by myself
But I needed money and so I sold it
I lived a secret I should'a kept to myself
But I got drunk one night and I told it
All my life I fought this fight
The fight that no man can never win
Every day it just gets harder to live
This dream I'm believing in
Thunder Road, oh baby you were so right
Thunder Road there's something dyin' on the highway tonight

I won big once and I hit the coast
But somehow I paid the big cost
Inside I felt like I was carryin' the broken spirits
Of all the other ones who lost
When the promise is broken you go on living
But it steals something from down in your soul
Like when the truth is spoken and it don't make no difference
Something in your heart goes cold
I followed that dream through the southwestern flats
That dead ends in two-bit bars
And when the promise was broken I was far away from home
Sleepin' in the back seat of a borrowed car
Thunder Road, for the lost lovers and all the fixed games
Thunder Road, for the tires rushing by in the rain
Thunder Road, Billy and me we'd always say
Thunder Road, we were gonna take it all and throw it all away

  CANDY'S ROOM (DEMO NYC 78)
In Candy's room, there are pictures of her heroes on the wall
But to get to Candy's room, you gotta walk the darkness of Candy's hall
Strangers from the city, call my baby's number and they bring her toys
When I come knocking, she smiles pretty, she knows I wanna be Candy's boy
There's a sadness hidden in that pretty face
A sadness all her own, from which no man can keep Candy safe

We kiss, my heart's rushes to my brain*
The blood rushes in my veins, fire rushes towards the sky**
We go driving, driving deep into the night
I go driving deep into the light, in Candy's eyes

She says, Baby if you wanna be wild
You got a lot to learn, close your eyes
Let them melt, let them fire
Let them burn
Cause in the darkness, there'll be hidden worlds that shine
When I hold Candy close she makes these hidden worlds mine

She has fancy clothes and diamond rings
She has men who give her anything she wants, but they don't see
That what she wants is me
Oh, and I want her so
I'll never let her go, no, no, no
She knows that I'd give
All that I got to give
All that I want, all that I live
To make Candy mine
Tonight

  BADLANDS (PHOENIX 78)
Lights out tonight trouble in the heartland
Got a head-on collision smashin' in my guts man
I'm caught in a crossfire that I don't understand
But there's one thing I know for sure girl I don't give a damn
For the same old played out scenes baby I don't give a damn
For just the in-betweens honey I want the heart I want the soul
I want control right now you better listen to me baby
Talk about a dream, try to make it real
You wake up in the night with a fear so real
You spend your life waiting for a moment that just don't come
Well don't waste your time waiting

Badlands you gotta live it every day
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price you've gotta pay
We'll keep pushin' till it's understood
And these badlands start treating us good

Workin' in the field till you get your back burned
Workin' 'neath the wheels till you get your facts learned
Baby I got my facts learned real good right now
You better get it straight darling
Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king
And a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything
I wanna go out tonight, I wanna find out what I got
Now I believe in the love that you gave me
I believe in the faith that could save me
I believe in the hope and I pray that some day
It may raise me above these

Badlands you gotta live it every day
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price you've gotta pay
Keep pushin' till it's understood
And these badlands start treating us good
Awhoa whoa whoa whoa

Mmmmmmmmm
Mmmmmmmmm
Mmmmmmmmm
Mmmmmmmmm
For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me
I wanna find one place, I wanna spit in the face of these

Badlands you gotta live it every day
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price you've gotta pay
Keep movin' till it's understood
And these badlands start treating us good
Awhoa whoa whoa whoa
Badlands awhoa whoa whoa whoa
Badlands awhoa whoa whoa whoa
Badlands ahwoa whoa whoa whoa
Badlands ahwoa whoa whoa whoa

  THE PROMISED LAND (PHOENIX 78)
On a rattlesnake speedway in the Utah desert
I pick up my money and head back into town
Driving cross the Waynesboro county line
I got the radio on and I'm just killing time
Working all day in my daddy's garage
Driving all night chasing some mirage
Pretty soon little girl I'm gonna take charge

(Chorus)
The dogs on Main Street howl
`cause they understand
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister I ain't a boy, no I'm a man
And I believe in a promised land

I've done my best to live the right way
I get up every morning and go to work each day
But your eyes go blind and your blood runs cold
Sometimes I feel so weak I just want to explode
Explode and tear this whole town apart
Take a knife and cut this pain from my heart
Find somebody itching for something to start

(Chorus)

There's a dark cloud rising from the desert floor
I packed my bags and I'm heading straight into the storm
Gonna be a twister to blow everything down
That ain't got the faith to stand its ground
Blow away the dreams that tear you apart
Blow away the dreams that break your heart
Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted

  PROVE IT ALL NIGHT (PHOENIX 78)
I've been working real hard, trying to get my hands clean
We'll drive that dusty road from Monroe to Angeline
To buy you a gold ring and a pretty dress of blue
Baby just one kiss will get these things for you
A kiss to seal our fate tonight
A kiss to prove it all night

Prove it all night
Girl there's nothing else that we can do
So prove it all night, prove it all night
And girl I'll prove it all night for you

Everybody's got a hunger, a hunger they can't resist
There's so much that you want, you deserve much more than this
But if dreams came true, oh, wouldn't that be nice
But this ain't no dream we're living out through tonight
Girl, you want it, you take it, you pay the price

Prove it all night, prove it all night
Prove it all night, girl, and call the bluff
prove it all night, prove it all night and girl
I prove it all night for your love

Baby, tie your hair back in a long white bow
Meet me in the fields behind the dynamo
You hear the voices telling you not to go
They made their choices and they'll never know
What it means to steal, to cheat, to lie
What it's like to live and die

To prove it all night, prove it all night
Girl there's nothing else that we can do
So prove it all night, prove it all night
And girl I'll prove it all night for you
I'll prove it all night, I'll prove it all night

  BORN TO RUN (PHOENIX 78)
In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on highway 9
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected
And steppin' out over the line
Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young
'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run
Yes girl we were

Wendy let me in, I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims
And strap your hands across my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run till we drop, baby we'll never go back
Will you walk with me out on the wire
'Cause baby I'm just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta know how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
Girl I want to know if love is real
Oh can you show me

Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
The girls comb their hair in rear-view mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you Wendy on the streets tonight
In an everlasting kiss

The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight but there's no place left to hide
Together, Wendy, we can live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday girl I don't know when we're gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us baby we were born to run