Bruce Springsteen
TRACKS

  MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS
Mary Queen of Arkansas, it's not too early for dreamin'
The sky is grown with cloud seed sown and a bastard's love can be redeeming
Mary, my queen, your soft hulk is reviving
No, you're not too late to desecrate, the servants are just rising
Well I'm just a lonely acrobat, the live wire is my trade
I've been a shine boy for your acid brat and a wharf rat of your state
Mary, my queen, your blows for freedom are missing
You're not man enough for me to hate or woman enough for kissing

The big top is for dreamers, we can take the circus all the way to the border
And the gallows wait for martyrs whose papers are in order
But I was not born to live to die and you were not born for queenin'
It's not too late to infiltrate, the servants are just leavin'

Mary queen of Arkansas, your white skin is deceivin'
You wake and wait to lie in bait and you almost got me believin'
But on your bed Mary I can see the shadow of a noose
I don't understand how you can hold me so tight and love me so damn loose

But I know a place where we can go Mary
Where I can get a good job and start all over again clean
I got contacts deep in Mexico where the servants have been seen

  IT'S HARD TO BE A SAINT IN THE CITY
I had skin like leather and the diamond-hard look of a cobra
I was born blue and weathered but I burst just like a supernova
I could walk like Brando right into the sun
Then dance just like a Casanova
With my blackjack and jacket and hair slicked sweet
Silver star studs on my duds like a Harley in heat
When I strut down the street I could hear its heartbeat
The sisters fell back and said "Don't that man look pretty"
The cripple on the corner cried out "Nickels for your pity"
Them gasoline boys downtown sure talk gritty
It's so hard to be a saint in the city

I was the king of the alley, mama, I could talk some trash
I was the prince of the paupers crowned downtown at the beggar's bash
I was the pimp's main prophet I kept everything cool
Just a backstreet gambler with the luck to lose
And when the heat came down it was left on the ground
The devil appeared like Jesus through the steam in the street
Showin' me a hand I knew even the cops couldn't beat
I felt his hot breath on my neck as I dove into the heat
It's so hard to be a saint when you're just a boy out on the street

And the sages of the subway sit just like the living dead
As the tracks clack out the rhythm their eyes fixed straight ahead
They ride the line of balance and hold on by just a thread
But it's too hot in these tunnels you can get hit up by the heat
You get up to get out at your next stop but they push you back down in your seat
Your heart starts beatin' faster as you struggle to your feet
Then you're outa that hole and back up on the street

And them South Side sisters sure look pretty
The cripple on the corner cries out "Nickels for your pity"
And them downtown boys sure talk gritty
It's so hard to be a saint in the city

  GROWIN' UP
I stood stone-like at midnight suspended in my masquerade
I combed my hair till it was just right and commanded the night brigade
I was open to pain and crossed by the rain and I walked on a crooked crutch
I strolled all alone through a fallout zone and came out with my soul untouched
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said "Sit down" I stood up.
Ooh-ooh growin' up

The flag of piracy flew from my mast, my sails were set wing to wing
I had a jukebox graduate for first mate, she couldn't sail but she sure could sing,
I pushed B-52 and bombed `em with the blues with my gear set stubborn on standing
I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school, never once gave thought to landing,
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said "Come down" I threw up
Ooh-ooh growin' up

I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere and you know it's really hard to hold your breath.
I swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared, I was the cosmic kid in full costume dress
Well, my feet they finally took root in the earth but I got me a nice little place in the stars
And I swear I found the key to the universe in the engine of an old parked car
I hid in the mother breast of the crowd but when they said "Pull down" I pulled up
Ooh-ooh growin' up. Ooh-ooh growin' up

  DOES THIS BUS STOP AT 82nd STREET
Hey bus driver keep the change, bless your children, give them names,
don't trust men who walk with canes
drink this and you'll grow wings on your feet
Broadway Mary, Joan Fontaine, advertiser on a downtown train
Christmas crier bustin' cane, he's in love again.

Where dock worker's dreams mix with panther's schemes to someday own the rodeo
Tainted women in Vistavision perform for out-of-state kids at the late show.

Wizard imps and sweat sock pimps, interstellar mongrel nymphs
Rex said that lady left him limp. Love's like that (sure it is).
Queen of diamonds, ace of spades, newly discovered lovers of the everglades
They take out a full page ad in the trades to announce their arrival
And Mary Lou she found out how to cope, she rides to heaven on a gyroscope
The Daily News asks her for the dope
She says "Man, the dope's that there's still hope".

Senorita, Spanish rose, wipes her eyes and blows her nose
Uptown in Harlem she throw a rose to some lucky, young matador

  BISHOP DANCED
Bishop danced with a thumbscrew woman
Did a double-quick back flip and slid across the floor
The Catholic traffic flowed freely 'cross the river
And fiddlestick fiddled quick out the front door
Oh baby dumpling, mama's in the back tree
If the bow breaks mama might fall
Little sad and only, baby don't be lonely
Mama knows 'rithmatic, knows how to take a fall
Mama knows 'rithmatic, knows how to take a fall

CHORUS
And the kids are crying "Flapjacks, make'em fat, early in the mornin'
Little Jack, grab your hat, hear the breakfast call
Muskrat, bat a cat, kick him in the fireplace
There's someone in the kitchen blowing "Dinah" on their horn
There's someone in the kitchen blowing "Dinah" like they're born

Well maverick daddy got one-eyed bridge
She glides like a monkey-mule kicking on the back slide
Over hill, over hill, daddy don't you spill now
Papa got a switch stick, he's pumping little Bill
Papa got a switch stick, he's pumping little Bill
And Billy, he's crying "Tomahawk, tomahawk, daddy better duck now"
The Mohawks, the Mohawks, they're still out there in the woods
Monatuk, Ocanuk, runnin' through my dreams now
With fire on their fingertips and indian screams
With fire on their fingertips and feathers made of moonbeams

Well early in the morning the cannoneer cried
"I seen the sailor's warning in the western sky"
Well mountain man, if you can, cut me down a fir tree
Branches full of candlesticks for baby and me
And my darling cried, she said "Honey, the weathervane
lately it's been pointing the way to heaven
Scatterbrains, scatterbrains, watch out where you fall
Champagne, champagne, a round for all the old choir boys
They're busting off the altar chasing Dinah through the hall
They're bustin' off the altar chasing Dinah through the hall

CHORUS

  SANTA ANA
From the tin rooftop the little boy did watch
The procession down through town
Through the museum where Daniel whupped the Devil
With them boys from the underground
Where the Giants of Science fight for tight control
Over the wildlands of New Mexico
Sam Houston's ghost's in Texas fighting for his soul
And the townsfolk rest uneasy beneath the guns of Kid Colt
And the kid says: "Hey, where's Santa Ana
He who could romance the dumb into talking
Take a chance with me tonight, my contessa,
If it don't work out I ain't lame, I can walk"
Now some folks think cancer's taken to the streets of this town
But Sandy eats her candy and then lays her money down
Them cats are in from the canyons to strut their stuff in town
But there's only secret sinners here
Lord, there's only secret thieves
Only a fool would try to save
What the desert chose to leave
And hey there se¤orita,
With your playboys in their Spanish bandanas
French cream won't soften those boots, baby
French kisses will not break your heart

Oh painted night set free with light
Glows outside the Rainbow Saloon
Matching braces with a Spanish lady
'Neath a graduation moon
No more colleges, no more coronations
Some punk's idea of a teenage nation
Has forced Santa Ana to change his station
From soldier to cartoon
And the Giants of Science spend their days and nights
Not with wives, not with lovers, but searchin' for the lights
They spotted in the desert on their helicopter flights
Just to be lost in the dust and the night
Hey my Contessa, in your juke joint rags you always bring candy for the kids
Come waltz with me tonight se¤orita
'Cause only fools are alone on a night like this

  SEASIDE BAR SONG
Well Billy bought a Chevy '40 coupe deluxe
Chrome wheels, stick shift, give her gas, pop the clutch
Girls on the corner like a diamond they shine
Someday Billy I'm gonna make 'em all mine
Hey girl, you wanna ride in Daddy's Cadillac?
'Cause I love the way your long hair falls down your back
Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley's at the Seaside Bar
We'll run barefoot in the sand, listen to his guitar
You say your mama's gonna meet you when the morning comes
And your papa's gonna beat you 'cause he knows you're out on the run
I'm gonna live a life of love and tonight you're the one
The highway is alive tonight so baby do not be frightened
There's something about a pretty girl on a sweet summer night
That gets this boy excited
The radio man finally understands and plays you something you can move to
You lay back, cut loose your drive power
Your girl leans over and says, "Daddy, can you turn that radio up any louder?"
The juke joint's hummin', everybody came down
Little Willie and his Soul Brooms laying all this stuff now
Well don't let that daylight steal your soul
Get in your wheels and roll, roll, roll, roll, rol, roll, roll
Oh that's all right now
Oh go on, go on, go on
Oh mama's gonna meet you when the morning comes
And your daddy's gonna beat you 'cause he knows you're out on the run
But I don't care, I wanna live a live of love while the night's still young

  ZERO AND BLIND TERRY
The Skulls met the Pythons
Down at the First Street station
Alliances have been made in alleyways
All across the nation
These boys live off the milk of a silver jet
And the love of sweet young women
Now the Pythons are down from old Englishtown
And they're looking to do some livin'
Well the leader of the Pythons
Is a kid they just call Zero
Now Terry's pop says these kids are some kind of monsters
But Terry says "No, pop, they're just plain heroes"

Zero and Terry they found a love that burnes like wildfire
Now Terry's daddy understood that this Zero was no good
A child, a thief and a liar
Well from out of the darkness that breaks the dawn
Zero rode like twilight
He said "Tonight's the night, Blind Terry, come on"
Terry come on, tonight is the night
Pack your bags, baby

And together they ran like reindeers through the street
Like tomorrow the earth was gonna catch on fire
Now Terry's dad hired some troopers to kill Zero and bring Terry back home
They crawled up in the night
Like firelight

Now snow-white troopers from the council of crime
Rode silver foxes through Terry's field
Oh they met the Pythons down on Route 9 but they refused to yield
The Pythons fought with buzz guns
And the troopers with swords like light
And Zero and Terry they ran away
And the gang fought all through the night

Well now some folks say Zero and Terry got away
Other said they were caught and brought back
But still young pilgrims to this day
Go to that spot way down by the railroad track
Where the Troopers met the Pythons
Old timers cry on a hot August night
If you look hard enough, if you try
You'll catch Zero and Terry and all the Pythons

Oh just hiking them streets of the sky
Just walkin', hiking the streets of the sky
Just hiking the streets of the sky
Hey Zero

  LINDA LET ME BE THE ONE
The midnight boys are outside
Scraping tears up off the street
Standin' guard beneath the window
Where onely Linda sleeps
The leader is a kid named Eddie
Walkin' like an angel in defeat
He trashes her old man's car, slashes Linda's name in the street
And calls out

CHORUS
Linda will you let me be the one
Linda will you let me be the one
Linda will you let me be the one
Linda will you let me be the one

In a room full of contenders
Eddy spars 'til he drops to his bed and surrenders Draped in the scarves
He stole from Linda's bedroom
The night he layed at her feet
When the midnight boys were sranded
Down on Cason Street

CHORUS

In the basement of St Mary's
Eddy hides from the rain
In with the stolen sisters 'til the streets are dry again
Talkin' fast cars and spare parts
Empty homes and hearts
Distant worlds with strange girls
And kneeling with Linda in the dark

CHORUS

  THUNDERCRACK
Her brains they rattle and her bones they shake
Whoah, she's an angel from the Innerlake

Thundercrack, baby's back
This time she'll tell me how she really feels
Bring me down to her lightning shack
You can watch my partner reelin'

CHORUS
She moves up, she moves back
Out on the floor there just is no one cleaner
She does this thing she calls the "Jump back Jack"
She's got the heart of a ballerina

She's straight from the Bronx
Hung off the line
She slips, she slides, she slops, she bops, she bumps, she grinds
Even them dance hall hacks
From the west side of the tracks
Move in close to catch her timin'

COHORUS

She ain't no little girl, she ain't got no curls
Her hair ain't brown, and her eyes ain't either
Round and round and round and round

My heart's wood, she's a carpenter
She's an angel in the night, what she does is alright
Dance with me, partner, dance with me, partner
Dance with me, partner, 'til the dawn

Thundercrack, baby's back
This time she'll tell me how she really feels
Bring me down to her lightning shack
You can watch my partner reelin'
CHORUS

She ain't no little girl, she ain't got no curls
Her hair ain't brown, and her eyes ain't either
Round and round and round and round

My heart's wood, she's a carpenter
She's an angel in the night, what she does is alright
Dance with me, partner, dance with me, partner
Dance with me, partner, all night

  RENDEZVOUS
I had a dream our love would last forever
I had a dream tonight my dream comes true
And if you'll hold me tight
We'll be riders, girl, on the night
Ooh, I want a rendezvous

Haven't I told you, girl, how much I like you
I got a feeling that you like me too
well if you hold me tight
We'll be riders, girl, on the night
Ooh, I want a rendezvous

You deserve so much more than this, girl
Well I'm riding on the power and livin' on the promise in your last kiss
Because I had a dream our love would last forever
I had a dream tonight my dream comes true
And if you'll hold me tight
We'll be riders, girl, on the night
Ooh, ooh, rendezvous
I want a rendezvous
I want a rendezvous

  GIVE THE GIRL A KISS
I ain't lookin' for just excitement
Baby that's just a fact
If you want to get to het heart
You better let her know just where you're at

CHORUS
It ain't written in the sky above
No fortune-teller told me this
You gotta tell her that you love her
Tell her that you need her
And give the girl a great big kiss
Give the girl a great big kiss

Now if you're such a fool you think
It don't matter, baby, what you say
maybe you better tell her how you're feelin'
It ain't gonna happen any other way

CHORUS

Now baby all I wanna do
Is darlin' make sweet love to you

Now I don't know what the meanin' is
Why you wanna hide the things you feel and say
But baby it's just a natural fact
Love was never meant to be that way

CHORUS

Now baby all I wanna do
Is darlin' make sweet love to you

  ICEMAN
Sleepy town ain't got the guts to budge
Baby, this emptiness has already been judged
I wanna go out tonight, I wanna find out what I got

You're a strange part of me, you're a preacher's girl
And I don't want no piece of this mechanical world
Got my arms open wide and my blood is running hot

We'll take the midnight road right to the devil's door
And even the white angels of Eden with their flamin' swords
Won't be able to stop us from hitting town in this dirty old Ford

Well it don't take no nerve when you got nothing to guard
I got tombstones in my eyes and I'm running real hard
My baby was a lover and the world just blew her away

Once they tried to steal my heart, beat it right outta my head
But baby they didn't know that I was born dead
I am the iceman, fighting for the right to live
I say better than the glory roads of heaven better off riding
Hellbound in the dirt, better than the bright lines of the freeway
Better than the shadows of your daddy's church
Better than the waiting, baby better off is the search

  BRING ON THE NIGHT
I lie in bed but baby I can't sleep no matter how hard I try
There's something bad, baby, wrong with me whenever I close my eyes
The dreams of Mary keep me awake with every little curve in place
When I walk home in the daybreak I pray come back home, baby, won't you give me
Darlin' bring on the night, oh yeah darlin', bring on the night
Oh now darlin', bring on the night

I walk the street, I'm lookin' for romance
I end up stumblin' in some stupid half-trance
As I watch the lovers mix with circumstance
We watch the disco dancers dance

I look for connection in some new eyes
But for protection they're tranquilized
Forbidding close inspection of who's tellin' who
Forbidding close inspection of who's tellin' who lies

Bring on the night, oh yeah darlin', bring on the night
Oh now darlin', bring on the night

Is it as simple as it seems
I don't know what I'm doin' here, is it as simple as it seems
Is it as simple as I fear, well if I'm right...

I look for connection in some new eyes
But for protection they're tranquilized
Forbidding close inspection of who's tellin' who
Forbidding close inspection of who's tellin' who
Baby of who's tellin' who lies

Bring on the night, oh yeah darlin', bring on the night
Oh now darlin', bring on the night, oh now darlin', bring on the night
Come on darlin', bring on the night
Oh now darlin' bring on the night

  SO YOUNG AND IN LOVE
There's flying angels on your fire escape
They lie to your mama for you, try to keep you safe
You're with them fire alley virgins on a midnight vamp
Lost your heart on Main Street to a beautiful tramp
You lost your mind
She's sent from above
You're so young and in love
So young and in love
So young and in love
So young and in love
So young and in love

Rat traps filles with soul crusaders
They're soppin' 'n' boppin' 'n' moppin' with Little Melvin and the Invaders
Missy's on the dance floor doin' her stuff
Leroy's dancin' doin' the continental strut
Sent from above
So young and in love
So young and in love
So young and in love
So young and in love

Everybody's reelin' when the band hits the ceilin'
Don't you know you wanna go
The kids start rockin' when the boys start knockin'
And everybody wants to go
Let's go!

Joint's shut down but you don't wanna go home
You're in the shady side of town and you're all alone
Papa's chewin' your ear off 'bout hangin' out with trash
So fine, sent from above
So young and in love
So young and in love
So young and in love
So young and in love

  HEARTS OF STONE
You stare in the mirror at the lines in your face
And you try to see, girl
The way things were when we were at your place
In the days it was just you and me, girl
And you cry because things ain't like before
Well don't you know they can't be that way anymore
But don't worry baby

CHORUS

I can't talk now, I'm not alone
So put your ear close to the phone
'Cause this is the last dance
This is the last chance for hearts of stone

If there was something, baby, that I could do
Something that would last, honey, I would
But we all know, girl, especially you do
How you can't return to your past, no
So girl close your eyes and I'll be there
Hold me once more and we can go anywhere
Ah, we could

CHORUS

And you cry because things ain't like before
Well don't you know they can't be like that anymore
Well I know it, baby

  DON'T LOOK BACK
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