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Live 13 Mar 1977 version
Hmmm-hmmm
Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoaaa
Someday
Honey we'll steal away
Somewhere
Call it, just call it
Just call it
Just call my name
Whisper
Whisper
One soft infested summer me and Terry became friends
Trying in vain to breathe the fire we was born in
Catching rides to the outskirts, tying faith between our teeth
Sleeping in that old abandoned beach house, getting wasted in the heat
And hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
With a love so hard and filled with defeat, hey!
Running for our lives at night on them backstreets
Slow dancing in the dark on the beach at Stockton's Wing
Where desperate lovers park we sat with the last of the Duke Street Kings
Huddled in our cars waiting for the bells that ring
In the deep heart of the night that set you loose from everything
To go running on the backstreets, running on the backstreets
We swore we'd live forever
On the backstreets we take it together
Endless juke joints and Valentino drag
Where dancers scraped the tears up off the street dressed down in rags
Running into the darkness, some hurt bad some really dying
At night sometimes it seemed you could hear that whole damn city crying
Blame it on the lies that killed us, on the truth that ran us down
You can blame it all on, it don't matter to me now
When the breakdown hit at midnight there was nothing left to say
I hated him and I hated you when you went away
You said you'd stop it!
You lied!
Laying here in the dark, you're like an angel on my chest
Just another tramp of hearts crying tears of faithlessness
Remember all the movies, Terry, we'd go see
Trying to learn how to walk like the heroes we thought we had to be
And after all this time to find we're just like all the rest
Stranded in the park and forced to confess
To hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Well we swore forever friends
On the backstreets until the end
Till the end
Just me and you baby
It's me and you girl
Hiding, hiding, hiding, hiding
I remember we had a plan
We thought we had it all figured out
That we were gonna steal away
And I remember riding back
I remember riding back
Whoa way down
Way down by the railroad tracks
In the backseat
In the backseat
Whoa in the backseat
I remember this guy abandoned, this guy abandoned this car
In this field about about two miles outside of town
And at night we used to hitchhike out there
The outside was pretty stripped down but the inside was still ok
Was about three or four hundred feet off the tracks
And I can remember riding in back
Whoa baby take me riding in back
In the backseat of that old Cadillac
Whoa riding round
Hey riding round
Hey riding round and down and down and down and down
Whoa little girl
Whoa down and down
Yeah running after school
Running after school
Running after school
Running after school and riding back
In the backseat
In the backseat
In the backseat
In the backseat
And I remember you promised
Because I remember that night
I remember that night you promised
And this farmhouse about half a mile down the road these kids set fire to it
And they had these engines out there and they had these machines down there
And the water was shooting about a hundred feet in the air
From where we were sitting in the backseat of that car we could sit there and watch it burning
We could watch it burning
And you promised
You promised that night by the fire
You promised that night by the fire that you was never gonna go anyplace without me
You promised that night by the fire that you was never gonna go anyplace without me
"I swear I'll never go anyplace without you"
I remember you promised
I remember you promised
And we watched it burning
And we watched it burning
And we watched it rushing towards us across the field
We watched the flames rushing towards us across the field
We watched the flames rushing towards us across the field
We watched the flames rushing towards us
And I knew
And I knew that you promised
And I knew
Baby I knew you lied
Yeah baby I knew you lied
Your pretty li-li-li-li-li-li-lies
All your pretty li-li-li-li-li-li-lies
All your pretty li-li-li-li-li-li-lies
I was just feeling so sick
I was just wishing that God
I was just wishing that God
I was just wishing that God would send some angels
And blow this whole goddamn town right in to the sea
I was just wishing he'd would send some angels to blow this whole goddamn town right in to the sea
I was just wishing that God would send some angels to blow us all away
Just blow us all away
Just blow us all away
Just blow this whole town right in to the sea
Just blow us all away
Just blow it all away
Just blow it all away
Just blow it all away!
Because you promised
And because, because you promised
And because you lied!
All your li-li-li-li-li-li-lies
You lied!
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
To go
To go hiding on the backstreets tonight
On the backstreets
Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa
On the backstreets
Whoa-whoa-whoa
Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa
Whoa-whoaaa-whoa
Whoa-whoaaa-whoaaa-whoaaa
Whoaaa, whoaaa
You promised
The above lyrics are for the live 13 Mar 1977 performance of BACKSTREETS at Towson State University in Towson, MD, during what is known as The Lawsuit Tour. The show was held in the university's Towson Center.
The line "I was just wishing that God would send some angels and blow this whole goddamn town right in to the sea" was later adapted in THE FAST SONG ("I wish God's angels would tear this town down and blow it into the sea").
Despite the marvelous reception received by both Born To Run and the tour which followed, the relationship between Bruce Springsteen and his now former manager and producer Mike Appel was deteriorating. In July 1976 the storm broke; Mike Appel wrote to Springsteen saying that he would not allow Jon Landau (Springsteen's friend and co-producer of Born To Run) to produce the next album, citing a particular paragraph from their original agreement. Springsteen replied on 27 Jul 1976 by firing manager Mike Appel and suing him and his management company Laurel Canyon Ltd. in Federal Court in Manhattan, claiming fraud, breach of trust, and undue influence. Appel counter-sued on 29 Jul 1976 in New York State Supreme Court, asking the court to prohibit Springsteen and Jon Landau from working together in studio. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band were slated to enter the studio that year for the recording of a new album, except that on 15 Sep 1976 the judge in the lawsuits case ruled that Springsteen was enjoined from any further recording with Columbia Records until Appel's suit was resolved. This would drag for about a year. Meanwhile, Springsteen continued gigging, and in the process broke his self-imposed rule of not playing the larger arenas. This was basically because he was not able to put a record out, and it was the only way his fans would be able to hear him at all. The tour became known as "The Lawsuit Tour" (62 know dates, August 1976 to March 1977).
List of available versions of BACKSTREETS on this website:
BACKSTREETS [Album version]