HIGH HOPES

1995 studio version



One, two!
Whoa!

Monday mornin' runs to Sunday night
A scream slow me down before the new year dies
Won't take much to kill a lovin' smile
And every mother with a baby cryin' in her arms, singin'
Give me help, give me strength
Give a soul a night of fearless sleep
Give me love, give me peace
Don't you know these days you pay for everything
Got high hopes
I got high hopes
I got high hopes
I got high hopes

Yeah comin' from the city, comin' from the wild
I see a breathless army breakin' like a cloud
They're gonna smother love, they're gonna shoot your hopes
Before the meek inherit they'll learn to hate themselves
Give me help, give me strength
Give a soul a night of fearless sleep
Give me love, give me peace
Don't you know these days you pay for everything
Got high hopes
I got high hopes
I got high hopes
Yeah, I got high hopes
Roy!
Got high hopes
Yeah, I got high hopes
I got high hopes
I got high hopes

Yeah so tell me someone now, what's the price
I wanna buy some time and maybe live my life
I wanna have a wife, I wanna have some kids
I wanna look in their eyes and know they'll stand a chance

Give me help, give me strength
Give a soul a night of fearless sleep
Give me love, give me peace
Don't you know these days you pay for everything
High hopes
Got high hopes
I got high hopes
Yeah, I got high hopes
Break!
High hopes
I got high hopes
Yeah, I got high hopes
I got high hopes
Yiiii, (I got) high hopes
Yeah, high hopes
Whoa, high hopes
High hopes
Yeah, well, I got high hopes
Yiiii, got high hopes
Yeah, high hopes
Yeah, (I got) high hopes
Yeah, high hopes
Yeah, I got high hopes
High hopes


Info

The above lyrics are for a Springsteen's studio version of HIGH HOPES recorded in 1995. It was first released on the Blood Brothers promo EP in 1996.


The Recording Sessions

In 1994, Bruce Springsteen recorded an unreleased album with Shane Fontayne and other members of the 1992-1993 touring band. Springsteen's manager Jon Landau wasn't a fan of the project (the 1994 album), and recommended shelving it and focusing more on a "career overview"; this lead to the Greatest Hits sessions with the E Street Band in early 1995.

Springsteen called the band in early January 1995, and they assembled for the recording sessions on 09 Jan 1995 at The Hit Factory in New York City, NY. This was their first studio reunion in 11 years (since the Born In The U.S.A. sessions) and their first ever with Nils Lofgren. HIGH HOPES was among the songs recorded during these sessions. Being a cover, it is not surprising that the song was not included on the Greatest Hits album.

The Blood Brothers Documentary

Producer/director/photographer Ernie Fritz was given complete access to the 1995 studio sessions with the E Street Band, and part of the 23-hour footage was released on the 80-minute documentary Blood Brothers in November 1996.

The video was nominated in 1997 for a "Best Long Form Music Video" Grammy Award. The nomination was shared among video director/producer Ernie Fritz, video producer Lee Rolantz, and video producer Jack Gulick. It lost to The Beatles Anthology.

Blood Brothers premiered in the United States on 03 Mar 1996 on the Disney Channel. It was released on Laserdisc on 01 Oct 1996, VHS on 19 Nov 1996 (the packaging for which included the bonus Blood Brothers EP), and DVD on 16 Jan 2001.

Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers (Laserdisc)
Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers (Laserdisc)
Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers (VHS)
Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers (VHS)
Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers (DVD)
Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers (DVD)

The documentary shows a take of HIGH HOPES being recorded. See the studio snippet for more details.

Official releases

A complete full 1995 recording of HIGH HOPES (different to the ones partially featured in the Blood Brothers video documentary) was released in November 1996 on the Blood Brothers promo EP, a Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band release exclusively available as a bonus with the Blood Brothers video, VHS format only. The EP was issued in North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers

CD EP - Columbia (CSK 8879) - USA, 1996

01- BLOOD BROTHERS [Alternate studio version]
02- HIGH HOPES
03- MURDER INCORPORATED [Live 21 Feb 1995 version]
04- SECRET GARDEN [with strings]
05- WITHOUT YOU
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers

CD EP - Columbia (CDNK 1195) - Canada, 1996

01- BLOOD BROTHERS [Alternate studio version]
02- HIGH HOPES
03- MURDER INCORPORATED [Live 21 Feb 1995 version]
04- SECRET GARDEN [with strings]
05- WITHOUT YOU
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers

CD EP - Columbia (XPCD 2104) - Austria, 1996

Austrian pressing for the European market.

01- BLOOD BROTHERS [Alternate studio version]
02- HIGH HOPES
03- MURDER INCORPORATED [Live 21 Feb 1995 version]
04- SECRET GARDEN [with strings]
05- WITHOUT YOU
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers

CD EP - Columbia (CSK 8879) - Australia, 1996

01- BLOOD BROTHERS [Alternate studio version]
02- HIGH HOPES
03- MURDER INCORPORATED [Live 21 Feb 1995 version]
04- SECRET GARDEN [with strings]
05- WITHOUT YOU
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers

2 x MiniCD EP - Sony (SRVM 1524-5) - Japan, 1996

Disc 1, 01- BLOOD BROTHERS [Alternate studio version]
Disc 1, 02- HIGH HOPES
Disc 1, 03- MURDER INCORPORATED [Live 21 Feb 1995 version]
Disc 2, 01- SECRET GARDEN [with strings]
Disc 2, 02- WITHOUT YOU
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Blood Brothers

12" EP - Columbia (88985484941) - Europe, 2018

Part of the The Album Collection Vol. 2, 1987-1996 box set, but some copies were also sold separately in Europe.

A1- BLOOD BROTHERS [Alternate studio version]
A2- HIGH HOPES
B1- MURDER INCORPORATED [Live 21 Feb 1995 version]
B2- SECRET GARDEN [with strings]
B3- WITHOUT YOU

In 1997 the song was included on three issues of the Secret Garden EP which was released to promote the Jerry Maguire movie soundtrack.

Bruce Springsteen -- Secret Garden
Bruce Springsteen -- Secret Garden

CD EP - Columbia (664236 2) - Australia, 1997

01- SECRET GARDEN
02- MISSING
03- HIGH HOPES
04- THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD
Bruce Springsteen -- Secret Garden
Bruce Springsteen -- Secret Garden

CD EP - Columbia (664236 2) - Austria, 1997

Pressed in Austria for distribution in Europe.

01- SECRET GARDEN
02- MISSING
03- HIGH HOPES
04- THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD
Bruce Springsteen -- Secret Garden
Bruce Springsteen -- Secret Garden

CD EP - Columbia (664324 2) - Austria, 1997

Pressed in Austria for distribution in the UK.

01- SECRET GARDEN
02- MISSING
03- HIGH HOPES
04- THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD

Credits / References

Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake) for the lyrics help. Info for some of the above releases are taken from the Lost In The Flood website.

Request

Please contact me if you have scans or info about any official release containing HIGH HOPES that's not mentioned on this page. You can help by sending additions, corrections, or comments to , or by using the below form.

Available Versions

List of available versions of HIGH HOPES on this website:

HIGH HOPES [Album version]
HIGH HOPES [1995 studio version]
HIGH HOPES [1995 studio snippet]
HIGH HOPES [Live 16 Mar 2013 version]
HIGH HOPES [Live 14 Jan 2014 version]
HIGH HOPES [Original Tim Scott McConnell version]
HIGH HOPES [The Havalinas' version]

Page last updated: 31 Mar 2013