MY HOMETOWN

Live 30 Sep 1985 version

One, two, one two three four!

I was eight years old running with a dime in my hand
Into the bus stop to pick up a paper for my old man
I'd sit on his lap in that big old Buick and steer as we drove through town
He'd tousle my hair and say son take a good look around
This is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown

In '65 tension was running high at my high school
There was a lot of fights between black and white, there was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a Saturday night, in the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed in a shotgun blast, troubled times had come
To my hometown
To my hometown
To my hometown
To my hometown

Now Main Street's whitewashed windows, vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back
To your hometown
To your hometown
Your hometown
To your hometown

Last night me and Kate we laid in bed talking about getting out
Packing up our bags maybe heading south
I'm thirty-five, we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said son take a good look around
This is your hometown

Info

The above lyrics are for the live 30 Sep 1985 performance of MY HOMETOWN at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, CA, during the Born In The U.S.A. Tour. The song was played in a full-band arrangement. This live 30 Sep 1985 performance of MY HOMETOWN was included on the Live/1975-85 box set in 1986.

The 30 Sep 1985 Show

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band wrapped up the Born In The U.S.A. Tour with a series of four consecutive sold-out concerts at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, CA: 27 Sep, 28 Sep, 30 Sep, and 02 Oct 1985. The 30 Sep 1985 show later became one of the main sources for the Live/1975-85 box set which includes eight recordings from this show. Video clips for two of these songs were released on Springsteen's Video Anthology / 1978-88 home video in 1989. Additionally several pro-shot clips from this show appeared in the BBC documentary Glory Days and in the ABC newsmagazine 20/20 in 1986.

Ticket stub for the 30 Sep 1985 show at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA

Music Video

The music video for MY HOMETOWN is a straightforward video filming of the live 30 Sep 1985 version, directed by Arthur Rosato. It gained substantial MTV airplay in late 1985 and early 1986. The video was later released commercially on Springsteen's Video Anthology / 1978-88 home video and was also included on the Japanese Singles Collection -Greatest Hits- compilation album. It was posted on Bruce Springsteen's VEVO YouTube channel in October 2009.

The Live/1975-85 Box Set

With the Born In The U.S.A. album and tour, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band reached the highest level of rock stardom. Columbia Records was expecting a follow up studio album and tour that would, like it's predecessor, achieve a huge commercial success. Instead, Springsteen released Live/1975-85, an over-three-hours-and-a-half-long live compilation album consisting of 40 tracks recorded at various concerts between 1975 and 1985.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Live/1975-85

The set was produced by Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, and Bruce Springsteen, and hit the stores on 10 Nov 1986. It was released as a box set with either five vinyl records, three cassettes, or three CDs. Live/1975-85 is the first album to be credited to "Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band" instead of "Bruce Springsteen" only.

The highly-anticipated live album generated advance orders of more than 1.5 million copies, making it the largest dollar-volume pre-order in the history of the record business at the time. Record stores around the country found fans waiting in line on Monday morning before opening and one New York store reportedly sold the album right off the back of the delivery truck. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard album chart and also became the first five-record set to reach the top 10 and the first to sell over a million copies. Live/1975-85 is the second-best-selling live album in U.S. history based on RIAA certification. It has been certified by the RIAA for 13 times platinum, trailing only Garth Brooks' Double Live.

Video Anthology Home Video

Video Anthology / 1978-88 is a collection of 18 Bruce Springsteen music videos and concert performances, released on VHS on 31 Jan 1989. The home video was also released on LaserDisc.

Bruce Springsteen -- Video Anthology / 1978-88 (USA VHS cover art)

Bruce Springsteen -- Video Anthology / 1978-88 (USA LaserDisc cover art)

Bruce Springsteen -- Video Anthology / 1978-88 (Japan LaserDisc cover art)

Sonny reissued the video on DVD on 16 Jan 2001. Titled The Complete Video Anthology / 1978-2000, the new expanded release added a second disc with 15 additional music video, concert performances, and television appearances.

Bruce Springsteen -- The Complete Video Anthology / 1978-2000 (DVD cover art)

Japanese Singles Collection -Greatest Hits-

Japanese Singles Collection -Greatest Hits- is a Bruce Springsteen compilation album released by Sony Music Japan in 2023. The compilation, which was exclusively released in Japan, consists of previously released 35 audio tracks and 62 video tracks. The collection is part of a 26-title reissue campaign to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen's debut album. The series, issued in three waves (25 Oct 2023, 22 Nov 2023, and 20 Dec 2023), includes 25 albums originally released between 1973 and 2014 plus a new compilation album that includes all of Springsteen's singles released in Japan from 1975 to 1999. All audio CD's were manufactured using Sony Japan's Blu-spec CD2 format.

Bruce Springsteen -- Japanese Singles Collection -Greatest Hits-

Other Official Releases

The live 30 Sep 1985 version of MY HOMETOWN can also be found on one Bruce Springsteen promo-only sampler.

Bruce Springsteen -- The Future Of Rock'n'Roll / 70's To 80's

2xCD - CBS/Sony (XADP 90009~10) - Japan, 1988

Japan-only promotional 2-CD set sampler compiling 28 tracks from Bruce Springsteen's first nine albums plus two 1988 live B-sides.

The Future Of Rock'n'Roll / 70's To 80's track list

Disc 1: (70's)
01- THUNDER ROAD [Live 18 Oct 1975 (early show) version]
02- BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
03- RACING IN THE STREET
04- KITTY'S BACK
05- BADLANDS
06- GROWIN' UP
07- PROVE IT ALL NIGHT
08- 4TH OF JULY, ASBURY PARK (SANDY)
09- BACKSTREETS [Live 07 Jul 1978 version]
10- FOR YOU
11- TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT
12- THE PROMISED LAND
13- ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) [Live 07 Jul 1978 version]
14- BORN TO RUN

Disc 2: (80's)
01- BORN IN THE U.S.A. [Live 30 Sep 1985 version]
02- BRILLIANT DISGUISE
03- DANCING IN THE DARK
04- CADILLAC RANCH [Live 06 Jul 1981 version]
05- WALK LIKE A MAN
06- WAR [Live 30 Sep 1985 version]
07- JOHNNY 99
08- HUNGRY HEART [Live 28 Dec 1980 version]
09- I WANNA MARRY YOU
10- MY HOMETOWN [Live 30 Sep 1985 version]
11- THE RIVER
12- GLORY DAYS
13- OUT IN THE STREET
14- TOUGHER THAN THE REST [Live 27 Apr 1988 version]
15- SPARE PARTS [Live 09 Jul 1988 version]
16- THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND [Live 29 Dec 1980 version]

Available Versions

List of available versions of MY HOMETOWN on this website:

Page last updated: 07 Oct 2017