SOMETHING IN THE NIGHT

Live 04 Nov 1976 version

Well I'm riding down Kingsley figuring I'll get a drink
And I turn the radio way up loud so I don't have to think
And I take her to the floor looking for a moment when the world seems right
I end up tearing into the guts of something in the night

I picked this chick up hitch-hiking, she hung her head out the window and she screamed
Said she was looking for someplace to go, to die or be redeemed
I said well you can ride 'til dawn, without another human being in sight
But baby everybody's gone looking for something in the night

She said she was born with nothing, said she was maybe better off that way
As soon as you get something, they send somebody to come along and try to take it away
She wants me to push this old car, just together me and her, we could make it clean, we could make it fast, we could make it out of sight
We could surrender to the justice of something in the night

And I know that nothing is forgotten or forgiven, and you only got one time around
This stuff running 'round my head, I can't live with or without
And inside, inside all the big boys and the players, they sit around them tables and mumble about something, something wrong and right
While outside kids like us rumble, babe, over something in the night

And when we found the things we loved, and they were crushed and dying in the dirt
And me and her, we tried to pick up, pick up some of the pieces and get away fast without getting hurt
I should've known, because they caught us at the state line and burned our cars in one, in one last fire fight
And then they sent us running blind in the swamps, chasin' something in the night
Woahhh there's something in the night
Woahhh there's something in, in the night
Woahhh

Info

The above lyrics are for the live 04 Nov 1976 performance of SOMETHING IN THE NIGHT at Palladium in New York City, NY, during what is known as The Lawsuit Tour. This version is similar to the live 30 Oct 1976 version that was used between 29 Oct 1976 and 04 Nov 1976. As it is the case with the live 30 Oct 1976 version, this version's lyrics are different from those of the album version.

Promotional ad for the 1976 six-night stand at Palladium, New York City, NY
(Taken from Brucebase)

Ticket stub for the 04 Nov 1976 show at Palladium, New York City, NY
(Taken from Brucebase)

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).

Available Versions

List of available versions of SOMETHING IN THE NIGHT on this website:

Page last updated: 18 Jan 2016