COME ON (LET'S GO TONIGHT)

Official studio version

Put on your black dress baby, and put your hair up right
There's a party way down in Factory Town tonight
I'll be going down there if you need a ride
Come on, come on, let's go tonight

How many men fail, their dreams denied
They walk through these streets with death in their eyes
Now the man on the radio says "Elvis Presley died"
Come on, come on, let's go tonight

Well now some came to witness, now some came to weep
Drawn by death's strange glory, they stood in the street
Drawn together forever in the promise of an endless sleep
Come on, come on, let's go tonight
Baby, come on, come on, let's go tonight
Da da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da

Page last updated: 16 Jul 2011

Intro

COME ON (LET'S GO TONIGHT) is a Bruce Springsteen song that was released in November 2010 on The Promise, an album of previously-unreleased songs from the Darkness On The Edge Of Town recording sessions. The above lyrics are for that officially released studio version of the song.

The song shares the same melody with and some of the lyrics of FACTORY. Some lyrics were also used a few years later in The River track OUT IN THE STREET and in the Born In The USA outtake JOHNNY BYE-BYE.

The Promise

The Promise is a Bruce Springsteen album that was released on 16 Nov 2010 as part of The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story box set, and separately as a 2-CD set. The album was also issued on a limited edition 3-LP set pressed on 180-gram vinyl.

The Promise is a collection of 22 previously-unreleased songs from the Darkness On The Edge Of Town recording sessions. Depending on their level of completion back in 1977-1978, some were only remastered, some were overdubbed with 2010 vocals or music, and some were completely re-recorded in 2010. The album is mixed by Bob Clearmountain.

Notes:

• RACING IN THE STREET ('78) is an alternate take to the version found on the Darkness On The Edge Of Town album.
• THE PROMISE is a different version from the one found on 18 Tracks.
• CANDY'S BOY and COME ON (LET'S GO TONIGHT) are early versions of CANDY'S ROOM and FACTORY.
• BECAUSE THE NIGHT, FIRE, and TALK TO ME are songs that Springsteen donated to other artists.
• BECAUSE THE NIGHT, RENDEZVOUS, and FIRE were previously released by Springsteen in live versions.
• THE WAY is a hidden/bonus track and has been circulating on bootlegs in a slightly different mix.
• GOTTA GET THAT FEELING, SOMEDAY (WE'LL BE TOGETHER), WRONG SIDE OF THE STREET, AIN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU, and CITY OF NIGHT have been circulating on bootlegs in different versions and under different titles.
• OUTSIDE LOOKING IN, ONE WAY STREET, and SPANISH EYES have been circulating on bootlegs in different versions.
• THE BROKENHEARTED is known from the 1978 tour rehearsals.
• SAVE MY LOVE, IT'S A SHAME, THE LITTLE THINGS (MY BABY DOES), and BREAKAWAY are songs that have never circulated or been documented.

Premiere

COME ON (LET'S GO TONIGHT) premiered on 29 Oct 2010 on "Live from the E Street Nation", a program hosted by Dave Marsh and airing on Sirius XM's E Street Radio channel.

Circulating Studio Versions

Prior to the release of The Promise in 2010, one studio take of COME ON (LET'S GO TONIGHT) had been circulating on bootlegs. It was recoded in June 1977 in Atlantic Studios in New York City, NY. See the unofficial studio version for more details. It is an earlier version of the song and features some pretty different lyrics. Bootleggers have used the title LET'S GO TONIGHT.

This official studio version of COME ON (LET'S GO TONIGHT) references the death of Presley, which took place on 16 Aug 1977, and the earliest known version of FACTORY was recorded in August 1977. This means that this official version was recorded just a few days after Presley's passing.

David Lindley plays violin on this version of COME ON (LET'S GO TONIGHT)

David Lindley

David Lindley is a multi-instrumentalist musician who's notably known for his work with Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, and other rock musicians. He is a premiere session musicians and was involved in the early recording sessions of Darkness On The Edge Of Town. Before the release of The Promise in 2010, the only evidence of his involvement was a bootlegged studio outtake of FACTORY that has Lindley's violin overdubbed. On The Promise, Lindley's violin appears on COME ON (LET'S GO TONIGHT) and RACING IN THE STREET ('78).

Live History

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed COME ON (LET'S GO TONIGHT) twice on 07 Dec 2010 during a gig in front of a small crowd at Carousel House in Asbury Park, NJ. The gig was videotaped for a future webcast, but none of three takes of the song was included in the webcast. In a Backstreets.com review, Flynn McLean wrote: "Bruce seemed to call an audible with 'Come On (Let's Go Tonight),' so there were a couple of minutes of downtime while the crew prepared. Bruce used the time to speak to the crowd. He said this next song was an early version of 'Factory,' and that it was written about Elvis Presley's death, which coincided with the punk explosion; he jokingly said the song could be called, 'The Ghost of Songwriting Future.' With David Lindley, they worked on an extended ending for another partial third take."

[Click here to display/hide list of 2010 live performances]

Covers

As far as it's known, no artist has recorded and released Bruce Springsteen's COME ON (LET'S GO TONIGHT).

Available Versions

List of available versions of COME ON (LET'S GO TONIGHT) on this website:

• Official studio version
• Unofficial studio version

Credits

Thanks Bill G for the help.

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