PUMPING IRON^©

Live Oct 1995 version

Jimmy was a rocker, oh how he liked to rock
Combed his hair just right
And he practiced the way he walked
Gonna go out tonight and make a little noise
He was a steel-driving man just like his daddy was
Didn't have a choice, he just did what he's told
If you can't be a man better be one of the boys
Going to meet little Joe at the corner
Hey, make sure he is dressed up just right
Little Joe's been acting like a goner
But tonight, yeah tonight

Pumping iron, sweating steel
Heart of stone, dressed to kill
Pumping iron, sweating steel
Well, you can never understand the way I feel

Jimmy's gonna meet Maria downtown at 10 o'clock
Well, her old man don't like him won't let him come to the house
Pop a pill, drink some whiskey, get a little wasted, baby
That's alright
'Cause that poor boy got to live his whole lifetime
In just one night, and that night'll be tonight
Can I hear you over there? Can I hear you?

Pumping iron, sweating steel
Heart of stone, dressed to kill
Pumping iron, sweating steel
Well, you can never understand the way I feel

Here come Maria, man she looks really hot
Got to give her everything I got, at last
Slips in her Chevy beside little Joe
Steps on the gas and watch her go so fast, ah she's so fast
Get it going!

Pumping iron, sweating steel
Heart of stone, baby, dressed to kill
Pumping iron, sweating steel
Well, you can never understand
Pumping iron, sweating steel
Heart of stone, dressed to kill
Pumping iron, sweating steel
Well, you can never understand the way I feel
You can never understand the way I feel

Page last updated: 17 Nov 2009

Intro

PUMPING IRON is a song by the Iron City Houserockers. Check out their original version for more details. Bruce Springsteen performed the song live on many occasions, all of them with Joe Grushecky or with Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers.

Live History

Bruce Springsteen performed PUMPING IRON live for the first time on 22 Jul 1995 at the Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ, with Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers.

In October 1995, Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers kicked off the release of their American Babylon album with a six-stop tour dubbed the "October Assault." Introduced as "honorary Houserocker of the week" on the first night, Springsteen joined the band for the majority of the set on all six dates, playing guitar and sharing vocals with Grushecky. At each show, Springsteen came out for American Babylon's WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE WAR and remained on stage for the rest of the set. PUMPING IRON was performed every night during the Springsteen portion of the set.

1. 17 Oct 1995 at the Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ
2. 18 Oct 1995 at Tramps Night Club, New York City, NY
3. 19 Oct 1995 at The Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
4. 20 Oct 1995 at Nick's Fat City, Pittsburgh, PA
5. 21 Oct 1995 at Nick's Fat City, Pittsburgh, PA
6. 24 Oct 1995 at Park West, Chicago, IL

Springsteen performed PUMPING IRON on several more occasions:

• 02 Mar 1998 at Nick's Fat City, Pittsburgh, PA, with Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers.
  
• 09 Jul 1999 at Cheers, Long Branch, NJ, with Joe Grushecky who was playing acoustic; his band was absent.
  
• 03 Nov 2000 at the Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ, with Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers, during the first annual Light Of Day benefit.
  
• 02 Nov 2002 at the Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ, with Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers, during the third annual Light Of Day benefit.
  
• 01 Nov 2003 at the Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ, with Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers, during the fourth annual Light Of Day benefit.
  
• 17 Jul 2004 at the Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ, with Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers, during a Joe Grushecky / Soozie Tyrell show.
  
• 02 Dec 2004 at Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh, PA, with Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers, during Flood Aid '04, a benefit concert for Pennsylvanians who suffered damage from Hurricane Ivan in September 2004.

By the time this page was last updated, Springsteen had performed PUMPING IRON live a total of 14 times as far as it's known.

[Click here to display/hide list of all performances]

Official Release

Joe Grushecky released two UK-only CD singles in 1996: Labour Of Love (cat# PLR007-3) and Labour Of Love (Live) (cat# PLR007-5). The pair contain in total 5 live recordings from the 20 and 21 Oct 1995 October Assault Tour shows and one studio cut from American Babylon. A live recording of PUMPING IRON (from one of the two Pittsburgh gigs, 20 or 21 Oct 1995) was included on the second single, Labour Of Love (Live). Along with other recordings from the same two Pittsburgh shows, it was also released in 1999 on the Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers live album Down The Road Apiece Live. The above lyrics are for that official live version of PUMPING IRON; Springsteen plays guitar and sings backup vocals on this one.

Available Versions

List of available versions of PUMPING IRON on this website:

• Live Oct 1995 version
• Original Iron City Houserockers version

Credits / Reference

Info on the October Assault Tour taken from Backstreets Magazine issue #50/51. Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake from BTX and Greasy Lake) for the lyrics help and Frederic Clair for the UK singles scans.

Request

If you know the exact date for this live recording of PUMPING IRON, or if you have any corrections or additional info, please contact me via the below form or by email: . You will be credited. Thanks in advance.