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RAISE YOUR HAND©Live 07 Jul 1978 version[Spoken intro:] Hello! I got one last thing to say! One last thing. Miami Steve, please! Page last updated: 08 Nov 2009IntroRAISE YOUR HAND is a 1967 song written by Steve Cropper, Eddie Floyd, and Alvertis Isbell (Al Bell). Check out Eddie Floyd's original version for more details. The song has been a staple of Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band concert performances since 1976, always played as part of the encores. Their live 07 Jul 1978 performance of it was included on their Live/1975-85 box set. Live HistoryAfter an 11-week break over the holiday period, Bruce and the E Street Band conducted a dress rehearsal performance on 21 Mar 1976 at the Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ, in preparation for the final leg of the Born To Run Tour. Only about 200 pre-invited guests were in attendance and the exact setlist details are not known, but it has been reported that most of the Born To Run album was played as well as RAISE YOUR HAND. This was the first known Springsteen performance of the song. [Click here to display/hide detailed performances list] When the tour resumed, and till it ended, the song was played 15 times. It should be noted that some of that period's setlists are incomplete or unknown, and therefore, the song most probably have been played more. Eddie Floyd made a guest appearance during the 29 Apr 1976 show in Memphis, sharing vocals with Springsteen on two of his own compositions, KNOCK ON WOOD and RAISE YOU HAND. [Click here to display/hide detailed performances list] 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. Bruce 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 countersued on 29 Jul in New York State Supreme Court, asking the court to prohibit Springsteen and Jon Landau from working together in studio. Bruce Springsteen and 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. RAISE YOUR HAND was frequently played during that "Lawsuit Tour":
[Click here to display/hide detailed performances list] RAISE YOUR HAND rarely appeared during the Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour, performed only 7 times as far as it's known. It should be noted that a few of that period's setlists are incomplete or unknown, and and therefore, the song might have been played more than 7 times. The 07 Jul 1978 show at The Roxy, Lox Angeles, CA, was originally radio broadcast on KMET FM. This show was one of the main source concerts for the official Live/1975-85 box set, which includes no less than eight recordings from this show, including RAISE YOUR HAND. The above lyrics are for that official live 07 Jul 1978 version. [Click here to display/hide detailed performances list] RAISE YOUR HAND rarely appeared during The River Tour, performed only 8 times as far as it's known, most of them in the first few months. [Click here to display/hide detailed performances list] The Tunnel Of Love Express Tour consisted of 67 dates, 58 of which featured renditions of RAISE YOUR HAND. The tour debut was on 09 Mar 1988, which is the tour's 7th official date. The 20 Mar 1988 show in Pittsburg featured Joe Grushecky who made a guest appearance on RAISE YOUR HAND. [Click here to display/hide detailed performances list] RAISE YOUR HAND was also played during 13 shows of the multi-artist Amnesty International Human Rights Now! Tour. It should be noted that the setlist of the 14 Oct 1988 show at Estadio Mundialista Mendoza, Mendoza, Argentina, is unknown, and the song could've been played on that date. [Click here to display/hide detailed performances list] The song was played only 2 times during The Reunion Tour. The 27 Aug 1999 performance featured a guest appearance by Peter Wolf, and Abby Weinberg played keyboards on the 25 Sep 1999 performance. [Click here to display/hide detailed performances list] Springsteen joined Clarence Clemons and his band on 01 Sep 2001, one of four shows the Clemons was recording at The Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ, for a live album. Clarence brought Bruce out for a four-song special encore to close the show. Audio recording of RAISE YOUR HAND from that night was officially released in 2004 on Clarence Clemons' live CD Live In Asbury Park Vol. II. Check out the live 01 Sep 2001 version for more details. A follow-up appearance planned (though unannounced) for the following night, 02 Sep 2001, was cancelled due to a bomb scare. [Click here to display/hide detailed performances list] Clarence Clemons celebrated his 60th birthday at B.B. King's Foxwoods Resort And Casino on 12 Jan 2002. Springsteen joined Clemons and his band for four songs, the same ones they did together on 11 Sep 2001 at The Stone Pony. [Click here to display/hide detailed performances list] RAISE YOUR HAND appeared only 1 time during The Rising Tour. That performance featured Philadelphia-based band Marah who made a guest appearance. [Click here to display/hide detailed performances list] Marah again made a guest appearance on RAISE YOUR HAND, this time off-tour, on 02 Dec 2006 during the Seventh Annual Light Of Day benefit. [Click here to display/hide detailed performances list] On 07 May 2008, during a break in the Magic Tour, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band played a benefit show to raise money for the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, NJ. For the very first time ever they played, not one, but two complete albums from their catalogue: Darkness On The Edge Of Town and Born To Run, live and in sequence. To end the night, Bruce said, "Let's bring out the horns! We've got a few more for you!", and they used the horn section to maximum effect for the entire encore which consisted of four songs, including RAISE YOUR HAND. [Click here to display/hide detailed performances list] On the Working On A Dream Tour, RAISE YOUR HAND had been played a total of 57 times (19 of which were instrumental only) by the time this page was last updated. See the request signs segment section below for more details. On 16 Sep 2009 in Greenville, while the band was playing RAISE YOUR HAND, Bruce picked a sign that said "You Sexy Thing". He then sang lines from YOU SEXY THING and the crowd sang back before eventually segueing into RAISE YOUR HAND but bringing YOU SEXY THING again back at the end. The inclusion of the lines from YOU SEXY THING into RAISE YOUR HAND was repeated on 30 Sep 2009 in East Rutherford and 19 Oct 2009 in Philadelphia. [Click here to display/hide detailed performances list] Request Signs SegmentOne of the characteristics of the Working On A Dream Tour shows was the "request signs" segment, during which Springsteen collected request signs from the pit audience while an extended introduction to RAISE YOUR HAND was played. Once that song is completed, Springsteen selected two or three numbers to play from the requests, some of them were early or obscure in his catalog, but most of the time were classic rock covers. This activity was billed as "Stump the Band" by the Connecticut Post, and led to impromptu arrangements being worked out onstage. Springsteen would sometimes taunt the audience afterwards with declarations that the E Street Band could not be stumped, such as saying in Atlanta's Philips Arena: "This man thinks he can stump the band, let's find out! You think we don't know '96 fucking Tears'? The E Street Band the greatest bar band in the land don't know '96 Tears'?" The immediate introduction of the signs segment surprised even E Street guitarist Nils Lofgren, who told Billboard that he thought Springsteen would hold it off until later in the tour. During the request signs segment, RAISE YOUR HAND was sometimes played instrumental only, and on some rare occasions dropped out and replaced by GOOD LOVIN', an instrumental HEAT WAVE, or even simply a drum backbeat like on the last leg of the Magic Tour. The Live/1975-85 Box SetWith the Born In The USA 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. Click thumbnail to enlarge/reduce
album artwork 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. [Click here to display/hide detailed track listing with dates] Official ReleaseBesides the above-mentioned Live/1975-85 box set, the live 07 Jul 1978 version of RAISE YOUR HAND was included on the following two official releases:
Available VersionsList of available versions of RAISE YOUR HAND on this website: Credits / ReferencesThanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake from BTX and Greasy Lake) for transcribing these lyrics. Much of the above info about the live history of the song is taken from Brucebase and Backstreets. Info and scans for the official samplers are taken from the Lost In The Flood website. |
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