RANDOLPH STREET

a.k.a. MASTER OF ELECTRICITY

I remember yesterday when I'd sit and watch the hound dogs play
Howlin' at the China moon
Now yesterday is the busted blues (?balloon)
Life was young, (?and) things were easy
Days were short, nights were warm
Time's were good, hate was shallow
Love was crazy, the hand (?and I had it) in my marrow
(?And) I swear that I've seen your face somewhere back in that time
And (?I'm) in that place. Do you remember?

The old house stood like World War II with just two rooms
And a hall to be used
The lady was lean (?mean), just slightly unclean with a heart of cold silver and gold
The kitchen smelled of kerosene
Ceiling hung down on veil and (?unveiled the) rotted beams
And the man, they said, his work (?it) could have hung in the Louvre (?room ?lub)
Now he sits around all day because his left arm won't move
He was a master of the art of electricity
He lectured on tubes and circuitry
He was self-employed, but he could never see his way into the light
He had a room full of switches and dials and lights
And a head full of clouds and eyes full of sight
And when it got dark
I could hear his heartbeat like a mother in the night
She stood like a guardian ready to give everything up
If I (?had) asked for a sword and her blood in a cup
But there was just time when I asked for too much
She sighed because she could not give it

We used to sit beneath the tree just the lady, the radio man and me
And I think it was the winter of '63 the man went away and let us be
It was early on an Aug day that the lady decided she too must go away
(?For) her heart it seems could not pay the price for what her body was buying
I came home from school and I found the note, (?I) went into the kitchen
And lit the old stove with senses (?songs) set on overload
I turned on the TV, spent the rest of the afternoon watching
All my old cartoons through (?thru ) the hall
And across the porch was the sun surrendered like a crying torch.

London Publishing demo, recorded between Jun and Jul 1972 at the Media and 914 Sound Studios, Blauvelt, New York City. Later appeared on the semi-legal CD Before The Fame.

A nostalgic song, showing glimpses of Bruce's early life in the imagery that abounds within this track. A song of unfulfilled promise and talent, the old man who could have been a success is now a shell of his former self, and the woman can only do so much before she too must go away. The old man could be Springsteen's grandfather, himself an electrician that fixed appliances around the house.