Album version
One soft infested summer me and Terry became friends
Trying in vain to breathe the fire we was born in
Catching rides to the outskirts, tying faith between our teeth
Sleeping in that old abandoned beach house, getting wasted in the heat
And hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
With a love so hard and filled with defeat
Running for our lives at night on them backstreets
Na, na na na
Slow dancing in the dark on the beach at Stockton's Wing
Where desperate lovers park we sat with the last of the Duke Street Kings
Huddled in our cars waiting for the bells that ring
In the deep heart of the night when you let loose of everything
To go running on the backstreets, running on the backstreets
Terry you swore we'd live forever
Taking it on them backstreets together
Yeah
Endless juke joints and Valentino drag
Where dancers scraped the tears up off the street dressed down in rags
Running into the darkness, some hurt bad some really dying
At night sometimes it seemed you could hear that whole damn city crying
Blame it on the lies that killed us, blame it on the truth that ran us down
You can blame it all on me Terry, it don't matter to me now
When the breakdown hit at midnight there was nothing left to say
But I hated him and I hated you when you went away
Whoah, whoah
Whoah, whoah
Now laying here in the dark, you're like an angel on my chest
Just another tramp of hearts crying tears of faithlessness
Remember all the movies, Terry, we'd go see
Trying to learn how to walk like the heroes we thought we had to be
Well after all this time to find we're just like all the rest
Stranded in the park and forced to confess
To hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Well we swore forever friends, hey!
On the backstreets until the end
Uh, uh, uh
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
It's alright
To go hiding on the backstreets tonight
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets
Whoah!
Hey!
Whoahhh!
Hey!
Hey, hey, hey
Yeah, yeah
Whoah, oh, oh
Whoo, ooh
Ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooooh
BACKSTREETS is a song written by Bruce Springsteen and released on his 1975 album Born To Run. The above lyrics are for Bruce Springsteen's album version of BACKSTREETS as released in 1975.
According to Sony's logs of Bruce Springsteen's studio sessions, BACKSTREETS was recorded on 25 Apr 1975, 19 May 1975, 23 May 1975, 06 Jul 1975, and 18 Jul 1975 at The Record Plant in New York City, NY.
Four studio takes of BACKSTREETS are in circulation. Unofficial studio version 1 features alternate and unfinished lyrics. Unofficial studio version 2 features alternate lyrics. Unofficial studio version 3 features lyrics close to the officially released album version. The album version is the definitive one and was released on Born To Run.
The lyrics variations between one version and the other indicate that the song was still a work in progress at the time it was being cut in studio.
Bruce Springsteen plays guitar and sings vocals on this track, and is backed by Garry Tallent on bass guitar, Max Weinberg on drums, and Roy Bittan on piano and organ.
Track credits:
Bruce Springsteen: guitar, vocals
Garry Tallent: bass guitar
Max Weinberg: drums
Roy Bittan: piano, organ
Written and arranged by Bruce Springsteen
Produced by Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, and Mike Appel
Recorded and mixed at Record Plant Studio, New York City, NY
BACKSTREETS was a candidate title track for Born To Run, as evidenced in a Springsteen handwritten list titled "Album #3 Titles". The list most probably dates from 1974.
BACKSTREETS appears on an early Springsteen handwritten list of proposed tracks for his third studio album. The list is titled "Album #3" and contains 12 tracks with their recording times (see below scan). Springsteen listed "Backstreets" as the second track with a running time of 6:00.
The Born To Run recording sessions can be divided into two phases: the 1974 sessions and the 1975 sessions. The first phase consisted of scattered sessions conducted between May and October 1974 at 914 Sound Studios in Blauvelt, NY, while Springsteen and the band were still in the midst of The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle Tour. When the lengthy tour came to an end in March 1975, the recording sessions continued at The Record Plant in New York City, NY, in March 1975 and lasted till July. 914 Sound Studios was Mike Appel's studio of choice, but The Record Plant was advised by Springsteen's friend and future manager Jon Landau. All tracks on the Born To Run album, except the title track, were recorded during these Mar-Jul 1975 sessions.
Born To Run was commercially released on Columbia Records 01 Sep 1975. Note that a small quantity of blank label, advanced promo copies (known as the "Script Covers") were issued to VIPs on or around 12 Aug 1975, and normal promo copies were sent to radio stations on or around 24 Aug 1975. The album peaked at #3 on the U.S. Billboard 200. It also reached #36 on the UK Album Chart. The album re-entered the Billboard 200 in the eighties, reaching #66 in 1980 and #101 in 1985. The 30th anniversary reissue reached #18 in 2005.
The album features 8 new Springsteen compositions and clocks at 39:26. It is produced by Bruce Springsteen, Mike Appel, and Jon Landau.
In addition to its release on Born To Run, the official studio version of BACKSTREETS was also released in September 1975 on the b-side of the BORN TO RUN single in Japan.
BACKSTREETS can also be found on a Japanese Bruce Springsteen promo-only sampler.
A segment of about 30 seconds of BACKSTREETS was included on The Pitman Family Of Music - Our First 20 Years, a CBS Records in-house promo LP issued in 1980. The segment was also included on 30 Years In Pitman, a CBS Records in-house promo CD issued in 1990.
Other versions of BACKSTREETS were also officially released.
SECTION NOT YET COMPLETED
On the Born To Run album, BACKSTREETS was already six-and-a-half minute long, but in 1976, 1977, and 1978, the live performances of the song were extended with an interlude that is commonly known as the "Sad Eyes" interlude, a title probably assigned to it by bootleggers. Note that this interlude has nothing to do with SAD EYES, the 1990 outtake that was released on the Tracks box set in 1998.
"Sad Eyes" is a mostly soft-piano based monologue toward the end of the song. It gradually rises in tempo before it suddenly stops and the "Hiding on the backstreets" coda kicks back in full band.
The "Sad Eyes" interlude debuted in September 1976 and disappeared with the end of the Darkness On The Edge Of Tour. It evolved through those three years to later be used as the basis for part of DRIVE ALL NIGHT on The River album in 1980. The live 22 Aug 1976 version of BACKSTREETS is the last one known from that year not to yet include the "Sad Eyes" interlude.
Bruce Springsteen's album version of BACKSTREETS appears in one movie.
At least 7 artists have recorded and released Bruce Springsteen's BACKSTREETS.
Backstreets Magazine, a quarterly Bruce Springsteen fanzine, has been covering the music of Bruce Springsteen and Jersey Shore artists since 1980. The print began in 1980 when Seattle-based Springsteen fan Charles R. Cross printed 10,000 copies of a 4-page tabloid he called "Backstreets". He passed it out for free at Bruce's 24 Oct 1980 show at the Seattle Coliseum, Seattle, WA. Most copies of this first issue wound up trampled under foot, soaking in puddles by the end of the night; original copies of this three-color premiere issue now sell for three figures.
Backstreets became an uninterrupted run of quarterly publishing and is a Music Journalism Award winner for Best Fanzine. From its 4-page debut, Backstreets grew slowly, but after nine issues on newsprint, it switched to the magazine format with issue #10, adding slick paper and full-color covers soon after.
Current Publisher and Editor Christopher Phillips moved to Seattle in 1993 and began working with Charles R. Cross at Backstreets on issue #44, became Managing Editor in 1994, developed the Backstreets website in 1995, and took the reins in 1998. After a couple more years in Seattle, Phillips moved Backstreets to the East coast in 2000, with the magazine and website headquarters now based in Chapel Hill, NC.
Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake) for the lyrics help.
Some of the above info about the studio recording and the live performances are taken from Brucebase. Info and scans for the some of the above Bruce Springsteen official releases are taken from the Lost In The Flood website.
An aborted outtake (duration 3:12) of BACKSTREETS is in circulation. If you have it, please send it to me. I also need the live 26 Sep 1976 performance of the song for it might be the first ever BACKSTREETS with Sad Eyes Interlude.
Any additions, comments, or corrections to this page are welcome. You can contact me via the below form or by email: .
List of available versions of BACKSTREETS on this website:
BACKSTREETS [Album version]
