Live 29 Sep 1976 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
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
With a love so hard and filled with defeat, hey!
Running for our lives tonight on the backstreets
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
You swore we'd live forever
On the backstreets we take it together
Whoooooa
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, on the truth that ran us down
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
I hated him and I hated you when you were gone
Whoah!
Hoohhh!
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
And after all this time we 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
We swore forever friends
On the backstreets until the end
Until the end
Just me and you babe
Still waiting, still waiting
Still waiting, hmmm, still waiting
Just just waiting, just just waiting
Just just just
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
Well alright
We'll go hiding on the backstreets tonight
Hiding on the backstreets
Heey whoa
Whooa whoooa whoooaaa
Whooa whoooa whooooooa whoooooaooa
The above lyrics are for the live 29 Sep 1976 performance of BACKSTREETS at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, CA, during what is known as The Lawsuit Tour. This is one of the earliest versions of BACKSTREETS that include the Sad Eyes interlude -- or better said, what will evolve into the Sad Eyes interlude.
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. Springsteen 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 counter-sued on 29 Jul 1976 in New York State Supreme Court, asking the court to prohibit Springsteen and Jon Landau from working together in studio. Bruce Springsteen & 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. The tour became known as "The Lawsuit Tour" (62 know dates, August 1976 to March 1977).
Thanks Chris at born2run.de.
List of available versions of BACKSTREETS on this website:
BACKSTREETS [Album version]