Live 23 Mar 1977 version
Falling down and let us go away
Call on everyone run away
One summer night
When the rain, when the rain washed your tears away
Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry
No don't babe, don't
Tear in your heart
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, say!
Running for our lives at night out on them 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 that set you loose from everything
To go running on the backstreets, running on the backstreets
We swore we'd live forever
On the backstreets we'd take it together
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, 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
Oh, whoah
Whoah, whoah
Now laying here in the dark like an angel on my chest
Just another tramp of hearts crying tears of faithlessness
Remember all the movies, Terry, that we'd go see
Trying to learn how to walk like the heroes we thought we had to be
And 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
We swore forever friends
On the backstreets until the end
Till the end
Me and you baby
Just me and you girl
Yeah we're running back
Heyyy we're running back
Tonight and we're way down
We're way down
We're way down by the railroad tracks
In the backseat, in the backseat of that old Cadillac
Kid's got cleats on his boots
Whoah her heels are stacked
Hey
I remember there was this old car
This guy abandoned in the middle of this field
About a mile and half outside of town
And at night we used to hitchhike out there
The outside was real stripped down
But the inside was still alright
It was me, it was her, it was Billy
The three of us, we used to go riding back
Yeahhh
Used to go riding back
I remember that night
These kids they set fire to this abandoned farmhouse
It was about a half mile up the tracks
From the backseat of that car we could watch
We was watching it burn
They had these machines down there
These engines down there
There was this fire road out there the kids used to race on
'Til the cops came and chased them away
And we'd just watch the flames shooting across the sky
The water rushed into the air
It was the three of us, it was me and Billy and her
We promised that we was never gonna go anyplace without each other
We promised we was never gonna go anyplace outside this town
We sat on the hood of the car and watched the flames rushing across the field
Watch it rushing towards us
Rushing towards us
Rushing towards us
Watching the flames rushing toward us
And we ran up on the tracks and ran back into town
And I remember waiting with the rain
Remember waiting
Waiting for something that was never gonna come
Every night waiting for something that was never gonna come
I remember went to your house and you was gone
Billy was down on the beach with his shotgun
Just trying to blow the rats out of the jetty
Just shooting at the shadows
I remember standing on the rocks
Watching Billy just shooting at the shadows down along the beach
With his .22, shooting at the shadows
I was just standing out there on the rocks
Just wishing that for once
Just wishing that just once
God would send some angels
And blow this whole town right into the sea
I was just praying that God would send some angels
And blow this whole town right into the sea
Just God would send some angels just to blow it all away
Just wished God would send some angels and blow this whole down right into the sea
Just blow it all away
Because you promised
Because you promised
And baby you lied
Baby you lied
Your pretty li-li-li-li-li-li-lies
All your pretty li-li-li-li-li-li-lies
All your pretty li-li-li-li-li-li-lies
Your pretty li-li-li-li-li-li-lies
I just wished he'd blow it all away!
Just blow it all away!
Just blow it all away!
Just blow it all away!
Blow it all away!
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
On the backstreets
Don't run away!
Whoa whoa
Whoa-whoa whoa
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoaaa
The above lyrics are for the live 23 Mar 1977 performance of BACKSTREETS at Music Hall in Boston, MA, during what is known as The Lawsuit Tour. This was the second of four consecutive shows at the venue that concluded the tour.
The line "Just wishing that just once God would send some angels and blow this whole town right into the sea" was later adapted in THE FAST SONG ("I wish God's angels would tear this town down and blow it into the sea").
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 Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake) for the lyrics help.
List of available versions of BACKSTREETS on this website:
BACKSTREETS [Album version]
