Live 02 Mar 1973 version
[Spoken intro:] Ah... I'm doing a song now about a bishop, his wife, and a violin player in West Virginia, how they lost their daughter to mathematics while on a business trip in Detroit. About James Garner during his well-known, very popular stint as a... TV's, uh, very own Maverick, uh... did have an affair with and married a woman who uh... had only one eye operating at any given time. A little boy, says the Indians are still in the woods, only nobody sees 'em... About the sexual pathos of elderly choirboys in Puke, Montana.
Well, Bishop danced with a thumbscrew woman
Did a double-quick back flip and slid across the floor
The Catholic traffic flowed freely across the river
And fiddlestick fiddled quick out the front door
Oh, baby dumpling, mama's in the back tree
If the bow breaks, mama might fall
Little sad and only, baby don't be lonely
Oh, mama knows arithmetic, knows how to take a fall
Mama knows arithmetic, knows how to take a fall
And the kids start crying, "Flapjacks, make 'em fat, early in the morning"
Little Jack, grab your hat, hear the breakfast call
Muskrat, bat a cat, kick 'em in the fireplace
There's someone in the kitchen blowing "Dinah" on their horn
There's someone in the kitchen blowing "Dinah" like they're born
Well, maverick daddy's got a one-eyed bride
She glides like a monkey-mule kicking on the back slide
Over hill, over hill, daddy don't you spill now
Papa's got a switch stick, he's pumping little Bill
Papa's got a switch stick, he's pumping little Bill
And Billy, he's crying, "Tomahawk, tomahawk, daddy better duck now"
The Mohawks, The Mohawks, they're still out there in the woods
Monatuk, Ocanuk, running through my dreams now
With fire on their fingertips and engine screams
Fire on their fingertips and feathers made of moonbeams
[Spoken:] Now get funky, Danny! Open yourself.
[Danny Federici accordion solo]
[Spoken:] That's it!
Early in the morning the cannoneer cried
"I seen the sailor's warning in the western sky"
Oh, mountain man, if you can, cut me down a fir tree
Branches full of candlesticks for baby and me
And my baby, she cries, "oh darling, the weathervane, I swear lately it's been pointing the way to heaven"
Oh, scatterbrains, scatterbrains, watch out where you fall
Champagne, champagne, a round for all the old choir boys
They're busting off the altar chasing Dinah through the hall
They're busting off the altar chasing Dinah through the hall
It's here!
And like kids they're crying, "Flapjacks, make 'em fat, early in the morning"
Little Jack, grab your hat, hear the breakfast call
Muskrat, bat a cat, kick him in the fireplace
There's someone in the kitchen blowing "Dinah" on their horn
There's someone in the kitchen blowing "Dinah" like they're born
[Spoken outro:] Well let me see. Alright (chuckles).
The above lyrics are for the live 02 Mar 1973 performance of BISHOP DANCED at Berkeley Community Theatre in Berkeley, CA, during what is considered the Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. Tour.
This was a double-bill show, with Bruce Springsteen opening for headliners Blood, Sweat & Tears. A 7-song soundboard recording in circulation among collectors is believed to be the complete 02 Mar 1973 performance.
The 02 Mar 1973 show at Berkeley Community Theatre was commercially released in Europe. Since 2005 some enterprising record labels in Europe (mostly in the UK) have been releasing Bruce Springsteen radio and TV broadcasts (and some soundboard recordings) from the seventies, eighties, and nineties. Though these releases are not authorized by Bruce Springsteen or his record company, they are lawful due to a legal loophole in Europe.
Some of the above information is taken from Brucebase.
List of available versions of BISHOP DANCED on this website:
BISHOP DANCED [Live 09 Jan 1973 version]
