Live 31 Jan 1998 version
| Southside Johnny (spoken): | One, a two, a one two |
| Southside Johnny and Jon Bon Jovi: | Baby, baby, without your love |
| Southside Johnny: | Ow! |
| Southside Johnny: | Saw my baby, yes I did |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | Take a look at me, darling |
| Southside Johnny: | Tell me what you see now, baby |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | I'm only half the man now, honey |
| Southside Johnny: | That I used to be, Lord have mercy |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | Well since you been gone now, baby |
| Southside Johnny: | My life ain't nothin' but an empty shell |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | What say you come back to me, darling |
| Southside Johnny: | You've got to come back and make this lonely man well |
| Southside Johnny and Jon Bon Jovi: | 'Cause I'm a broke down piece of man |
| I'm a broke down piece of man | |
| I'm just a broke down piece of man | |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | Without your love |
| Southside Johnny: | Oh yes I am, baby |
| Southside Johnny: | Heartache and misery, darling |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | Are walking right down by my side now, baby |
| Southside Johnny: | Sadness came and got a hold on me |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | Get on over here before I cry |
| Southside Johnny: | You've got to give our love now, baby |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | Give our love one more chance |
| Southside Johnny: | Well that's the only way darling |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | This old heart of mine will last |
| Southside Johnny and Jon Bon Jovi: | 'Cause I'm a broke down piece of man |
| I'm a broke down piece of man | |
| I'm a broke down piece of man | |
| Southside Johnny: | Without your love |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | I am |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | No one knows the troubles I've got |
| Southside Johnny: | It's your love I need and I need it a lot, babe |
| Uh ha ha | |
| Uh ha ha | |
| This old heart | |
| Southside Johnny and Jon Bon Jovi: | 'Cause I'm a broke down piece of man |
| I'm a broke down piece of man | |
| Southside Johnny: | baby |
| Southside Johnny and Jon Bon Jovi: | I'm a broke down piece of man |
| Without your | |
| Southside Johnny: | I'm trying baby |
| Southside Johnny and Jon Bon Jovi: | Without your love |
| Southside Johnny: | Ooh yeah |
| Southside Johnny and Jon Bon Jovi: | Without your love |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | Baby, baby |
| Southside Johnny and Jon Bon Jovi: | Without your love |
| Southside Johnny: | Yes I did, yes I did, yes I did |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | Baby, baby |
| Southside Johnny and Jon Bon Jovi: | Without your love, baby baby |
| Without your love, baby baby | |
| Without your love, baby baby | |
| Without your love, baby baby | |
| Without | |
| Southside Johnny: | Everything gonna be alright |
| Yes it is |
BROKE DOWN PIECE OF MAN is a 1967 song by Sam & Dave. See the original Sam & Dave version for more details.
Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes covered the song and released it on their 1976 album I Don't Want To Go Home.
The above lyrics are for live 31 Jan 1998 performance of BROKE DOWN PIECE OF MAN at Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ, during the "Come Together: Jon Bon Jovi & Friends" benefit concert. Southside Johnny and Jon Bon Jovi traded lead vocals on this song. Bruce Springsteen did not sing, but he probably was onstage playing guitar during this and all the other songs on which he did not sing.
The "Come Together: Jon Bon Jovi & Friends" benefit concert was organized by the Long Branch Police Department, The Asbury Park Press, and FPI Concerts, along with Jon Bon Jovi. The concert was to honor slain Long Branch police officer Sgt. Patrick King and raise money for the Sgt. Patrick King Memorial Fund to provide for his family. King, 45-year-old father of two young boys, was fatally shot on 20 Nov 1997 by a fugitive who had vowed to kill himself and a police officer rather than be captured and returned to jail.
Twenty musicians with ties to the Jersey shore music scene answered Jon Bon Jovi's call, including Bruce Springsteen and several members of the then-disbanded E Street Band (Clarence Clemons, Danni Frederici, Patti Scialfa, Steven Van Zandt, and Max Weinberg), Southside Johnny, Bobby Bandiera, and Richie Sambora among others. Actor Danny DeVito was the event's MC. Tickets, which were priced at $125, went on sale on 17 Jan 1998 noon and sold out in just eight minutes. The concert that was organized in short order raised more than $112,000 for King's widow and his two sons.
"It was a chance to forget about [the murder] a little bit," Long Branch police Sgt. Bruce Johantgen, one of about 50 city police officers who attended the show, told The Asbury Park Press. "The outpouring of love from the performers to the audience was unbelievable". Johantgen said he found it ironic that Bon Jovi and other performers thanked the audience for coming to the sold-out show. "From the police perspective, I kept thinking, 'We should be thanking you for giving your time'," Johantgen said.
This was a near-reunion of the fabled E Street Band and Springsteen's first full-length electric gig following the acoustic The Ghost Of Tom Joad Solo Acoustic Tour. Springsteen spent much (or possibly all) of the night onstage, singing or playing guitar only. Soundboard recording for the complete concert is available among collectors.
The 31 Jan 1998 show at Count Basie 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.
BROKE DOWN PIECE OF MAN was performed off-tour on 31 Jan 1998 at Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ, during the "Come Together: Jon Bon Jovi & Friends" benefit concert.
Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake) for the lyrics help.
List of available versions of BROKE DOWN PIECE OF MAN on this website:
BROKE DOWN PIECE OF MAN [Live 31 Jan 1998 version]
