Live 21 Dec 1975 version
Princess cards she sends me with her regards
Her barroom eyes shine vacancy, to see her you have to look hard
Well I was wounded deep in battle, but I stood stuffed like some soldier undaunted
To her Cheshire smile, I stand on file, she was all I ever wanted
But you let your blue walls get in the way of these facts
Honey, get your carpetbaggers off my back
You wouldn't even give me time to cover my tracks
You said, "Here boy, here's your mirror and your ball and your jacks"
But they ain't what I came for, and I'm sure you know that's true
'Cause baby, I came for you, for you, baby I came for you, but you did not need my urgency
For you, for you, I came for you, but your life was one long emergency
And your cloud line urges me, and my electric surges free
Oh, crawl into my ambulance, your pulse is getting weak
Reveal yourself just once for me girl while you've got the strength to speak
Because they're waiting for you at Bellevue, with their oxygen masks
But I could give it all to you, if only you would ask
And don't call for your surgeon, even he says it's too late
You see, it ain't your lungs this time, baby, it's your heart that holds your fate
Don't give me my money, honey I don't want it back
You and your pony face and your union jack
Well you can take that local joker and teach him how to act
Because you know I was never that way even, even when I really cracked
And didn't you think I knew that you were born with the power of a locomotive
Sure that you could leap tall buildings in a single bound
But your Chelsea suicide with no apparent motive
You could laugh, you could cry in a single sound
Your strength is devastating in the face of all these odds
Remember how I kept you waiting when it was finally my turn to be the god
And you were not quite half so proud when I found you broken on the beach
Remember how I poured salt on your tongue and hung just out of reach
And the band they played the homecoming theme as I caressed your cheek
Ragged, jagged melody that still clings to me like a leech
You know that medal you wore on your chest, and how it always got in the way
You were like a little girl with a trophy, ah, real soft to buy her way
We were both hitchhiking but you had your ears tuned to the roar
Of some metal-tempered engine on an alien distant shore
So you left, so you left to find a better reason than the one we were living, we were living for
And it ain't that, and it ain't that nursery mouth that I came back, that I came back for
And it ain't the way that you're stretched out, and it ain't the way that you're stretched out, yeah, on the floor
Because I've broken, because I've broken all your windows and I, and I've rammed through all your doors
And who am I, who am I to ask you to lick my sores?
Baby you should know that's true
Darling, I came for you, for you, but you did not need my urgency
I came for you
But your life was one lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ong emergency
And your cloudline urges me, yeah, and my electric surges free
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ooh ooh
The above lyrics are for the live 21 Dec 1975 performance of FOR YOU at Seneca College in Toronto, Canada, during the Born To Run Tour. The song was performed in a solo piano arrangement.
This show was originally scheduled for Seneca College's 1,000-seat Minkler Auditorium (see poster below) but due to ticket demand was moved to nearby University Of Toronto's 2,000-seat Convocation Hall (see ticket above), then switched yet again to Seneca's larger, 3,000-seat Field House (see ad below). A reasonable quality audience recording of nearly the entire show is available among collectors.
Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake). Info about the 21 Dec 1975 show is taken from Brucebase.
List of available versions of FOR YOU on this website:
FOR YOU [Album version]