GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT

Live 20 Sep 1978 version

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[Spoken intro:] Alright (chuckles). Gimme a little light. How you doing out there tonight? You ready tonight... No fooling around tonight. It's just me and you tonight. Here we go!

One, two, three, four

Well have you heard the news, there's good rockin' tonight
Well have you heard the news, there's good rockin' tonight
I'm gonna hold my baby as tight as I can
Tonight I'm gonna be a mighty (Clarence: mighty mighty man)
Have you heard the news, there's good rockin' tonight

Well meet me my baby in behind the barn
Well I swear, I wanna do you no harm
Tonight I'm gonna put on my rockin' shoes
Tonight I'm gonna rock away all my blues
You heard the news, there's good rockin' tonight

We're gonna rock
We're gonna rock
We're gonna rock
We're gonna rock
We're gonna rock all our cares away
Watch out now!

Have you heard the news, there's good rockin' tonight
Well have you heard the news, there's good rockin' tonight
I'm gonna hold my baby as tight as I can
Tonight I'm gonna be a mighty (Clarence: mighty mighty man)
(Clarence: have you heard the news), there's good rockin' tonight

Let's go!
Have you heard the news, there's good rockin' tonight, hey!
Have you heard the news, there's good rockin' tonight
Have you heard the news, there's good rockin' tonight
Once more!
Have you heard the news, everybody's rockin' tonight
Well have you heard the news, everybody's rockin' tonight
Well have you heard the news, there's good rockin' tonight

Have you heard the news?

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Info

GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT is a 1947 song by Roy Brown. See the original Roy Brown version for more details.

Live 20 Sep 1978 version

The above lyrics are for the live 20 Sep 1978 performance of GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT at Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ, during the Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour.

The 20 Sep 1978 Show

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band performed a series of three sold-out concerts at Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ, during the Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour, on 19, 20, and 21 Sep 1978. In its 07 Oct 1978 issue, Billboard reported that a total of 10,518 tickets were sold for the three nights, grossing $85,791 (ticket prices ranged between $7.50 and $8.50).

The Capitol Theatre was known for its in-house video system which resulted in a number of good quality, professionally shot black-and-white video bootlegs. So far, video footage has surfaced from the first two nights of Springsteen's residency. Moreover, the three shows were recorded live by the Record Plant's remote truck, both on multi-track and live-to-two-track. Soundboard tapes of all three nights have eventually made their way into the hands of fans.

The Capitol Theatre was a 3,200-seat entertainment venue located at the intersection of Monroe Street and Central Avenue in Passaic, NJ. Built in 1926 as a vaudeville house, it later served as a movie theater and in its later years a porn movie theater. In December 1971 legendary concert promoter John Scher and partner Al Hayward took over the theater. They bought the property and transformed it into a concert venue, which became a tour stop for almost every major artist in the 1970s. Hayward left in 1973 to form his own company and Scher remained and produced concerts of some of the biggest and most important performers in rock history. The theater closed in 1989 and was demolished two years later.

A series of "John Scher Presents" concert programs were created for specific events at Capitol Theatre and some other venues in New Jersey and New York and were distributed to the audience free of charge. Churchmouse/Moyssi produced "John Scher Presents" concert programs in 1975 and from 1977 through 1984. Most of these programs feature an original cover illustration by James D. Moyssiadis (a.k.a. Moyssi), who was also the resident stage lighting director at the Capitol Theatre from 1971-1986, created specifically for each concert. A 12-page program was created for Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's famous three-night stand at the Capitol in 1978. It features an illustration by Moyssi on page 1 (see scan below left), a biography, ads, and an illustration by Arlen Schumer on page 3 (see scan below center). Schumer's illustration on page 3 was inspired by a marquee he designed for the three-night stand at the request of Scher (see photo below right). Arlen Schumer was the art director of the first Springsteen magazine Thunder Road between 1978 and 1982 and later became a longtime contributor to Backstreets magazine for which he did the cover illustration for issue #47 (Fall 1994). He also guest-DJ'ed on Sirius XM's E Street Radio channel.

While the first night was broadcast on radio with the entire east-coast fanbase listening, the second night was different. It was just the band and many longtime New Jersey fans in an intimate theater.

In December 2017 the complete 20 Sep 1978 concert was officially released on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net (see the "Official Live Downloads" section below for more details). As a Christmas bonus, SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN from the concert was made available as a free download in MP3 format. The show was recorded live by David Hewitt with the Record Plant remote truck. The multi-track reel-to-reel tapes were transferred and restored in Spring 2016 by Jamie Howarth at Plangent Processes, using the same analogue tape restoration technique used to good effect for the November 2014 box-set release of Springsteen's first seven albums. The audio was mixed by Bob Clearmountain in Fall 2016 and mastered by Jon Altschiller in December 2017.

Official Live Downloads

Prior to the High Hopes Tour, Bruce Springsteen's management announced a new service allowing fans to download concert recordings approximately 48 hours after each show. The initial plan required fans to purchase a special USB wristband, which could then be used to download a single High Hopes Tour show of the purchaser's choice and also functions as a regular reusable USB flash drive. The wristband, which could be purchased online or at the concert venue, was priced at $40. Following some negative response from fans over the high cost for the wristband, Springsteen's management subsequently announced a separate cheaper option for purchasing shows directly, without the need for the wristband. The shows were available for purchase and download via Live Nation, Bruce Springsteen's concert promoter, priced at $9.99 for MP3 and $14.99 for FLAC. Audio recordings for 31 of the 34 High Hopes Tour dates (all except 16 Feb 2014, 06 Apr 2014, and 03 May 2014) were released as such and they were available until 30 Jun 2014.

On 17 Nov 2014, Live.BruceSpringsteen.net was launched. It's a new addition to the official website, serving as an online store offering high-quality live concert recordings as well as high-resolution digital releases of Springsteen's album catalog. The download store is powered by Nugs.net in cooperation with Columbia Records. Audio recordings for 30 of the 34 High Hopes Tour dates (all except 16 Feb 2014, 06 Apr 2014, 03 May 2014, and 18 May 2014) were re-released on the new download store in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless CD-quality FLAC or ALAC, and 24-bit HD FLAC or ALAC or MQA, as well as audio CD-R with custom artwork. Nugs.net adopted the MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) format on 24 May 2017. From then on, all Bruce Springsteen live concert recordings, including the previously released ones, became also available in MQA.

Audio recordings for all 75 The River Tour 2016 dates were also released on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless CD-quality FLAC or ALAC, and 24-bit HD FLAC or ALAC or MQA, as well as audio CD-R with custom artwork. Each show was generally released within a month after it took place.

Audio recordings for all 14 Summer '17 Tour dates were also released on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless CD-quality FLAC or ALAC, and 24-bit HD FLAC or ALAC or MQA, as well as audio CD-R with custom artwork. Each show was generally released within a month after it took place.

Archival releases were periodically released on the same site, as part of the Bruce Springsteen Archive Series. These shows were also made available in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless FLAC or ALAC, 24-bit FLAC or ALAC or MQA, DSD, and audio CD-R. So far 90 shows (or sets of shows) were released from the ongoing series.

Other Official Releases

Other versions of GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT were also officially released.

Live History: on-tour

GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT is known to have been performed at least 17 times during the Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour (111 dates, May 1978 to January 1979). A few setlists from that period are incomplete or unknown, and therefore, the song may have been played on some more dates during the Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour. The song was the show opener on all but the last (31 Dec 1978 in Richfield, OH) of the these known performances. The live 20 Sep 1978 version of GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT was released on the Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ September 20, 1978 official live download in 2017. The live 30 Sep 1978 version of GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT was released on the September 30, 1978 official live download in 2020. The live 16 Dec 1978 version of GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT was released on the Winterland 12/16/78 official live download in 2019.

GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT is known to have been performed at least 4 times during The River Tour (138 dates, October 1980 to September 1981). A few setlists from that period are incomplete, and therefore, the song may have been played on some more dates during The River Tour.

GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT was performed once during the Magic Tour (100 dates, October 2007 to August 2008), on 21 Aug 2008 in Nashville, TN.

GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT was performed once times during the Working On A Dream Tour (83 dates, April to November 2009), on 01 Apr 2009 in San Jose, CA. That was the tour's first date.

GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT was performed once during the Wrecking Ball Tour (133 dates, March 2012 to September 2013), on 02 Sep 2012 in .

Live History: off-tour

GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT was performed off-tour on 03 Jun 1979 at Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, CA, during the wedding party for Marc Brickman (Springsteen's lighting director) and June Rudley (Springsteen's travel agent). Springsteen, along with members of the E Street Band, joined Ricky Lee Jones and Boz Scaggs for a three hour celebration, playing a mixture of classic covers and Springsteen originals.

Available Versions

List of available versions of GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT on this website:

GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT [Live 20 Sep 1978 version]
GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT [Live 30 Sep 1978 version]
GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT [Live 19 Dec 1978 version]
GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT [Live 31 Dec 1978 version]
GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT [Original Roy Brown version]

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Page last updated: 06 Sep 2015