Studio version
They're holding a committee of treason and lies
Doublespeak and sedition, then somebody dies
From the hill the smell of lilacs and the repeat of guns
She closes the window, draws the blinds, her first touch sucks the air from my lungs
Hey blue eyes, what you doing tonight
Hey blue eyes, yeah it's alright
She says, "In this house we've abandoned history, in this house there are no laws
Just the false taste of paradise and then the fall
In this house the guilty go unpunished, blood and silence prevail
Here the dead remain nameless, the nameless remain jailed"
Hey blue eyes, what you doing tonight
Hey blue eyes, yeah it's alright
In this house there's just the dust of bones, the basement's filled with lye
In this house our sons and daughters are spilled like wine
So come close my pretty darling and let me feel your disease
Tonight I'll have you naked and crawling at the end of my leash
Hey blue eyes, what you doing tonight
Hey blue eyes, hey it's alright
She says, "In this house it's so easy to set a world on fire
All you need is a name, the money, and a soul full of reckless desire
Upstairs the landlord is dining here with his criminal friends
Don't worry, they'll have the bags packed and be long gone before the real fucking begins"
Hey blue eyes, yeah, what you doing tonight
Hey blue eyes, hey it's alright
Hey blue eyes, what you doing tonight
Hey blue eyes, yeah it's alright
HEY BLUE EYES is a song written by Bruce Springsteen and released on his 2014 EP American Beauty. The above lyrics are for Bruce Springsteen's studio version of HEY BLUE EYES as released in 2014.
In a December 2013 interview for Rolling Stone, Ron Aniello told Andy Greene that at least 20 tracks were recorded for the High Hopes album. Among the tracks that didn't make the album cut were COLD SPOT, HEY BLUE EYES, AMERICAN BEAUTY, and MARY MARY.
The studio version of HEY BLUE EYES was produced by Brendan O'Brien. The presence of Patrick Warren in the musicians line-up suggests that this recording, or at least part of it, emanates from the Magic recording sessions. The performing musicians line-up on the track is:
In the liner notes to American Beauty that were posted on his official website, Bruce Springsteen wrote: "'Hey Blue Eyes' rounds out the EP with one of my darkest political songs. Written during the Bush years, it's a metaphor for the house of horrors our government's actions created in the years following the invasion of Iraq. At its center is the repressed sexuality and abuse of power that characterized Abu Ghraib prison. I feel this is a shadow we as a country have yet to emerge from."
American Beauty is a Bruce Springsteen 4-track EP that was released on 19 Apr 2014. Limited to 7,500 copies, the EP was issued on 12-inch vinyl and was distributed exclusively to independent stores throughout North America and Europe that participated in the 7th annual "Record Store Day" campaign. The EP was also released digitally on 22 Apr 2014.
In a March 2014 interview for Rolling Stone, Bruce Springsteen told Sean Sennett: "It's got some nice things on it. This is material from the past decade. Some were demos that I never cut. [...] I thought it's a nice time to support the record stores, which are dwindling, and get some new music out at the same time."
In the liner notes to American Beauty that were posted on his official website, Bruce Springsteen wrote: "American Beauty is a collection of songs I cut at home. Upon revisiting them for High Hopes I recognized their potential and Ron Aniello and I worked on them until we'd turned them into the music before you."
Bruce Springsteen has never performed HEY BLUE EYES live.
According to Rolling Stone, Tom Morello plans on covering HEY BLUE EYES for an upcoming project.
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List of available versions of HEY BLUE EYES on this website:
HEY BLUE EYES [Studio version]