1995 studio version
One, two!
Whoa!
Monday mornin' runs to Sunday night
A scream slow me down before the new year dies
Won't take much to kill a lovin' smile
And every mother with a baby cryin' in her arms, singin'
Give me help, give me strength
Give a soul a night of fearless sleep
Give me love, give me peace
Don't you know these days you pay for everything
Got high hopes
I got high hopes
I got high hopes
I got high hopes
Yeah comin' from the city, comin' from the wild
I see a breathless army breakin' like a cloud
They're gonna smother love, they're gonna shoot your hopes
Before the meek inherit they'll learn to hate themselves
Give me help, give me strength
Give a soul a night of fearless sleep
Give me love, give me peace
Don't you know these days you pay for everything
Got high hopes
I got high hopes
I got high hopes
Yeah, I got high hopes
Roy!
Got high hopes
Yeah, I got high hopes
I got high hopes
I got high hopes
Yeah so tell me someone now, what's the price
I wanna buy some time and maybe live my life
I wanna have a wife, I wanna have some kids
I wanna look in their eyes and know they'll stand a chance
Give me help, give me strength
Give a soul a night of fearless sleep
Give me love, give me peace
Don't you know these days you pay for everything
High hopes
Got high hopes
I got high hopes
Yeah, I got high hopes
Break!
High hopes
I got high hopes
Yeah, I got high hopes
I got high hopes
Yiiii, (I got) high hopes
Yeah, high hopes
Whoa, high hopes
High hopes
Yeah, well, I got high hopes
Yiiii, got high hopes
Yeah, high hopes
Yeah, (I got) high hopes
Yeah, high hopes
Yeah, I got high hopes
High hopes
The above lyrics are for a Springsteen's studio version of HIGH HOPES recorded in 1995. It was first released on the Blood Brothers promo EP in 1996.
In 1994, Bruce Springsteen recorded an unreleased album with Shane Fontayne and other members of the 1992-1993 touring band. Springsteen's manager Jon Landau wasn't a fan of the project (the 1994 album), and recommended shelving it and focusing more on a "career overview"; this lead to the Greatest Hits sessions with the E Street Band in early 1995.
Springsteen called the band in early January 1995, and they assembled for the recording sessions on 09 Jan 1995 at The Hit Factory in New York City, NY. This was their first studio reunion in 11 years (since the Born In The U.S.A. sessions) and their first ever with Nils Lofgren. HIGH HOPES was among the songs recorded during these sessions. Being a cover, it is not surprising that the song was not included on the Greatest Hits album.
Producer/director/photographer Ernie Fritz was given complete access to the 1995 studio sessions with the E Street Band, and part of the 23-hour footage was released on the 80-minute documentary Blood Brothers in November 1996.
The video was nominated in 1997 for a "Best Long Form Music Video" Grammy Award. The nomination was shared among video director/producer Ernie Fritz, video producer Lee Rolantz, and video producer Jack Gulick. It lost to The Beatles Anthology.
Blood Brothers premiered in the United States on 03 Mar 1996 on the Disney Channel. It was released on Laserdisc on 01 Oct 1996, VHS on 19 Nov 1996 (the packaging for which included the bonus Blood Brothers EP), and DVD on 16 Jan 2001.
The documentary shows a take of HIGH HOPES being recorded. See the studio snippet for more details.
A complete full 1995 recording of HIGH HOPES (different to the ones partially featured in the Blood Brothers video documentary) was released in November 1996 on the Blood Brothers promo EP, a Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band release exclusively available as a bonus with the Blood Brothers video, VHS format only. The EP was issued in North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan.
In 1997 the song was included on three issues of the Secret Garden EP which was released to promote the Jerry Maguire movie soundtrack.
Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake) for the lyrics help. Info for some of the above releases are taken from the Lost In The Flood website.
Please contact me if you have scans or info about any official release containing HIGH HOPES that's not mentioned on this page. You can help by sending additions, corrections, or comments to , or by using the below form.
List of available versions of HIGH HOPES on this website:
HIGH HOPES [Album version]
