Live April 2019 version
[Spoken prelude:] "Western Stars" is a 13-song meditation on the struggle between individual freedom and communal life. There are two sides of the American character. One is transient, restless, solitary. But the other is collective and communal, in search of family, deep roots, and a home for the heart to reside. These two sides rub up against one another, always and forever, in everyday American life. The barn. We've got a 100-year-old barn on our property built in the late 1800s, and the hayloft is simply a spiritual space. It has a high cathedral ceiling that used to be packed with enough winter hay to reach from the floor to the roof. Since we've had the place, we've held barn dances, weddings, harvest parties up there. So it's a space filled with the best kind of ghosts and spirits. When we knew we were going to film "Western Stars", due to the instrumentation, I knew we'd need some place that could fit a 30-piece orchestra. Our barn is a structure that speaks to you. Its natural beauty, the artistry of its construction, the aged wood. It's like a fine instrument itself. And it sounds good. It's just got soul. So for a few days, we got to play for a few friends and entertain the horses down below. So come on in, 'cause we're about to start our tale with a man just standing by the roadside.
[Spoken intro:] (Offering a tequila toast to the audience) One before the ???. Let me see. Let's have a great time.
Thumb stuck out as I go
And I'm just traveling up the road
Well maps don't do much for me, friend
I follow the weather and the wind
I'm hitch hiking all day long
Got what I can carry and my song
I'm a rolling stone just rolling on
Catch me now 'cause tomorrow I'll be gone
Family man gives me a ride
Got his pregnant Sally in his side
Yes indeed, sir, children are a gift
Well thank you kindly for the lift
Well I'm hitch hiking all day long
A trucker gears his engine down
Says, "Climb on up, son, I'm highway bound"
Well dashboard picture of a pretty girl
I'm riding high on top of the world
I'm hitch hiking all day long
Gearhead in a souped-up '72
Wants to show a kid just what this thing'll do
Telephone poles and trees go whizzing by
Well thank you pal, she sure can fly
And I'm hitch hiking all day long
Well I'm hitch hiking all day long
Yeah I'm hitch hiking all day long
The above lyrics are for the live April 2019 performance of HITCH HIKIN' at Stone Hill Farm in Colts Neck, NJ, during the taping of the Western Stars film. This live April 2019 version of HITCH HIKIN' was released on the Western Stars - Songs From The Film soundtrack album in 2019.
The spoken prelude, which precedes the song on the film, is not included on the soundtrack album.
Western Stars is an "intimate and personal concert film" directed by Bruce Springsteen with his longtime collaborator Thom Zimny. The 83-minute performance documentary, which is Springsteen's feature-length directorial debut, was widely released by Warner Bros. Pictures on 25 Oct 2019. Western Stars - Songs From The Film, a companion soundtrack album for the film, was released on the same day by Columbia Records.
From the press release: "Touching on themes of love and loss, loneliness and family and the inexorable passage of time, the documentary film evokes the American West — both the mythic and the hardscrabble — weaving archival footage and Springsteen's personal narration with song to tell the story of Western Stars." The film is written and performed by Bruce Springsteen, with Special Guest Patti Scialfa. Thom Zimny, Jon Landau, Barbara Carr, and George Travis produced the film, with Springsteen serving as executive producer. Springsteen wrote the film's original score.
The Western Stars film features Springsteen performing all 13 songs from the studio album on the album plus a cover of Larry Weiss' RHINESTONE COWBOY, alongside more than 40 people, including backup singers, a band, a horn section, and a full orchestra. For the first time in Springsteen's his career, a music director was used to assemble the musicians and hold rehearsals. The songs were performed live, in front of a private audience, over the course of four days in late April 2019 in the hay loft under the cathedral ceiling of a nearly 100-year-old barn on Stone Hill Farm in Colts Neck, NJ. Initially Zimny suggested not having an audience present for the filming at all, but that was short-lived.
In an August 2019 interview with Variety, Thom Zimny explained that Western Stars was not filmed remotely like a traditional concert film, even when it comes down to personnel and live direction. "There wasn't a sort of situation where there's a live edit going on and someone screaming directions. I didn't cut it live. Everyone was shooting very much like their camera mattered at all times — the opposite of live concert shooting. I had a fantastic cinematographer in Joe DeSalvo, but every one of the nine camera operators was at a level of being a DP. The cameramen and camerawomen had all worked with me before, and sat with me and watched tests of it and discussed the content. Especially song to song, each one of them served different purposes to capture the drama and the narrative arc as well as the musical moments of Bruce."
Between each two songs, there's an interlude in which Springsteen narrates over archival footage, home video footage, footage shot at Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California, and more. These interludes are accompanied by instrumental music that Springsteen wrote and recorded for the film. During a Q&A session with Springsteen and Zimny following the film's premiere on 12 Sep 2019 at Toronto International Film Festival, Springsteen explained that initially the idea was to have interviews along with the live performances. "We were gonna do some interviews where people say what a nice guy I am and it's easy to work for me and what an honor it is," he joked. That has been done before, so he decided that he needs to "help people draw into the songs when they come up on screen." So he wrote the script and started collaborating with Zimny on the sections that were in between the music.
On 10 Jul 2019, driving home from the gym, Springsteen called in to chat with hosts Dave Marsh and Jim Rotolo on their Live From E Street Nation show on Sirius XM's E Street Radio channel. During that impromptu 10-minute phone call, he announced for the first time that they made a film of the Western Stars album. "I play the record start to finish, along with some other things," he said. "We knew we weren't going to tour, so I was looking for a way to get some of the music live to the audience, and so we figured that was the best way to do it." He also said that he was excited by the whole reception of the record. "It made us look for how we could sort of further that experience for the fans, without going out and playing live right now, because I'm still working on some other things, too."
On 23 Jul 2019, it was announced that Western Stars made its world premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, as one of the festival's Gala Presentations. "We have Bruce Springsteen's directorial debut at the festival, I think he's got a big future ahead of him," Cameron Bailey, artistic director and co-head of the festival, told IndieWire in a July 2019 interview. "In between the songs, you've got Bruce really talking about this character he invented, the story he wrote for the character, and how it reflects back on his own life as he ages and other kind of narratives he's had in his previous albums."
Western Stars was drawing strong interest from buyers weeks before the Toronto International Film Festival kicked off and there were rumors that Amazon or Netflix would buy the film. But on 16 Aug 2019, Toby Emmerich, Chairman Warner Bros. Pictures Group, announced that Warner Bros. Pictures purchased the global rights to the film. Emmerich said in a statement: "Bruce lives in the super rarified air of artists who have blazed new and important trails deep into their careers. With 'Western Stars,' Bruce is pivoting yet again, taking us with him on an emotional and introspective cinematic journey, looking back and looking ahead. As one of his many fans for over 40 years, I couldn't be happier to be a rider on this train with Bruce and Thom."
The trailer for the Western Stars film was first shown exclusively ahead of the film Blinded By The Light which opened in theatres on 16 Aug 2016 in the United States. On 19 Aug 2019, it was posted on Warner Bros. Pictures' YouTube Channel.
At the Toronto International Film Festival, Western Stars screened on Thursday 12 Sep 2019 at Roy Thomson Hall, on Friday 13 Sep 2019 at Winter Garden Theatre, and on Saturday 14 Sep 2019 at Scotiabank Theatre. The film premiered in the UK on 11 Oct 2019 during the London Film Festival and in Belgium on 18 Oct 2019 during the Gent International Film Festival. After a pair of exclusive one-night Fathom Events screenings on 19 and 23 Oct 2019, the film was widely released in theaters on 25 Oct 2019.
Western Stars - Songs From The Film includes the 14 songs performed in the film. It was produced by Bruce Springsteen and Ron Aniello, mixed by Bob Clearmountain, and mastered by Bob Ludwig. The album is available as a single-disc CD and as a two-disc LP set, as well as digital download and streaming. Two editions of the vinyl release were issued: a regular edition on black vinyl and a limited edition on light blue marble vinyl exclusive to Bruce Springsteen's official webstore. A two-disc CD edition was also issued. The set includes the 14 songs from the film on disc one plus the original studio album, Western Stars, on disc two.
List of available versions of HITCH HIKIN' on this website:
HITCH HIKIN' [Album version]
