IT'S HARD TO BE A SAINT IN THE CITY

Live 07 Jul 1978 version

I had skin like leather and the diamond-hard look of a cobra
I was born blue and weathered but I burst just like a supernova
I could walk like Brando right into the sun
And dance like a Casanova
With my blackjack and jacket and hair slicked sweet
Silver star studs on my duds like a Harley in heat
When I strut down the street I could feel its heartbeat
The sisters fell back, said, "Don't that man look pretty"
The cripple on the corner cried out, "Nickels for your pity"
Them downtown boys sure talk gritty
But it's so hard to be a saint
In the city!

I was the king of the alley, I could talk some trash
The prince of the paupers crowned downtown at the beggar's bash
The pimp's main prophet, I kept everything cool
A backstreet gambler with the luck to lose
When the heat came down and it was left on the ground
The devil appeared like Jesus through the steam in the street
Showin' me a hand I knew even the cops couldn't beat
I felt his hot breath on my neck as I dove into the heat
Ain't it hard to be a saint when you're just a boy

And the sages of the subway sit just like the living dead
The tracks clack out the rhythm, their eyes fixed straight ahead
They ride the line of balance, hold on by just a thread
It's too hot in these tunnels, you get hit up by the heat
You get up to get out at your next stop, they push you back down in your seat
Your heart starts beatin' faster as you struggle to your feet
And you're out of that hole and back up on the street

South side sisters sure look pretty
Cripple on the corner cried out, "Nickels for your pity"
Them downtown boys sure talk gritty
Well, it's so hard to be a saint
In the city
So hard, sir

So hard!

Info

The above lyrics are for the live 07 Jul 1978 performance of IT'S HARD TO BE A SAINT IN THE CITY at The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, CA, during the Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour. The song was played in its traditional full-band arrangement.

This live 07 Jul 1978 performance of IT'S HARD TO BE A SAINT IN THE CITY was included on the Live/1975-85 box set in 1986.

The 07 Jul 1978 Show

On 07 Jul 1978, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band performed a special concert at The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, CA. The full show was originally broadcast live on the now-defunct local radio station KMET-FM, and later became one of the main source concerts for the Live/1975-85 box set which includes eight recordings from this show. One more recording didn't make it onto the box set but was released as a b-side. Prior to its official release in 2018, this show circulated in its complete form on bootlegs (and unauthorized releases) sourced from tapes recorded off the airways.

Ticket stub for the 07 Jul 1978 show at The Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, CA
(Taken from Brucebase)

It was Jon Landau who suggested to Paul Rappaport, Columbia Records' west coast promotion manager at the time, the idea of a live broadcast on KMET-FM to widely promote Springsteen in Los Angeles. Rappaport had only a few days to organize a concert. The Roxy Theatre, which had a seating capacity of only 500, was selected and the band already booked to play the venue on that date has to be bought out. Ma Bell laid special high-fidelity phone lines at the venue to send audio to the radio station and a remote-recording truck was procured to handle the mix and record the concert on multi-track tapes for future use.

Reel-to-reel tape from which the official release was transferred

Rumors that a special show is happening on Friday 07 Jul 1978 at The Roxy Theatre started circulating just 48 hours prior to the show, and this was later confirmed in the 06 Jul 1978 issue of the Los Angeles Times. Tickets went on sale at noon on Thursday and the venue's limited capacity made getting tickets extremely difficult. With such short notice, tickets were simply stamped onto standard Roxy Theatre stubs (see above scan). It has been reported that the record company had bought half of the tickets, but Springsteen requested that they return half of them to various Los Angeles radio stations who would distribute them to fans.

In July 2018 the complete 07 Jul 1978 concert was officially released on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net (see the "Official Live Downloads" section below for more details). It was recorded live with the Wally Heider Mobile truck by Jimmy Iovine and his crew consisting of Pete Carlson, Biff Dawes, Dennis Mays, Phil MacConnell, and Paul Sandweiss. The audio was freshly mixed by Jon Altschiller from 24-track 2-inch 15 IPS master tapes, assisted by Danielle Warman. It was mastered to DSD and PCM by Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering Studios in Portland, ME.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- The Roxy July 7, 1978

The 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre was commercially released in Europe. Since 2005 some enterprising record labels in Europe (mostly in the UK) have been releasing Bruce Springsteen radio and TV broadcasts (and some soundboard recordings) from the seventies, eighties, and nineties. Though these releases are not authorized by Bruce Springsteen or his record company, they are lawful due to a legal loophole in Europe.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- The Roxy Theater, West Hollywood July 7, 1978

3xCD - Rox Vox (RV3CD1001) - UK, 2015

This release contains the 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- The Roxy Theater, West Hollywood July 7, 1978

4xLP - Rox Vox (RV4LP1001) - UK, 2015

This release contains the 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Roxy Night 1978

3xCD - Leftfield Media (LFM3CD534) - UK, 2015

This release contains the 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre.

Bruce Springsteen -- 1978 Roxy Night Volume 1

2xLP - Let Them Eat Vinyl (LETV386LP) - UK, 2015

This release contains part 1 of two of the 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre.

Bruce Springsteen -- 1978 Roxy Night Volume 2

2xLP - Let Them Eat Vinyl (LETV387LP) - UK, 2015

This release contains part 2 of two of the 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Roxy 1978

Digital album - Lilith Records (no catalog number) - UK, 2016

This is a download-only digital album. It contains the 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- The Complete 1978 Radio Broadcasts

15xCD - Sound Stage (SSCDBOX10) - UK, 2015

This release contains the 09 Aug 1978 broadcast from The Agora, the 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre, the 19 Sep 1978 broadcast from Capitol Theatre, the 30 Sep 1978 broadcast from Fox Theatre, and the 15 Dec 1978 broadcast from Winterland Ballroom.

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.

The Live/1975-85 Box Set

With the Born In The U.S.A. album and tour, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band reached the highest level of rock stardom. Columbia Records was expecting a follow up studio album and tour that would, like it's predecessor, achieve a huge commercial success. Instead, Springsteen released Live/1975-85, an over-three-hours-and-a-half-long live compilation album consisting of 40 tracks recorded at various concerts between 1975 and 1985.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Live/1975-85

The set was produced by Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, and Bruce Springsteen, and hit the stores on 10 Nov 1986. It was released as a box set with either five vinyl records, three cassettes, or three CDs. Live/1975-85 is the first album to be credited to "Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band" instead of "Bruce Springsteen" only.

The highly-anticipated live album generated advance orders of more than 1.5 million copies, making it the largest dollar-volume pre-order in the history of the record business at the time. Record stores around the country found fans waiting in line on Monday morning before opening and one New York store reportedly sold the album right off the back of the delivery truck. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard album chart and also became the first five-record set to reach the top 10 and the first to sell over a million copies. Live/1975-85 is the second-best-selling live album in U.S. history based on RIAA certification. It has been certified by the RIAA for 13 times platinum, trailing only Garth Brooks' Double Live.

Other Official Releases

The live 07 Jul 1978 version of IT'S HARD TO BE A SAINT IN THE CITY can also be found on one Bruce Springsteen promo-only sampler.

Bruce Springsteen -- Live 1975-1985 Digest CD

CD-R - Sony (no catalog number) - Japan, 2005

Japan-only promotional "Digest" CD-R advance sampler tying in with the release of the Japanese 2005 "mini-LP"-style CD album reissue of Live/1975-85. This disc comes in a plain slimline jewel case with no artwork.

Live 1975-1985 Digest CD track list

01- THUNDER ROAD [Live 18 Oct 1975 (early show) version]
02- 4TH OF JULY, ASBURY PARK (SANDY) [Live 31 Dec 1980 version]
03- GROWIN' UP [Live 07 Jul 1978 version]
04- IT'S HARD TO BE A SAINT IN THE CITY [Live 07 Jul 1978 version]
05- BECAUSE THE NIGHT [Live 28 Dec 1980 version]
06- RACING IN THE STREET [Live 06 Jul 1981 version]
07- WAR [Live 30 Sep 1985 version]
08- BOBBY JEAN [Live 21 Aug 1985 version]
09- BORN TO RUN [Live 19 Aug 1985 version]
10- NO SURRENDER [Live 06 Aug 1984 version]
11- JERSEY GIRL [Live 09 Jul 1981 version]

Credits

Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake) for the lyrics help.

Available Versions

List of available versions of IT'S HARD TO BE A SAINT IN THE CITY on this website:

Page last updated: 12 Jun 2011