Live 16 Aug 1984 version
[Spoken intro:] This is uh... it's around this time of year I always think about this date when somebody called me up and told me that Elvis had died. And I remember it was really hard, I couldn't understand it at the time. I guess sometimes a dream coming true is a dangerous thing.
Well she drew out all her money from the Southern Trust
Put her little boy on a Greyhound Bus
Leaving Memphis with a guitar in his hand
On one-way ticket to the promised land
Hey little girl with the red dress on
There's a party tonight down in Memphis town
I'll be going down there if you need a ride
The man on the radio says Elvis Presley's died
We drove down into Memphis, the sky was hard and black
Up over the ridge came a white Cadillac
They'd drawn out all his money and they laid him in the back
A woman cried from the roadside, "Johnny please come back"
Hey! Hey!
Hey! Hey!
Well they found him slumped up against the drain
With a whole lot of trouble running through his veins
Bye-bye Johnny, Johnny bye-bye
You didn't have to die, you didn't have to die
All aboard
Hey! Hey!
All aboard
Hey! Hey!
All aboard
Hey!
The above lyrics are for the live 16 Aug 1984 performance of JOHNNY BYE-BYE at Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, NJ, during the Born In The U.S.A. Tour. The song was played in a full-band rock arrangement very similar to the official studio version and ending with "All aboard" shouts that reference Junior Parker's (and Elvis Presley's hit) MYSTERY TRAIN. This reference would become clearer in the remaining performances of JOHNNY BYE-BYE during the tour.
This was the seventh of a ten-night stand at Brendan Byrne Arena.
List of available versions of JOHNNY BYE-BYE on this website:
JOHNNY BYE-BYE [Official studio version]
