Album version
I was driving through my hometown, I was just kinda killing time
When I seen a face staring out of a black velvet painting from the window of the Five And Dime
I couldn't quite recall the name but the pose looked familiar to me
So I asked the salesgirl "Who was that man between the Doberman and Bruce Lee?"
She said "Just a local hero", "Local hero" she said with a smile
"Yeah a local hero, he used to live here for a while"
I met a stranger dressed in black at the train station, he said "Son your soul can be saved"
There's beautiful women, nights of low living, and some dangerous money to be made
There's a big town 'cross the whiskey line and if we turn the right cards up
Well they make us boss, the devil pays off, and them folks that are real hard up
They get their local hero, yeah somebody with the right style
They get their local hero, yeah somebody with just the right smile
Well I learned my job, I learned it well
Fit myself with religion and a story to tell
First they made me the king then they made me pope
Well then they brought the rope
Whoa!
I woke to a gypsy girl saying "Drink this", well my hands had lost all sensation
These days I'm feeling all right except I can't tell my courage from my desperation
From the tainted chalice well I drunk some heady wine
Tonight I'm laying here but there's something in my ear saying there's a little town just beneath the floodline
Needs a local hero, yeah somebody with the right style
Looking for a local hero, yeah someone with the right smile
Looking for a local hero, yeah somebody with the right smile
Looking for a local hero, yeah somebody with just the right smile
Local hero, "local hero" she said with a smile
Local, local hero, he used to live here for a while
(Local hero)
Oh yeah
(Local hero)
Yeah
Yeah, oh yeah
(Local hero)
Hoo hoo
Hoo hoo hoo
(Local hero)
Hoo hoo...
[Fades out]
LOCAL HERO is a song written by Bruce Springsteen and released on his 1992 album Lucky Town. The above lyrics are for Bruce Springsteen's album version of LOCAL HERO as released in 1992.
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The Human Touch recording sessions were completed by early 1991 and the album was planned to be released in the spring of that year. However Bruce Springsteen decided to hold off the release and he continued to write more songs during the spring and summer of 1991. The recording sessions for what later became Lucky Town spanned a period of about five months, from late summer 1991 to very early 1992. It would appear that they began in September 1991 at Springsteen's Los Angeles home studio and were then augmented at A&M Studios later in 1991. Chuck Plotkin has implied that about 15 songs were complete during this session period, which means there are likely only a handful of undocumented songs from these sessions still in the vaults. These mid to late 1991 sessions were not originally intended to produce a stand-alone album — the songs were meant to be added to the ones recorded in 1990 and then the complete body of material would be sieved to produce one album. However, Springsteen unusually decided to release two different albums, Human Touch and Lucky Town, at the same time.
Lucky Town was recorded between September 1991 and January 1992 at Thrill Hill West (Springsteen's home studio in Los Angeles, CA) and A&M Studios in Los Angeles, CA. The album was recorded by Toby Scott, mixed by Bob Clearmountain, and mastered by Bob Ludwig. It was produced by Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, and Chuck Plotkin. Roy Bittan is credited as a fourth co-producer of tracks 05, 06, and 07. Lucky Town was released on Columbia Records on 31 Mar 1992, the same day as Human Touch.
Lucky Town features 10 tracks and clocks at 39:38.
Other versions of LOCAL HERO were also officially released.
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As far as it's known, no artist has recorded and released Bruce Springsteen's LOCAL HERO.
List of available versions of LOCAL HERO on this website:
LOCAL HERO [Album version]
