Unofficial studio version 3
I got a '69 Chevy with a 396, fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor
She's waiting tonight down in the parking lot outside the 7-Eleven store
Me and my partner Sonny built her straight out of scratch and he rides with me from town to town
We only run for the money, got no strings attached, we shut 'em up and then we shut 'em down
Tonight, tonight the strip's just right, I wanna blow 'em off in my first heat
Summer's here and the time is right for racing in the street
We take all the action we can meet and we cover all the northeast state
When the strip shuts down we run 'em in the street from the fire roads to the interstate
Well some guys they do it for the money because they don't know what else they can do
They get tired of living with nothing left at home, waking up in a world that somebody else owns
Tonight, tonight the strip's just right, I went with the fools and the wild was me
We're calling out around the world, we're going racing in the street
I met her on the strip three years ago in a Camaro with this dude from L.A.
I blew that Camaro off my back and drove that little girl away
But now there's wrinkles 'round my baby's eyes and she cries herself to sleep at night
When I come home the house is dark, she sighs, "Baby did you make it all right?"
She sits on the porch of her daddy's house but all her pretty dreams are torn
She stares off alone into the night with the eyes of one who hates for just being born
For all the shut down strangers and hot rod angels rumbling through this promised land
Tonight my baby and me we're gonna ride to the sea and wash these sins off our hands
Tonight, tonight the highway's bright, out of our way mister you best keep
'Cause summer's here and the time is right for racing in the street
The above lyrics are for a studio take of RACING IN THE STREET recorded in a full-band arrangement and is very similar to the eventually released album version.
According to The Lost Masters Vol. 3 bootleg liner notes, this take was cut sometime in August 1977 at Atlantic Studios or The Record Plant in New York City, NY. According to Sony's logs of Bruce Springsteen's studio sessions, takes of RACING IN THE STREET were cut on 01-04, 10, 12, and 29-30 Aug 1977 at Atlantic Studios or The Record Plant in New York City, NY, and on 28-30 Nov and 06 and 09 Dec 1977 at The Record Plant. Being more developed than unofficial studio version 2 and very similar to the eventually released album version, it seems most likely that this take was cut sometime during the August 1977 sessions at Atlantic Studios or The Record Plant after unofficial studio version 2 or sometime during the Nov-Dec 1977 sessions at The Record Plant. See the album version for more details about the song's studio sessions timeline.
This unofficial studio version of RACING IN THE STREET can be found on The Lost Masters Vol. 3 (Labour Of Love) [track 04] bootleg.
List of available versions of RACING IN THE STREET on this website:
RACING IN THE STREET [Album version]