Live 24 Apr 1973 (early show) version
[Spoken intro:] You got the ??? Alright, here we go.
One, two, three, four
Crazy Janey and her mission man were back in the alley trading hands
Along came Wild Billy with his friend G-Man all duded up for Saturday night
Well, Billy slammed on his coaster brakes, said, "Anybody wanna go on up to Greasy Lake?
It's about a mile down on the dark side of route eighty-eight, I got a bottle of rose so let's try it
We'll pick up Hazy Davy and Killer Joe and I'll take you all out to where the gypsy angels go
They're built like light
Ooh, and they dance like spirits in the night" (all night)
In the night (all night)
Oh baby don't know what they do to you
Like a spirit in the night (all night)
In the night (all night)
Stand right up, let it shoot through you
Alright
Now Wild Billy was a crazy cat and he shook some dust out of his coonskin cap
Cried, "Trust some of this, it'll show you where you're at, or at least it'll help you really feel it"
By the time we made it up to Greasy Lake I had my head out the window, Janey's fingers were in the cake
Well, I think I really dug her but I was too loose to fake
I said, "I'm hurt," she said, "Honey, let me heal it"
Whoa, we danced all night to a soul fairy band
She kissed me just right like only a lonely angel can
Felt so nice, just as soft as spirit in the night (all night)
In the night (all night)
Oh baby don't know what she do to you
She's like a spirit in the night (all night)
In the night (all night)
Stand right up, let her shoot through you
Well alright
(Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh)
(Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh)
(Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh)
(Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh)
Now the night grew bright and the stars threw light on Billy and Davy
Dancing in the moonlight
They were down near the water in a stone mud fight
Killer Joe passed out on the lawn
Yes, and Hazy Davy, he got really hurt, he ran into the lake in just his socks and a shirt
Me and Crazy Janey was making love in the dirt, singing our birthday songs
Well and Janey said it was time to go
So we closed our eyes and said goodbye to gypsy angel row, felt so right
Together we moved like spirits in the night (all night)
In the night (all night)
Oh baby don't know what it do to you
Like a spirit in the night (all night)
In the night (all night)
Oh stand right up and let it shoot through you
Like a spirit in the night (all night)
In the night (all night)
In the night (all night)
In the night (all night)
In the night (all night)
In the night (all night)
In the ni-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ight
Oh, now, baby, that's right
Like a spirit in the night
Like a spirit in the night
Whoa like a spirit in the night
Alright
[Spoken outro:] Thank you. Oh thank you.
The above lyrics are for the live 24 Apr 1973 early show performance of SPIRIT IN THE NIGHT at The Main Point in Bryn Mawr, PA, during what is considered the Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. Tour. The song was played in a full-band, album-style arrangement.
In April 1973, Bruce Springsteen performed a two-night stand at The Main Point in Bryn Mawr, PA (24 and 25 Apr 1973). He played two shows each night, an early one at 08:00 PM and a late one at 10:00 PM. These were double-bill shows, with Springsteen headlining and folk duo Aztec Two-Step opening. The complete early show from the first night was broadcast live on Philadelphia's WMMR-FM. That was Bruce Springsteen's first real time concert venue simulcast. Since then, the audio has widely circulated in excellent quality among collectors.
The 24 Apr 1973 WBCN-FM radio broadcast 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.
Some of the above information is taken from Brucebase.
List of available versions of SPIRIT IN THE NIGHT on this website:
SPIRIT IN THE NIGHT [Album version]
