Bruce Springsteen Lyrics: THE WISH [Live July 2018 version]

THE WISH

Live July 2018 version

My mom was a different story altogether. I'm gonna release you from suicide watch right now. Snap out of it! Come on. Because my mother was bright and happy. She'd merrily make conversation with a broom handle. She believed that there was good faith, good heart, good hope in all citizens. She gave the world a lot more credit, perhaps, than it deserves, but that was her way. Now on school mornings− I hated school. That's just Rock Star 101. If you don't hate school in my business, please keep your fucking day job, all right? Because it's a sign. It's a sign that, brother, you're going nowhere, man. Nowhere. You need to have hatred in your heart to get to the top where I am, all right? You've got to hate, all right? Uh, so of course I hated getting up. And uh, my mom had perfected this technique in the morning where she'd stand over my bed with a glass of ice water and give me 30 seconds. You know, "Five, four, three, two..." Boom! Niagara Falls. I would get dressed, I would drift downstairs to breakfast, where I would feast daily on a huge bowl of Sugar Pops. A fine product with just one problem. They don't put enough sugar in those Sugar Pops. So, I wasn't content until I snowed more sugar on my Sugar Pops until they looked like the Himalayas. And then, "Mmm, good." With a buzz on, and a kiss from my mom, I was off with my sister, lumbering up the street with our book bags as my mom's high heels clicked lightly in the other direction toward Lawyers Title Insurance Company in town center. She was a legal secretary. That was the job she did since the day she got out of high school, 50 years that followed. Goes to work, doesn't miss a day, never sick, never down, never complains. Work doesn't appear to be a burden for her, but it's a source of energy and of social pleasure. Now some evenings I would meet my mother at closing time, and we would be the last to leave the office, and this was always a great privilege to me. I would have my mother all to myself. And with the building empty, her high heels would echo down the long linoleum hallway. And with the fluorescent lights out, lawyers' cubicles empty, secretaries' desks empty, typewriters covered, silent. The building was so still after all the noise of the day. You know, it was so, it got so quiet, it was as if... it, it was as if the building itself was resting after a long day of service in the interests of our town. And then suddenly we'd be through the front door and out on Main Street in the five o'clock rush hour, and she would stride along, statuesque, and I would be running alongside her just trying to keep up and I would be, you know, looking up at her. And uh, it's a sight that I've never, never forgotten. My mother walking home from work. It had some... just some eternal impact on me, you know. Uh... she, she always had these very ethnic features. She had coal-black hair, Italian olive skin, and when she was young she wore that red lipstick that was very fashionable in the '50s. And she'd be looking down at me with a look that, for me, was like the grace of Mary, you know. Made me understand for the first time how good it feels to feel pride in somebody that you love, and who loves you back. You know, she let the town know that we are handsome responsible members of this shit-dog burgh, pulling our own individual weight doing what has to be done day after day. We have a place here that we have earned! And we have a reason to open our eyes at the break of each day and breathe in a life that's steady and good. Now my mom was truthfulness, consistency, good humor, professionalism, grace, kindness, optimism, civility, fairness, pride in yourself, responsibility, love, faith in your family, commitment, joy in your work, and a never-say-die thirst for living, for living and for life. And most importantly, for dancing. My mother and her two sisters were dancing machines, all right? They grew up in the '40s with the big bands and the swing bands and they, they learned to jitterbug and, and uh... It was in their bones, you know. My mom is seven years into Alzheimer's. And she's 93. But dancing and the desire and need to dance is something that, it hasn't left her. Remains an essential, primal part of who she is. It's beyond language. It's more powerful than memory. And when she comes in the door, we make sure there's music on. She wants to dance, you know. Uh these things were the embodiment of my mother. They were her heart. She carried on and she carries on as if they never, never deserted her.

Dirty old street all slushed up in the rain and snow
Little boy and his ma shivering outside a rundown music store window
That night on top of a Christmas tree shines one beautiful star
And lying underneath a brand-new Japanese guitar

I remember in the morning, ma, hearing your alarm clock ring
I'd lie in bed and listen to you getting ready for work, the sound of your makeup case on the sink
And the ladies at the office, all lipstick, perfume and rustling skirts
How proud and happy you always looked walking home from work

If pa's eyes were windows into a world so deadly and true
You couldn't stop me from looking but you kept me from crawling through
It's a funny old world, mama, where a little boy's wishes come true
Well I got a few left in my pocket and a special one just for you

It ain't no phone call on Sunday, flowers or a mother's day card
It ain't no house on a hill with a garden and a nice little yard
I got my hot rod down on Bond Street, I'm older but you'll know me in a glance
We'll find us a little rock and roll bar and we'll go out and dance

Well it was me in my Beatle boots, you in pink curlers and matador pants
Pulling me up off the couch to do the twist for my uncles and aunts
Well I found a girl of my own now, and I popped the question on your birthday
She stood waiting on the front porch while you told me to get out there and say what I had to say

Well last night we all sat around laughing at the things that guitar brought us
And I laid awake thinking 'bout the other things it's brought us
Well tonight I'm taking requests here in the kitchen, this one's for you, ma, let me come right out and say it
But if you're looking for a sad song, hell I ain't gonna play it

Ain't no phone call on Sunday, flowers or a mother's day card
It ain't no house on a hill with a garden and a nice little yard
I got my hot rod down on Bond Street, I'm older but you'll know me, you'll know me in a glance
We'll find us a little rock and roll bar and we'll go out and dance
We'll find us a little rock and roll bar and we'll go out and dance

Info

The above lyrics are for the live July 2018 performance of THE WISH at Walter Kerr Theatre in New York City, NY, during Springsteen On Broadway. The song was played solo on piano.

This performance of THE WISH was recorded on 17 or 18 July 2018 during the taping of the Springsteen On Broadway Netflix special. It was released on the Springsteen On Broadway album in 2018.

Springsteen On Broadway

Springsteen On Broadway was a Bruce Springsteen concert residency held at Walter Kerr Theatre (in 2017-2018) and St. James Theatre (in 2021) in New York City, NY. The show consisted of Springsteen performing five shows a week, Tuesday through Saturday, at the Broadway theatres. The sold-out series of performances began with seven previews starting on 03 Oct 2017 and officially opened on 12 Oct 2017. It was extended three times after its initial eight-week run, running through 15 Dec 2018 and bringing the total number of performances at Walter Kerr Theatre to 238. On 10 Jun 2018, Springsteen received a special Tony Award for his Broadway show. In 2021, an additional limited run was announced, this time held at St. James Theatre instead of Walter Kerr Theatre. This new series of performances opened on 26 Jun 2021 and ran through 04 Sep 2021, bringing the total number of performances at both theatres to 268.

The show featured Springsteen, solo, playing guitar, piano, and harmonica, performing his music, restating incidents from his 2016 autobiography Born To Run, and performing other spoken reminiscences written for the show. His wife, Patti Scialfa, has also appeared at most shows, singing backing vocals on a total of three different songs.

Springsteen On Broadway, a Netflix special directed by Grammy- and Emmy-winning filmmaker Thom Zimny, was filmed during two special invitation-only shows on 17 and 18 Jul 2018. The film launched globally on Netflix on 16 Dec 2018 at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time, just hours after the final Broadway performance at Walter Kerr Theatre closed. Two days prior, on 14 Dec 2018, Columbia Records released Springsteen On Broadway, an audio album encompassing the full film soundtrack. The audio was mixed by Bob Clearmountain and mastered by Bob Ludwig. The album is available physically as a 2-disc CD set or a 4-disc LP set, as well as digitally.