Live 31 Jan 1998 version
| Jon Bon Jovi: | It's all the same, only the names will change |
| Every day, it seems we're wasting away | |
| Another place where the faces are so cold | |
| You drive all night to get back home | |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | I'm a cowboy |
| On a steel horse I ride | |
| Wanted dead or alive | |
| Wanted dead or alive | |
| (Two... Three... Four...) | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | Sometimes I sleep, sometimes it's not for days |
| And the people that I meet, we always go our separate ways | |
| Well sometimes you tell the day by the bottle that you drink | |
| And times when you're all alone, and all you do is think | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | Honey, I'm a cowboy |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | I'm a cowboy |
| On a steel horse I ride | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | On a steel horse I ride |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | Wanted, wanted dead or alive |
| Wanted (wanted) dead or alive | |
| [guitar solo] | |
| [SPOKEN]Jon Bon Jovi: | I'm a cowboy |
| On a steel horse I ride | |
| I'm wanted (wanted) dead or alive | |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | And I'll walk the streets, I got my guitar on my back |
| I gotta play everyday for keeps, 'cause I might not make it back | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | I've been everywhere and still I'm trying to stand tall |
| I've seen a million faces, and I've lived through it all | |
| Both: | Honey, I'm a cowboy |
| Bruce Springsteen: | I'm a cowboy |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | On a steel horse I ride |
| Bruce Springsteen: | On a steel horse I ride |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | Wanted (wanted) dead or alive |
| Bruce Springsteen: | Dead or alive |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | I'm a cowboy |
| Bruce Springsteen: | I'm a cowboy |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | The night's on my side |
| Wanted (wanted) dead or alive | |
| And I'll ride (and I'll ride) | |
| Dead or alive | |
| And I'll drive (I still try) | |
| Dead or alive | |
| Dead or alive | |
| Dead or alive | |
| Dead or alive | |
| Dead or alive |
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE is a 1986 song by Bon Jovi. See the original Bon Jovi version for more details.
The above lyrics are for live 31 Jan 1998 performance of WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE at Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ, during the "Come Together: Jon Bon Jovi & Friends" benefit concert. Jon Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen traded lead vocals on this song.
The "Come Together: Jon Bon Jovi & Friends" benefit concert was organized by the Long Branch Police Department, The Asbury Park Press, and FPI Concerts, along with Jon Bon Jovi. The concert was to honor slain Long Branch police officer Sgt. Patrick King and raise money for the Sgt. Patrick King Memorial Fund to provide for his family. King, 45-year-old father of two young boys, was fatally shot on 20 Nov 1997 by a fugitive who had vowed to kill himself and a police officer rather than be captured and returned to jail.
Twenty musicians with ties to the Jersey shore music scene answered Jon Bon Jovi's call, including Bruce Springsteen and several members of the then-disbanded E Street Band (Clarence Clemons, Danni Frederici, Patti Scialfa, Steven Van Zandt, and Max Weinberg), Southside Johnny, Bobby Bandiera, and Richie Sambora among others. Actor Danny DeVito was the event's MC. Tickets, which were priced at $125, went on sale on 17 Jan 1998 noon and sold out in just eight minutes. The concert that was organized in short order raised more than $112,000 for King's widow and his two sons.
"It was a chance to forget about [the murder] a little bit," Long Branch police Sgt. Bruce Johantgen, one of about 50 city police officers who attended the show, told The Asbury Park Press. "The outpouring of love from the performers to the audience was unbelievable". Johantgen said he found it ironic that Bon Jovi and other performers thanked the audience for coming to the sold-out show. "From the police perspective, I kept thinking, 'We should be thanking you for giving your time'," Johantgen said.
This was a near-reunion of the fabled E Street Band and Springsteen's first full-length electric gig following the acoustic The Ghost Of Tom Joad Solo Acoustic Tour. Springsteen spent much (or possibly all) of the night onstage, singing or playing guitar only. Soundboard recording for the complete concert is available among collectors.
The 31 Jan 1998 show at Count Basie Theatre 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.
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE was performed off-tour on 31 Jan 1998 at Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ, during the "Come Together: Jon Bon Jovi & Friends" benefit concert.
Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake) for the lyrics help.
List of available versions of WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE on this website:
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE [Live 31 Jan 1998 version]
