Live 09 Dec 1995 version
[Spoken intro:] Thank you, uh... we'll continue in that theme there. This is a song about how (clears throat)... how quick we are at sort of abandoning our own, you know. Uh, when I was just about finished with the songs for most of the Tom Joad record, I was staying up at night and had a little insomnia and went, went downstairs into my living room and pulled a book off the shelf and it was a book called "Journey To Nowhere". And uh, text by a fella named Dale Maharidge and photos by a fella named Michael Williamson and (clears throat) what they did was they... they traveled across the country in the mid-80's by train, uh, hopped in boxcars and all the way across into California and up into Oregon and they were sort of chronicling what they were seeing happening out there at the time, you know, as we were all kind of sitting home and hearing about "Morning in America". I was hearing from a lot of folks that I was seeing, people who worked at these different food banks and, and they reported in the book that, that there were more people coming in and needed those services than ever before, that there were people coming in who'd never been in before, there were people who previously, you know, held, held good jobs, had supported their families, you know. And uh... all night, you know I finished the book in one night and put it, put it down and I remember thinking, well, I'm a guy, like, I know, I know one thing, I know how to do one thing and what would happen if you're doing, you've done something for 30 years, and something that's built, built the buildings that we live in and built the, built the bridges that we cross, people who've given their sons to die in, in the wars for this country, who end up thrown out like yesterday's newspapers. So, you know, what would I say to my kids if they came home at night and I couldn't feed them or I couldn't, if they were hurt and I couldn't help them or I couldn't make them safe, insure their health, you know. I don't know. It strikes to such a central part of who you are... This is called "Youngstown". (cheers)
Here in northeast Ohio, back in eighteen-o-three
James and Danny Heaton found the ore that was lining Yellow Creek
They built a blast furnace here along the shore
And they made the cannon balls that helped the Union win the war
Here in Youngstown, here in Youngstown
My sweet Jenny I'm sinking down
Here darling in Youngstown
Well my daddy worked the furnaces, he kept 'em hotter than hell
I come home from 'Nam worked my way to scarfer, a job that'd suit the devil as well
That taconite coke and limestone fed my children, made my pay
Them smokestacks reaching like the arms of God into a beautiful sky of soot and clay
Here in Youngstown, here in Youngstown
My sweet Jenny I'm sinking down
Here darling in Youngstown
Well my daddy came on the Ohio works when he come home from World War Two
Now that yard's just scrap and rubble, he said that those big boys did what Hitler couldn't do
These mills they built the tanks and bombs that won this country's wars
We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam, now we're wondering what they were dying for
Here in Youngstown, here in Youngstown
My sweet Jenny I'm sinking down
Here darling in Youngstown
From the Monongahela valley to the Mesabi iron range
To the coal mines of Appalachia, the story's always the same
Seven hundred tons of metal a day, and sir you tell me the world changed
Once I made you rich enough, rich enough to forget my name
And Youngstown, and Youngstown
My sweet Jenny I'm sinking down
Here darling in Youngstown
Now when I die I don't want no part of heaven, I would not do heaven's work well
I pray the devil comes and takes me to stand in the fiery furnaces of hell
The above lyrics are for the live 09 Dec 1995 performance of YOUNGSTOWN at Tower Theater in Upper Darby, PA, during The Ghost Of Tom Joad Solo Acoustic Tour.
A selection of four studio tracks from The Ghost Of Tom Joad album (see track list below) intercepted with interview segments with journalist Bob Costas were originally broadcast on the 21 Nov 1995 edition of the syndicated Columbia Records Radio Hour radio show which aired on U.S. album oriented rock stations. Costas conducted the interview with Bruce Springsteen that same day (21 Nov 1995) either prior to or following Springsteen's public warm-up show at the State Theater in New Brunswick, NJ. A total of 35 minutes of the 90-minute interview were used in the radio show.
Additionally, three songs from Springsteen's 08 Dec 1995 show and seven from his 09 Dec 1995 show at Upper Darby's Tower Theater (see track list below) were broadcast on the 14 Dec 1995 edition of the Columbia Records Radio Hour radio show.
The complete Columbia Records Radio Hour show was officially issued in December 1995 on cassette and reel-to-reel tapes for promotional use in the United States. Six of the ten live tracks from part 2 of the radio show (the 14 Dec 1995 broadcast) were never made available in commercial form.
Side A:
Side B:
Notes:
Part 2 of the Columbia Records Radio Hour radio show (the 14 Dec 1995 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.
List of available versions of YOUNGSTOWN on this website:
YOUNGSTOWN [Album version]
