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Bruce Springsteen

American rock singer (born 1949)

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born 23 September 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has released 20 studio albums, many of which feature his backing band the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is one of the originators of the heartland rock style of music, combining mainstream rock musical style with narrative songs about working class American life. During a career that has spanned six decades, Springsteen has become known for his poetic, socially conscious lyrics and energetic stage performances, sometimes lasting up to four hours in length. He has been nicknamed "the Boss".

We gotta get out while we're young,
'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run.
~ "Born to Run"

Quotes

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  • This music is forever for me. It's the stage thing, that rush moment that you live for. It never lasts, but that's what you live for.
    • Time magazine (27 October 1975)
  • Music was my way of keeping people from looking through and around me. I wanted the heavies to know I was around.
    • Time magazine (27 October 1975)
  • I think what's happening now is people want to forget. There was Vietnam, there was Watergate, there was Iran – we were beaten, we were hustled, and then we were humiliated. And I think people got a need to feel good about the country they live in. But what's happening, I think, is that that need – which is a good thing – is gettin' manipulated and exploited. And you see the Reagan reelection ads on TV – you know: "It's morning in America." And you say, well, it's not morning in Pittsburgh. It's not morning above 125th Street in New York. It's midnight, and, like, there's a bad moon risin'. And that's why when Reagan mentioned my name in New Jersey, I felt it was another manipulation, and I had to disassociate myself from the president's kind words.
    • Rolling Stone magazine (December 1984)
  • Your success story is a bigger story than whatever you’re trying to say on stage... Success makes life easier. It doesn’t make living easier.
    • Q magazine (August 1992)
  • We're here to re-dedicate you to The Power, The Passion, The Mystery, and The Ministry of Rock and Roll.
    • Guitar magazine (July 1999)
  • I don’t think anybody truly knows where we’re going from here yet. It depends on too many unknowns. We don’t know where the COVID virus is going to take us. We don’t know where Black Lives Matter is going to take us right now. Do we get a real practical conversation going about race and policing and ultimately about the economic inequality that’s been a stain on our social contract?
    And of course, nobody knows where our next election is going to take us. I believe that our current president is a threat to our democracy. He simply makes any kind of reform that much harder. I don’t know if our democracy could stand another four years of his custodianship. These are all existential threats to our democracy and our American way of life.
  • I have the feeling that the night you look at your audience and don't see yourself, and the night the audience looks at you and doesn't see themselves reflected in you, it's all over.

Bruce Springsteen Talking (2004)

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Quotes from Bruce Springsteen Talking (2004) edited by John W. Duffy
  • At this point, I don’t need my records to be Number One or sell as many as this person or that person. That’s not fundamentally important — I don’t believe that sustains you.
  • In the third grade a nun stuffed me in a garbage can under her desk because she said that’s where I belonged.
  • There ain't a note that I play on stage that can’t be traced back directly to my mother and father.
  • The first day I can remember looking into a mirror and being able to stand what I saw was the day I had a guitar in my hand.
  • You ride in a limousine the first time, it’s a big thrill but after that it’s just a stupid car.

Song lyrics

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Show a little faith, there's magic in the night;
You ain't a beauty but hey you're all right.
Oh and that's all right with me.
~Thunder Road
 
Born down in a dead man's town,
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground.
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much,
Till you spend half your life just covering up.
~Born in the U.S.A.

Singles

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  • I was bruised and battered and I couldn't tell
    What I felt.
    I was unrecognizable to myself.
    I saw my reflection in a window I didn't know
    My own face.
    Oh brother are you gonna leave me?
    Wastin' away
    On the streets of Philadelphia.
  • Ain't no angel gonna greet me.
    It's just you and I my friend.
    My clothes don't fit me no more.
    I walked a thousand miles
    Just to slip this skin.
    • "Streets of Philadelphia"
  • She'll let you in her house
    If you come knockin' late at night.
    She'll let you in her mouth
    If the words you say are right.
    If you pay the price,
    She'll let you deep inside.
    But there's a secret garden she hides.
  • Blind faith in your leaders, or in anything, will get you killed.
    • [[1]|Introduction before "War", from the 1985 Born in the USA tour.]

Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (1973)

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Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun. But Mama, that's where the fun is ...
  • And she was blinded by the light. Cut loose like a deuce,
    Another runner in the night. Blinded by the light.
    She got down but she never got tight, but she'll make it alright.
  • Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun.
    But Mama, that's where the fun is ...
  • I stood stonelike at midnight, suspended in my masquerade.
    I combed my hair till it was just right and commanded the night brigade.
    I was open to pain and crossed by the rain and I walked on a crooked crutch.
    I strolled all alone through a fallout zone and came out with my soul untouched.
  • And your strength is devastating in the face of all these odds.
    Remember how I kept you waiting when it was my turn to be the god.
  • And we danced all night to a soul fairy band.
    And she kissed me just right like only a lonely angel can.
    She felt just right just like as sweet as a spirit in the night.
    In the night baby don't know what she do to you?
    Spirits in the night, in the night.
    Stand up now and let her shoot right through you.

The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (1973)

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  • Did you hear the cops finally busted Madame Marie for tellin' fortunes better than they do?
    For me this boardwalk life is through, babe.
    You ought to quit this scene too.
  • Rosalita jump a little lighter.
    Senorita come sit by my fire.
    I just want to be your love, ain't no lie.
    Rosalita you're my stone desire.
  • Now I know your mama she don't like me 'cause I play in a rock and roll band.
    And I know your daddy he don't dig me but he never did understand.
    Papa lowered the boom, he locked you in your room;
    I'm comin' to lend a hand.
    I'm comin' to liberate you, confiscate you, I want to be your man.
    Someday we'll look back on this and it will all seem funny.
    • "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"

Born to Run (1975)

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  • Don't run back inside
    Darling you know just what I'm here for.
    So you're scared and you're thinking
    That maybe we ain't that young anymore.
    Show a little faith, there's magic in the night;
    You ain't a beauty but hey you're all right.
    Oh and that's all right with me.
  • Hey what else can we do now?
    Except roll down the window
    And let the wind blow back your hair.
    Well the night's busting open,
    These two lanes will take us anywhere.
    We got one last chance to make it real,
    To trade in these wings on some wheels.
    Climb in back, heaven's waiting on down the tracks.
    Oh come take my hand,
    We're riding out tonight to case the promised land.
    Oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road.
    Thunder Road.
    • "Thunder Road"
  • And in the lonely cool before dawn,
    You hear their engines roaring on.
    But when you get to the porch they're gone on the wind.
    So Mary climb in.
    It's a town full of losers,
    And I'm pulling out of here to win.
    • "Thunder Road"
  • I'm stranded in the jungle,
    Taking all the heat they was giving.
    The night is dark but the sidewalk's bright
    And lined with the light of the living.
    From a tenement window a transistor blasts,
    Turn around the corner things got real quiet real fast.
    She hit me with a Tenth Avenue freeze-out.
    Tenth Avenue freeze-out.
  • And the world is busting at its seams;
    And you're just a prisoner of your dreams.
    Holding on for your life 'cause you work all day
    To blow 'em away in the night.
  • Laying here in the dark you're like an angel on my chest,
    Just another tramp of hearts crying tears of faithlessness.
    Remember all the movies, Terry, we'd go see?
    Trying to learn how to walk like heroes we thought we had to be.
    And after all this time to find we're just like all the rest,
    Stranded in the park and forced to confess
    To hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets.
    We swore forever friends on the backstreets until the end,
    Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets.
  • In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream.
    At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines.
    Sprung from cages on Highway 9,
    Chrome-wheeled, fuel-injected
    And steppin' out over the line.
    Baby this town rips the bones from your back.
    It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap.
    We gotta get out while we're young,
    'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run.
  • The highway's jammed with broken heroes
    On a last chance power drive.
    Everybody's out on the run tonight
    But there's no place left to hide.
    Together, Wendy, we can live with the sadness.
    I'll love you with all the madness in my soul.
    Someday girl, I don't know when we're gonna get to that place
    Where we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun.
    But till then tramps like us, baby we were born to run.
    • "Born To Run"
  • The street's alive as secret debts are paid.
    Contacts made, they vanished unseen.
    Kids flash guitars just like switch-blades hustling for the record machine.
    The hungry and the hunted explode into rock'n'roll bands
    That face off against each other out in the street, down in Jungleland.
  • Outside the street's on fire in a real death waltz
    Between flesh and what's fantasy and the poets down here
    Don't write nothing at all, they just stand back and let it all be.
    And in the quick of the night they reach for their moment
    And try to make an honest stand but they wind up wounded, not even dead
    Tonight in Jungleland.
    • "Jungleland"

Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978)

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  • Badlands, you gotta live it everyday.
    Let the broken hearts stand
    As the price you've gotta pay.
    We'll keep pushin' till it's understood
    And these badlands start treating us good.
  • Poor man want to be rich
    Rich man want to be king
    And a king ain't satisfied
    Till he rules everything.
    I want to go out tonight
    I want to find out what I got.
    • "Badlands"
  • Well, I believe in the love that you gave me
    I believe in the faith that can save me
    I believe in the hope
    And I pray that some day it may raise me
    Above these badlands
    • "Badlands"
  • For the ones who had a notion,
    A notion deep inside,
    That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive.
    • "Badlands"
  • In the Bible Cain slew Abel and East of Eden he was cast.
    You're born into this life paying for the sins of somebody else's past.
    Daddy worked his whole life for nothing but the pain.
    Now he walks these empty rooms looking for something to blame.
    You inherit the sins, you inherit the flames.
    Adam raised a Cain.
  • Some guys they just give up living,
    And start dying little by little, piece by piece.
    Some guys come home from work and wash up
    And go racin' in the street.

    Tonight, tonight the strip's just right.
    I wanna blow 'em all out of their seats.
    Calling out around the world, we're going racin' in the street.

  • There's a dark cloud rising from the desert floor.
    I packed my bags and I'm heading straight into the storm.
    Gonna be a twister to blow everything down
    That ain't got the faith to stand its ground.
    Blow away the dreams that tear you apart,
    Blow away the dreams that break your heart.
    Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted.
  • Everybody's got a hunger, a hunger they can't resist;
    There's so much that you want, you deserve much more than this.
    But if dreams came true, oh, wouldn't that be nice?
    But this ain't no dream we're living through tonight.
    Girl, you want it, you take it, you pay the price.
  • Everybody's got a secret Sonny,
    Something that they just can't face.
    Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep it;
    They carry it with them every step that they take.
    Till some day they just cut it loose.
    Cut it loose or let it drag 'em down
    Where no one asks any questions,
    Or looks too long in your face
    In the darkness on the edge of town.
    • "Darkness on the Edge of Town"

The River (1980)

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  • Cheap romance, it's all just a crutch.
    You don't want nothin' that anybody can touch.
    You're so afraid of being somebody's fool,
    Not walkin' tough baby, not walkin' cool.
    You walk cool, but darlin', can you walk the line?
    And face the ties that bind.
    The ties that bind,
    Now you can't break the ties that bind.
  • Well let there be sunlight, let there be rain.
    Let the brokenhearted love again.
    Sherry we can run with our arms open before the tide
    • "Sherry Darling"
  • Now I don't know what it always was with us.
    We chose the words, and yeah, we drew the lines.
    There was just no way this house could hold the two of us.
    I guess that we were just too much of the same kind.
  • Got a wife and kids in Baltimore Jack;
    I went out for a ride and I never went back.
    Like a river that don't know where it's flowing,
    I took a wrong turn and I just kept going
  • Then I got Mary pregnant and man that was all she wrote.
    And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat.
    We went down to the courthouse and the judge put it all to rest.
    No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle,
    No flowers no wedding dress.

    That night we went down to the river.
    And into the river we'd dive.
    Oh down to the river we did ride.

  • Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
    Or is it something worse?
    • "The River"
  • I was gonna be your Romeo you were gonna be my Juliet.
    These days you don't wait on Romeo's,
    You wait on that welfare check.
  • Well now you say you've found another man who does things to you that I can't,
    And that no matter what I do it's all over now between me and you girl.
    But I can't believe what you say;
    No I can't believe what you say 'cause baby

    I don't wanna fade away.
    Oh I don't wanna fade away.
    Tell me what can I do, what can I say
    'Cause darlin' I don't wanna fade away.

  • Sometimes I sit up in the darkness,
    And I watch my baby as she sleeps.
    Then I climb in bed and I hold her tight.
    I just lay there awake in the middle of the night,
    Thinking 'bout the wreck on the highway.

Nebraska (1982)

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  • I can't say that I'm sorry for the things that we done;
    At least for a little while sir me and her we had us some fun.
  • Well now everything dies baby that's a fact,
    But maybe everything that dies someday comes back.
    Put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty,
    And meet me tonight in Atlantic City.
  • Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late that month.
    Ralph went out lookin' for a job but he couldn't find none.
    He came home too drunk from mixin' Tanqueray and wine.
    He got a gun shot a night clerk now they call'm Johnny 99.
  • I catch him when he's strayin' like any brother would.
    Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good.

Born in the U.S.A. (1984)

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  • Born down in a dead man's town,
    The first kick I took was when I hit the ground.
    You end up like a dog that's been beat too much,
    Till you spend half your life just covering up.
  • The times are tough now, just getting tougher.
    This old world is rough, it's just getting rougher.
    Cover me, come on baby, cover me.
    Well I'm looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me.
  • Sometimes it's like someone took a knife baby, edgy and dull
    And cut a six-inch valley through the middle of my soul.

    At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet
    And a freight train running through the middle of my head.
    Only you can cool my desire.
    I'm on fire.

  • We busted out of class had to get away from those fools;
    We learned more from a three minute record than we ever learned in school.
    Tonight I hear the neighborhood drummer sound;
    I can feel my heart begin to pound.
    You say you're tired and you just want to close your eyes and follow your dreams down.
  • Now you hung with me when all the others turned away turned up their nose.
    We liked the same music, we liked the same bands, we liked the same clothes.
    We told each other that we were the wildest, the wildest things we'd ever seen.
    Now I wished you would have told me, I wished I could have talked to you.
    Just to say goodbye Bobby Jean.
  • I pull you close but when we kiss I can feel a doubt.
    I remember back when we started,
    My kisses used to turn you inside out.
    I used to drive you to work in the morning;
    Friday night I'd drive you all around.
    You used to love to drive me wild,
    But lately girl you get your kicks from just driving me down.
  • Now I think I'm going down to the well tonight
    And I'm going to drink till I get my fill.
    And I hope when I get old I don't sit around thinking about it,
    But I probably will.
    Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture
    A little of the glory of,
    Well time slips away and leaves you with nothing mister but boring stories of glory days.
  • You can't start a fire, sitting 'round crying over a broken heart.
    This gun's for hire,
    Even if we're just dancing in the dark.
    You can't start a fire, worrying about your little world falling apart.
    This gun's for hire,
    Even if we're just dancing in the dark.
  • Last night me and Kate we laid in bed talking about getting out.
    Packing up our bags maybe heading south.
    I'm thirty-five, we got a boy of our own now.
    Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said son take a good look around.
    This is your hometown.

Tunnel Of Love (1987)

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  • Well it's Saturday night you're all dressed up in blue.
    I been watching you awhile, maybe you been watching me too.
    So somebody ran out, left somebody's heart in a mess.
    Well if you're looking for love, honey I'm tougher than the rest.
  • Spare parts
    And broken hearts
    Keep the world turnin' around.
  • It ought to be easy, ought to be simple enough.
    Man meets woman and they fall in love.
    But the house is haunted and the ride gets rough.
    And you've got to learn to live with what you can't rise above
    If you want to ride on down in through this tunnel of love.
  • Now you play the loving woman;
    I'll play the faithful man.
    But just don't look too close into the palm of my hand.
  • Tonight our bed is cold;
    I'm lost in the darkness of our love.
    God have mercy on the man
    Who doubts what he's sure of.
    • "Brilliant Disguise"

Human Touch (1992)

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  • Baby, in a world without pity,
    Do you think what I'm askin's too much?
    I just want to feel you in my arms,
    Share a little of that Human Touch.
    Feel a little of that Human Touch.
    Give me a little of that Human Touch.
  • If the angels are unkind or the season is dark,
    Or if in the end
    Love just falls apart.
    Well then here's to our destruction.
    Baby let me be your soul driver.
    • "Soul Driver"
  • So I bought a .44 magnum, it was solid steel cast.
    And in the blessed name of Elvis well I just let it blast.
    'Til my TV lay in pieces there at my feet
    And they busted me for disturbin' the almighty peace.
    Judge said "What you got in your defense son?"
    "Fifty-seven channels and nothin' on."
    I can see by your eyes friend you're just about gone.
    Fifty-seven channels and nothin' on...
    Fifty-seven channels and nothin'

Lucky Town (1992)

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  • Now a life of leisure and a pirate's treasure
    Don't make much for tragedy.
    But it's a sad man my friend who's livin' in his own skin
    And can't stand the company.
    Every fool's got a reason to feelin' sorry for himself
    And turn his heart to stone.
    Tonight this fool's halfway to heaven and just a mile outta hell,
    And I feel like I'm comin' home.
    • "Better Days"
  • Well here's to your good looks baby, now here's to my health.
    Here's to the loaded places that we take ourselves.
    When it comes to luck, you make your own.
    Tonight I got dirt on my hands but I'm building me a new home.
    • "Lucky Town"

The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995)

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  • Well the highway is alive tonight,
    But nobody’s kiddin’ nobody about where it goes.
    I’m sittin’ down here in the campfire light
    Searchin’ for the ghost of Tom Joad.
  • 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.
  • They found him shot dead outside Stockton,
    His body lyin' on a muddy hill.
    Nothin' taken, nothin' stolen;
    Somebody killed him just to kill.

The Rising (2002)

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  • Hell's brewin', dark sun's on the rise.
    This storm'll blow through by and by.
    House is on fire, viper's in the grass;
    A little revenge and this too shall pass.
    This too shall pass, I'm gonna pray.
    Right now all I got's this lonesome day.
  • Better ask questions before you shoot,
    Deceit and betrayal's bitter fruit.
    It's hard to swallow, come time to pay
    That taste on your tongue don't easily slip away.
    Let kingdom come I'm gonna find my way
    Through this lonesome day.
    • "Lonesome Day"
  • May your strength give us strength.
    May your faith give us faith.
    May your hope give us hope.
    May your love give us love.
    • "Into the Fire"
  • It's rainin' but there ain't a cloud in the sky;
    Musta been a tear from your eye.
    Everything'll be okay.
    Funny, thought I felt a sweet summer breeze;
    Musta been you sighin' so deep.
    Don't worry we're gonna find a way.
  • It's a fairytale so tragic,
    There's no prince to break the spell.
    I don't believe in magic,
    But for you I will, for you I will.
    If I'm a fool, I'll be a fool.
    Darlin' for you.
    • "Countin' on a Miracle"
  • Now I been out in the desert, just doin' my time.
    Searchin' through the dust, lookin' for a sign.
    If there's a light up ahead well brother I don't know.
    But I got this fever burnin' in my soul.
    So let's take the good times as they go,
    And I'll meet you further on up the road.
    • "Further On (Up the Road)"
  • Trees on fire with the first fall's frost
    Long black line in front of Holy Cross
    Blood moon risin' in a sky of black dust
    Tell me Baby who do you trust?
    The fuse is burning
    Shut out the lights
    The fuse is burning
    Come on let me do you right.
    • "The Fuse"
  • Can't see nothin' in front of me;
    Can't see nothin' coming up behind.
    I make my way through this darkness;
    I can't feel nothing but this chain that binds me.
    Lost track of how far I've gone,
    How far I've gone, how high I've climbed.
    On my back's a sixty pound stone,
    On my shoulder a half mile line.
  • Come on up for the rising.
    Come on up, lay your hands in mine.
    Come on up for the rising.
    Come on up for the rising tonight.
    • "The Rising"
  • There is a blood red circle
    On the cold dark ground.
    And the rain is falling down.
    The church door's thrown open;
    I can hear the organ's song.
    But the congregation's gone.
    My city of ruins.
    My city of ruins.
  • Come on, rise up! Come on, rise up!
    • "My City of Ruins"

Devils & Dust (2005)

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  • I got my finger on the trigger
    But I don't know who to trust.
    When I look into your eyes
    There's just devils and dust.
    We're a long, long way from home, Bobbie.
    Home's a long, long way from us.
    I feel a dirty wind blowing
    Devils and dust.
  • I got God on my side.
    I'm just trying to survive.
    What if what you do to survive
    Kills the things you love?
    Fear's a powerful thing;
    It can turn your heart black you can trust.
    It'll take your God filled soul
    And fill it with devils and dust
    • "Devils & Dust"

Magic (2007)

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  • I was tryin' to find my way home,
    But all I heard was a drone
    Bouncing off a satellite,
    Crushin' the last lone American night.
    This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?
    This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?
  • She went away, she cut me like a knife.
    Hello beautiful thing, maybe you could save my life.
    In just a glance, down here on magic street,
    Loves a fool's dance
    And I ain't got much sense, but I still got my feet.
  • The wise men were all fools, what to do?
    • "Last to Die"
  • Here everybody has a neighbor,
    Everybody has a friend.
    Everybody has a reason to begin again.
  • My father said "Son, we're lucky in this town.
    It's a beautiful place to be born.
    It just wraps its arms around you.
    Nobody crowds you, nobody goes it alone.
    That you know flag flying over the courthouse
    Means certain things are set in stone:
    Who we are, what we'll do and what we won't."
    • "Long Walk Home"
  • When they built you brother, they turned this dust to gold.
    When they built you brother, they broke the mold.
    • "Terry's Song"

Working on a Dream (2009)

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  • Out of the East on an Irish stallion came bounty hunter Dan.
    His heart quickened and burdened by the need to get his man.
    He found Pete peacefully fishing by the river.
    Pulled his gun and got the drop.
    He said "Pete you think you've changed but you have not."
    • "Outlaw Pete"
  • I've seen strong hearts give way
    To the burdens of the day,
    To the weary hands of time
    Where fortune is not kind.
  • I'm working on a dream,
    Though trouble can feel like it's here to stay.
    I'm working on a dream;
    Our love will chase the trouble away.
  • Have you ever seen a one trick pony in the field so happy and free/
    If you've ever seen a one trick pony then you've seen me.
    Have you ever seen a one legged dog makin' his way down the street?
    If you've ever seen a one legged dog then you've seen me.

Wrecking Ball (2012)

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  • I been knocking on the door that holds the throne.
    I been looking for the map that leads me home.
    I been stumbling on good hearts turned to stone.
    The road of good intentions has gone dry as a bone.
    We take care of our own.
    We take care of our own.
    Wherever this flag’s flown,
    We take care of our own.
  • Well, no cannon ball did fly, no rifles cut us down.
    No bombs fell from the sky, no blood soaked the ground.
    No powder flash blinded the eye.
    No deathly thunder sounded.
    But just as sure as the hand of God,
    They brought death to my hometown.
    They brought death to my hometown.
  • Tend to your flock or they will stray.
    We’ll be called for our service come judgment day.
    Before we cross that river wide,
    The blood on our hands will come back on us twice.
  • This train...
    Carries saints and sinners.
    This train...
    Carries losers and winners.
    This train...
    Carries whores and gamblers.
    This train...
    Carries lost souls.

    I said this train...
    Dreams will not be thwarted.
    This train...
    Faith will be rewarded.

High Hopes (2014)

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  • Is it a gun, is it a knife?
    Is it a wallet, this is your life?
    It ain't no secret,
    It ain't no secret,
    No secret my friend.
    You can get killed just for living
    In your American skin.
  • We all come up a little short and we go down hard.
    These days I spend my time skipping through the dark.
    Through the empires of dust, I chant your name.
    I am the hunter of invisible game.
    • "Hunter of Invisible Game"

Quotes about Bruce Springsteen

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Sorted alphabetically

  • I think music changed when Bruce Springsteen came on the scene. I think if it wasn't for Bruce Springsteen, we may have gone in a very scary direction. We may have gotten to the point where disco music ruled and I would have had to quit.
  • America was staggering when Springsteen appeared. The president had just resigned in disgrace. The U.S. had lost its first war. There was going to be no more oil in the ground. The days of cruising and big cars were supposed to be over. But Bruce Springsteen's vision was bigger than a Honda, it was bigger than a Subaru. Bruce made you believe that dreams were still out there, but after loss and defeat, they had to be braver, not just bigger.
    • Bono, inducting Bruce Springsteen into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 [4]
  • We call him the Boss. Well that's a bunch of crap. He's not the boss. He works for us.
    • Bono, inducting Bruce Springsteen into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 [5]
  • Bruce Springsteen feels familiar to us. But it's not an easy familiarity, is it? Even his band seems to stand taller when he walks in the room. It's complex. He's America's writer, and critic. It's like in Badlands, he's Martin Sheen and Terrence Malick. To be so accessible and so private, there's a rubric. But then again, he is an Irish-Italian, with a Jewish-sounding name. What more do you want? Add one big African sax player, and no one in this room is gonna fuck with you!
    • Bono, inducting Bruce Springsteen into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 [6]
  • In 1974, I was 14. Even I knew the '60s were over. It was the era of soft-rock infusion. The Beatles were gone, Elvis was in Vegas. What was goin' on? Nothin' was goin' on. Bruce Springsteen was comin' on, saving music from the phonies, saving lyrics from the folkies, saving black leather jackets from the Fonz.
    • Bono, inducting Bruce Springsteen into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 [7]
  • The label of liberalism is hardly a sentence to public igominy: otherwise Bruce Springsteen would still be rehabilitating used Cadillacs in Asbury Park and Jane Fonda, for all we know, would be just another overweight housewife.
    • Barbara Ehrenreich, Mother Jones (1986)
  • I couldn't believe how happy his music made me and how good it was. He's a gift, and I didn't know. I mean, I knew 'Born in the USA' and 'Glory Days,' but I didn't know that he covered so much ground, and there was something in his music that touched what I was going through, the process of falling back in love with my America.
  • Bruce Springsteen put it best in 2004 when he said: "America is not always right. That's a fairy tale for children.... But one thing America should always be is true. And it's in seeking her truth, both the good and the bad, that we find a deeper patriotism, that we find a more authentic experience as citizens, that we find the power that is embedded only in truth to change our world for the better."
  • Last Thursday, at the Harvard Square theatre, I saw my rock'n'roll past flash before my eyes. And I saw something else: I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time.
    • Jon Landau, The Real Paper (1974)
  • Our love is like a Bruce Springsteen concert. It's not that great, it's really long. But wow! What energy.
    • Bruce McCulloch, "Our Love", from the comedy album Shame Based Man (Atlantic, 1995)
  • Our slot was immediately before Bruce Springsteen, who was headlining that night. It was his birthday and people were yelling "Bruuuuuce," you know, all night long. And Jackson Browne, at the side of the stage, he says to me "Now listen, if you go on and you think they're booing you, don't, don't get thrown because they're really just saying 'Bruce.'" And I said, "Well, what's the difference?'"
  • Too bad the guy's name wasn't Melvin or something.
  • Whenever I see Bruce Springsteen do anything, he empties the tank. Every time. And the beautiful thing about this man is he empties that tank for his family, he empties that tank for his art, he empties that tank for his audience, and he empties it for his country. And we, on the receiving end of that beautiful gift, are ourselves rejuvenated, if not, redeemed.
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