Springsteen Songs as mini-movies

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Highway 29 --- Bruce Springsteen

 

I slipped on her shoe, she was a perfect size seven

I said "there's no smokin' in the store ma'am"

She crossed her legs and then

We made some small talk, that's where it should have stopped

She slipped me a number, I put it in my pocket

My hand slipped up her skirt, everything slipped my mind

In that little roadhouse

On highway 29

 

It was a small town bank, it was a mess

Well I had a gun, you know the rest

Money on the floorboards, shirt was covered in blood

And she was cryin', her and me we headed south

On highway 29

 

In a little desert motel, the air it was hot and clean

l slept the sleep of the dead, I didn't dream

I woke in the morning washed my face in the sink

We headed into the Sierra Madres 'cross the borderline

The winter sun, shot through the black trees

I told myself it was all something in her

But as we drove I knew it was something in me

Something had been comin' for a long long time

And something that was here with me now

On highway 29

 

The road was filled with broken glass and gasoline

She wasn't sayin' nothin'', it was just a dream

The wind come silent through the windshield

All I could see was snow and sky and pines

I closed my eyes and I was runnin',

I was runnin' then I was flyin'

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Straight Time --- Bruce Springsteen

Got out of prison back in '86 and I found me a wife

Walked the clean and narrow

just tryin' to stay out and stay alive

Got a job at the rendering factory,it ain't gonna make me rich

In the darkness before dinner comes

Sometimes I can feel the it

I got a cold mind to go tripping across that thin line

I'm sick of doin straight time

 

My uncles at the evenin' table makes his living runnin' hot cars

Slips me a hundred dollar bill, says

"Charlie, you best remember who your friend are."

I got a cold mind to go tripping across that thin line

I ain't makin' straight time

 

Eight years in, it feels like you're gonna die

But you get used to anything

Sooner or later it becomes your life

 

Kitchen floor in the evening, tossin' my little babies high

Mary's smilin', but she watches me out of the corner of her eye

Seems you can't get any more than half free

I step out onto the front porch, and suck the cold air deep inside of me

Got a cold mind to go tripping cross that thin line

I'm sick of doin' straight time

 

In the basement, huntin' gun and a hacksaw

Sip a beer, and thirteen inches of barrel drop to the floor

 

Come home in the evening, can't get the smell from my hands

Lay my head down on the pillow

And, go driftin' off into foreign lands

[bobfrombob]

Meeting Across The River

 

Hey, Eddie, can you lend me a few bucks

And tonight can you get us a ride

Gotta make it through the tunnel

Got a meeting with a man on the other side

 

Hey Eddie, this guy, he's the real thing

So if you want to come along

You gotta promise you won't say anything

'Cause this guy don't dance

And the word's been passed this is our last chance

 

We gotta stay cool tonight, Eddie

'Cause man, we got ourselves out on that line

And if we blow this one

They ain't gonna be looking for just me this time

 

And all we gotta do is hold up our end

Here stuff this in your pocket

It'll look like you're carrying a friend

And remember, just don't smile

Change your shirt, 'cause tonight we got style

 

Well Cherry says she's gonna walk

'Cause she found out I took her radio and hocked it

But Eddie, man, she don't understand

That two grand's practically sitting here in my pocket

 

And tonight's gonna be everything that I said

And when I walk through that door

I'm just gonna throw that money on the bed

She'll see this time I wasn't just talking

Then I'm gonna go out walking

 

Hey Eddie, can you catch us a ride?

[jff]

Titles might help.

[bobfrombob]

Title added for mine - Springsteen

[howdjadoo]

BALLAD OF THE SELF-LOADING PISTOL

a.k.a. THE BALLAD OF THE SELF-LOADING PISTOL

a.k.a. THE SHOOTOUT

a.k.a. SHOOTOUT IN CHINATOWN

a.k.a. THE STORY OF THE SELF-LOADING PISTOL

Father, I have come.

To tell you about somethin' I done.

Well as the night reared its light head

Into a baby's sun,

We rolled down into the town

From where the Black Throats come.

 

And you know there was a robb'ry.

There was a holdup.

Ooh, there was a shootout.

And there was a killin'.

And there's blood on my hands.

Today I killed a man.

 

Well now, sister, you know me well.

And you ask me well, how it was I felt.

Well, she had an appetite for lovin'

Only a fadin' beauty could posses.

She knew just what she wanted

And she wouldn't take less.

 

I figured it was a small town.

It was at sundown.

It was just a small crowd of people around.

Oh! But he wouldn't put his guns down.

No, he wouldn't put his guns down.

Oh, he wouldn't put his guns down.

Now his blood's on my hands.

Today I killed a man.

 

And, papa, you showed me the beauty of buckshot.

The love song a bullet sings as she whistles.

And showed me the story of the self-loading pistol.

 

Well now, father. I have come.

To tell you about somethin' I done.

He had a widow, runnin' through town screamin'.

He had a brother, and his tears were streamin'.

Now I'm movin' on the border

With a rifle on my shoulder.

 

'Cuz, daddy, you showed me the beauty of buckshot.

The love song a bullet sings as she whistles.

And showed me the glory of the self-loading pistol.

 

And I just come to tell ya,

That it don't hurt no more.

No, it don't hurt no more, 'cuz your son, he's an outlaw.

Oh, your son, he's an outlaw ,yes, your son, he's an outlaw.

Oh, your son, he's an outlaw, now, your son, he's an outlaw.

Oh, your son, he's an outlaw.

And this blood feels good on my hands.

Today I killed a man.

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

This song was recorded on 20 Feb 1973 at the Media and 914 Sound Studios, Blauvelt, New York City.

 

This song was in the running to appear on both Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ and The Wild, The Innocent, And The E Street Shuffle. An acoustic number similar to the Hammond demos, this track may have benefited from a full band workout. Yet another track filled with Western imagery.

[John Smith]

This thread is too easy...

 

The River

 

I come from down in the valley

Where mister when you're young

They bring you up to do like your daddy done

Me and Mary we met in high school

When she was just seventeen

We'd drive out of this valley down to where the fields were greenWe'd go down

to the river

And into the river we'd dive

Oh down to the river we'd ride

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

I got a job working construction for the Johnstown Company

But lately there ain't been much work on account of the economy

Now all them things that seemed so important

Well mister they vanished right into the air

Now I just act like I don't remember

Mary acts like she don't care

But I remember us riding in my brother's car

Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir

At night on them banks I'd lie awake

And pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take

Now those memories come back to haunt me

They haunt me like a curse

Is a dream a lie if it don't come true

Or is it something worse,

That sends me down to the river

Though I know the river is dry

That sends me down to theriver tonight

Down to the river

My baby and I

Oh down to the river we ride

 

 

American Skin (41 Shots) Lyrics

 

41 shots

41 shots

41 shots

41 shots

41 shots

41 shots

41 shots

41 shots....

and we'll take that ride

'cross this bloody river

to the other side

41 shots... cut through the night

You're kneeling over his body in the vestibule

Praying for his life

 

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)

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

 

41 shots

41 shots

41 shots

41 shots

41 shots and

Lena gets her son ready for school

She says "on these streets, Charles

You've got to understand the rules

If an officer stops you

Promise me you'll always be polite,

that you'll never ever run away

Promise Mama you'll keep your hands in sight"

 

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

 

41 shots

41 shots

41 shots

41 shots

(music bit)

41 shots

41 shots

41 shots

41 shots

Is it a gun, is it a knife

Is it in your heart, is it in your eyes

It ain't no secret

(It ain't no secret)

It ain't no secret

(It ain't no secret)

It ain't no secret

(It ain't no secret)

 

41 shots

And we'll take that ride

Cross this bloody river

To the other side

41 shots

And my boots caked in this mud

We're baptized in these waters

(baptized in these waters)

And in each other's blood

(And in each others blood)

 

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

(It ain't no secret)

It ain't no secret

(It ain't no secret)

No secret my friend

You can get killed just for living in

You can get killed just for living in

You can get killed just for living in

You can get killed just for living in

You can get killed just for living in

Your American Skin

 

(41 shots)You can get killed just for living in

(41 shots)You can get killed just for living in

(41 shots)You can get killed just for living in

(41 shots)You can get killed just for living in

(41 shots)You can get killed just for living in

(41 shots)You can get killed just for living in

 

 

SINALOA COWBOYS

 

Miguel came from a small town in northern Mexico.

He came north with his brother Louis to California three years ago

They crossed at the river levee, when Louis was just sixteen

And found work together in the fields of the San Joaquin

 

They left their homes and family

Their father said, "My sons one thing you will learn,

for everything the north gives, it exacts a price in return."

They worked side by side in the orchards

From morning till the day was through

Doing the work the hueros wouldn't do.

 

Word was out some men in from Sinaloa were looking for some hands

Well, deep in Fresno county there was a deserted chicken ranch

And there in a small tin shack on the edge of a ravine

Miguel and Louis stood cooking methamphetamine

 

You could spend a year in the orchards

Or make half as much in one ten hour shift

Working for the men from Sinaloa

But if you slipped the hydriodic acid

Could burn right through your skin

They'd leave you spittin' up blood in the desert

If you breathed those fumes in

 

It was early one winter evening as Miguel stood watch outside

When the shack exploded, lighting up the valley night

Miguel carried Louis' body over his shoulder down a swale

To the creekside and there in the tall grass, Louis Rosales died

 

Miguel lifted Louis' body into his truck and then he drove

To where the morning sunlight fell on a eucalyptus grove

There in the dirt he dug up ten-thousand dollars. all that they'd saved

Kissed his brothers lips and placed him in his grave