BABY DOLL
BACK IN YOUR ARMS
BACKSTREETS
BADLANDS
BALBOA PARK
BALLAD OF THE JESSE JAMES
BALLAD OF THE SELF-LOADING PISTOL
BE TRUE
BECAUSE THE NIGHT
BENEATH THE FLOODLINE
BETTER DAYS
BISHOP DANCED
BLACK COWBOYS
BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
a BLOOD BROTHERS
b BLOOD BROTHERS (July 1st 2000 version)
BOBBY JEAN
BOOK OF DREAMS
BOOM BOOM BOOM- John Lee Hooker
BORDER GUARD
a BORN IN THE U.S.A.
b BORN IN THE U.S.A. (Tracks version)
BORN TO RUN
BRILLIANT DISGUISE
BRING ON THE NIGHT
BROTHERS UNDER THE BRIDGE
BROTHERS UNDER THE BRIDGES ('83)
BUFFALO GALS

BABY DOLL
Oh Baby Doll
They tried to tell me you were deaf and dumb
But I knew they were wrong
You're just a silent one

Oh Baby Doll
They tried to tell me you could not feel
But I found out they tried to conceal
From you, that you were a woman

Well they brought you into their laboratory
And tried to get you to show and tell
They wanted to hear you say that you were sorry
And then they told you that you were conceived in hell

But Baby Doll, you knew
you knew that wasn't true
you knew that it was them
it wasn't you

Oh baby doll
It was so hard to know you
I could not tell, I couldn't show you
But I didn't have to, 'cause you already knew

Oh baby doll
They had to see by touching hands
We had to dance to a silent band
and you surprised me, being so graceful

I know you can't hear these songs I sing
But then they're more for me than they are for you
Because you don't need these songs, babe, like I do
Yeah, you knew the first time that I held you babe
You didn't have to hear how I love

Oh baby doll
They tried to tell me you were deaf and dumb
But I knew that they were wrong
And you were just the lonely one

BACK IN YOUR ARMS
In my dream our love was lost, I lived by luck and fate
I carried you inside of me, prayed it wouldn't be too late
Now I'm standin' on this empty road where nothin' moves but the wind

Once I was your treasure and I saw your face in every star
But the promises we make at night, oh that's all they are
Unless we fill them with faith and love they're empty as the howlin' wind
And honey I just wanna be back in your arms
Back in your arms again

You came to me with love and kindness
But all my life I've been a prisoner of my own blindness
I met you with indifference and I don't know why
Now I wake from my dream, I wkae from my dream to this world
Where all is shadow and darkness and a above me a dark sky unfurls
And all the love I've thrown away and lost I'm longin' for again
Now darlin' I just wanna be back in your arms
Back in your arms again

BACKSTREETS
One soft infested summer me and Terry became friends
Trying in vain to breathe the fire we was born in
Catching rides to the outskirts tying faith between our teeth
Sleeping in that old abandoned beach house getting wasted in the heat
And hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
With a love so hard and filled with defeat
Running for our lives at night on them backstreets

Slow dancing in the dark on the beach at Stockton's Wing
Where desperate lovers park we sat with the last of the Duke Street Kings
Huddled in our cars waiting for the bells that ring
In the deep heart of the night to set us loose from everything
to go running on the backstreets, running on the backstreets
We swore we'd live forever on the backstreets we take it together

Endless juke joints and Valentino drag where dancers scraped the tears
Up off the street dressed down in rags running into the darkness
Some hurt bad some really dying at night sometimes it seemed
You could hear the whole damn city crying blame it on the lies that killed us
Blame it on the truth that ran us down you can blame it all on me Terry
It don't matter to me now when the breakdown hit at midnight
There was nothing left to say but I hated him and I hated you when you went away

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

BADLANDS
Lights out tonight
trouble in the heartland
Got a head-on collision
smashin' in my guts, man
I'm caught in a cross fire
that I don't understand
But there's one thing I know for sure girl
I don't give a damn
For the same old played out scenes
I don't give a damn
For just the in betweens
Honey, I want the heart, I want the soul
I want control right now
talk about a dream
Try to make it real
you wake up in the night
With a fear so real
Spend your life waiting
for a moment that just don't come
Well, don't waste your time waiting

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

Workin' in the fields
till you get your back burned
Workin' `neath the wheel
till you get your facts learned
Baby I got my facts
learned real good right now
You better get it straight darling
Poor man wanna be rich,
rich man wanna be king
And a king ain't satisfied
till he rules everything
I wanna go out tonight,
I wanna find out what I got
Well I believe in the love that you gave me

I believe in the love that you gave me
I believe in the faith that could save me
I believe in the hope
and I pray that some day
It may raise me above these

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

mmmmmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmmm

For the ones who had a notion,
a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin
to be glad you're alive
I wanna find one face
that ain't looking through me
I wanna find one place,
I wanna spit in the face of these
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

BALBOA PARK
He lay his blanket underneath the freeway
As the evening sky grew dark
Took a sniff of toncho from his coke can
And headed through Balboa Park
Where the men in their Mercedes
Come nightly to employ
In the cool San Diego evening
The services of the border boys

He grew up near the Zona Norte
With the hustlers and smugglers he hung out with
He swallowed their balloons of cocaine
Brought 'em across the Twelfth Street strip
Sleeping in a shelter
If the night got too cold
Runnin' from the migra
Of the border patrol

Past the salvage yard 'cross the train tracks
and in through the storm drain
they stretched their blankets out 'neath the freeway
and each one took a name
there was X-man and Cochise
Little Spider his sneakers covered in river mud
they come north to California
end up with the poison in their blood

He did what he had to do for the money
sometimes he sent home what he could spare
the rest went to high-top sneakers and toncho
and jeans like the gavachos wear

One night the border patrol swept Twelfth Street
a big car come fast down the boulevard
spider stood caught in its headlights
got hit and went down hard
As the car sped away Spider held his stomach
limped to his blanket 'neath the underpass
lie there tasting his own blood on his tongue
closed his eyes and listened to the cars
rushin' by so fast

BALLAD OF JESSE JAMES
Well dont you want to climb a mountain
yeah, dont you want to ride the river
drink from a magic fountain
give your woman all the love that you can give her
well dont you want to be an outlaw
dont you want to ride the range
dont you want to be an outlaw children
just like jesse, like jesse james

well now dont you want to swim the ocean
dont you want to climb the highest tree
drink some of momma's lovin' potion
get your woman till she just cant see
dont you want to be an outlaw
just a poor boy out on the skids
dont you want to be an outlaw children
just like billy, just like billy the kid

well now billy he was a bad boy, he won the wild west
by the year of 21, as many notches on his gun
but someone laid him to an early rest

dont you want to climb a mountain
dont you want to ride the river
drink from a magic fountain
give your woman all the love that you can give her
dont you want to be an outlaw
dont you want to ride the range
dont you want to be an outlaw children
just like jesse

Jesse he was a bad boy, he won the wild west
as many notches on his gun as the years of 21
but someone laid him to an early rest

dont you want to climb a mountain
dont you want to ride the river
drink from a magic fountain
give your woman all the love that you can give her
dont you want to be an outlaw
dont you want to ride the range
dont you want to be an outlaw children
just like jesse, like jesse james
well dont you want to be an outlaw
dont you want to be an outlaw

just like jesse, just like jesse, just like jesse james

BALLAD 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.
Well, that 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.

BE TRUE
Your scrapbook's filled with pictures of all your leading men
Well baby don't put my picture in there with them
Don't make us some little girl's dream that can't ever come true
That only serves to hurt and make you cry like you do
Well baby don't do it to me and I won't do it to you

You see all the romantic movies, you dream and take the boys home
But when the action fades you're left all alone
You deserve better than this, little girl, can't you see that you do
Do you need somebody to prove it to you?
Well you prove it to me and I'll prove it to you

Now every night you go out looking for true love's satisfaction
But in the morning you end up settling for just lights, camera, action

And another cameo role with some bit player you're befriending
You're gonna go broken-hearted looking for that happy ending
Well girl you're gonna end up just another lonely ticket sold
Cryin' alone in the theater as the credits roll
You say I'll be like those other guys
Who filled your head with pretty lies
And dreams that can never come true
Well baby you be true to me
And I'll be true to you

BECAUSE THE NIGHT
Take me now baby here as I am
Pull me close try an understand
I work all day out in the hot sun
Stay with me now till the mornin' comes
Come on now try and understand
The way I feel when I'm in your hands
Take me now as the sun descends
They can't hurt you now
They can't hurt you now
They can't hurt you now

Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us

What I got I have earned
What I'm not I have learned
Desire and hunger is the fire I breathe
Just stay in my bed till the morning comes
Come on now try and understand
The way I feel when I'm in your hands
Take me now as the sun descends
They can't hurt you now
They can't hurt you now
They can't hurt you now

Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us

Your love is here and now
The vicious circle turns and burns without
Though I cannot live forgive me now
The time has come to take this moment and
They can't hurt you now

Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us

BENEATH THE FLOODLINE
Put on your muddy boots
Baby, down on Main Street
Where the assassin shoots
Ya, in a rock and roll beat
Where Gypsy dancers dance
And roll the night away
Where cowboy figures ride
Ya, just to fade away

They say they're listening
But they aint even trying
They're the blood that's glistening
Glistening down on the vine
Beneath the Floodline
Beneath the Floodline

Little girl you're oh so cruel
I know a Gypsy says it's true
I got more money than your daddy's got
And I just want to make love to you
We need a night, baby
Out past the dead end signs
Down past the little creek
Out where the river winds
Beneath the Floodline
Beneath the Floodline

BETTER DAYS
Well my soul checked out missing as I sat listening
To the hours and minutes tickin' away
Yeah, just sittin' around waitin' for my life to begin
While it was all just slippin' away.
I'm tired of waitin' for tomorrow to come
Or that train to come roarin' 'round the bend
I got a new suit of clothes a pretty red rose
And a woman I can call my friend

These are better days baby
Yeah there's better days shining through
These are better days baby
Better days with a girl like you

Well I took a piss at fortune's sweet kiss
It's like eatin' caviar and dirt
It's a sad funny ending to find yourself pretending
A rich man in a poor man's shirt
Now my ass was draggin' when from a passin' gypsy wagon
Your heart like a diamond shone
Tonight I'm layin' in your arms carvin' lucky charms
Out of these heard luck bones

These are better days baby
These are better days it's true
These are better days
There's better days shining through

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

These are better days baby
There's better days shining through
These are better days
Better days with a girl like you

These are better days baby
These are better days it's true
These are better days
Better days are shining through

BISHOP DANCED
Bishop danced with a thumbscrew woman
Did a double-quick back flip and slid across the floor
The Catholic traffic flowed freely 'cross the river
And fiddlestick fiddled quick out the front door
Oh baby dumpling, mama's in the back tree
If the bow breaks mama might fall
Little sad and only, baby don't be lonely
Mama knows 'rithmatic, knows how to take a fall
Mama knows 'rithmatic, knows how to take a fall

And the kids are crying "Flapjacks, make'em fat, early in the mornin'
Little Jack, grab your hat, hear the breakfast call
Muskrat, bat a cat, kick him in the fireplace
There's someone in the kitchen blowing "Dinah" on their horn
There's someone in the kitchen blowing "Dinah" like they're born

Well maverick daddy got one-eyed bridge
She glides like a monkey-mule kicking on the back slide
Over hill, over hill, daddy don't you spill now
Papa got a switch stick, he's pumping little Bill
Papa got a switch stick, he's pumping little Bill
And Billy, he's crying "Tomahawk, tomahawk, daddy better duck now"
The Mohawks, the Mohawks, they're still out there in the woods
Monatuk, Ocanuk, runnin' through my dreams now
With fire on their fingertips and indian screams
With fire on their fingertips and feathers made of moonbeams

Well early in the morning the cannoneer cried
"I seen the sailor's warning in the western sky"
Well mountain man, if you can, cut me down a fir tree
Branches full of candlesticks for baby and me
And my darling cried, she said "Honey, the weathervane
lately it's been pointing the way to heaven
Scatterbrains, scatterbrains, watch out where you fall
Champagne, champagne, a round for all the old choir boys
They're busting off the altar chasing Dinah through the hall
They're bustin' off the altar chasing Dinah through the hall

And the kids are crying "Flapjacks, make'em fat, early in the mornin'
Little Jack, grab your hat, hear the breakfast call
Muskrat, bat a cat, kick him in the fireplace
There's someone in the kitchen blowing "Dinah" on their horn
There's someone in the kitchen blowing "Dinah" like they're born

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
Madman drummers bummers and Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder feelin' kinda older I tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasing sneezing and wheezing the calliope crashed to the ground
Some all-hot half-shot was headin' for the hot spot snappin' his fingers clappin' his hands
And some fleshpot mascot was tied into a lover's knot with a whatnot in her hand
And now young Scott with a slingshot finally found a tender spot and throws his lover in the sand
And some bloodshot forget-me-not whispers daddy's within earshot save the buckshot turn up the band

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

Some brimstone baritone anti-cyclone rolling stone preacher from the east
He says: "Dethrone the dictaphone, hit it in its funny bone, that's where they expect it least"
And some new-mown chaperone was standin' in the corner all alone watchin' the young girls dance
And some fresh-sown moonstone was messin' with his frozen zone to remind him of the feeling of romance

Yeah he was blinded by the light
Cut loose like a deuce another runner in the night
Blinded by the light
He got down but she never got tight, but he's gonna make it tonight

Some silicone sister with her manager's mister told me I got what it takes
She said I'll turn you on sonny, to something strong if you play that song with the funky break,
And go-cart Mozart was checkin' out the weather chart to see if it was safe to go outside
And little Early-Pearly came in by her curly-wurly and asked me if I needed a ride,
Oh, some hazard from Harvard was skunked on beer playin' backyard bombardier
Yes and Scotland Yard was trying hard, they sent a dude with a calling card,
he said, do what you like, but don't do it here
Well I jumped up, turnedaround, spit in the air, fell on the ground
Asked him which was the way back home
He said take a right at the light, keep goin' straight until night, and then boy, you're on your own

And now in Zanzibar a shootin' star was ridin' in a side car hummin' a lunar tune
Yes, and the avatar said blow the bar but first remove the cookie jar we're gonna teach those boys to laugh too soon

And some kidnapped handicap was complainin' that he caught the clap from some mousetrap he bought last night,

Well I unsnapped his skull cap and between his ears I saw
a gap but figured he'd be all right

He was just blinded by the light
Cut loose like a deuce another runner in the night
Blinded by the light
Mama always told me not to look into the sights of the sun
Oh but mama that's where the fun is

BLOOD BROTHERS
We played king of the mountain out on the end
The world come chargin' up the hill, and we were women and men
Now there's so much that time, time and memory fade away
We got our own roads to ride and chances we gotta take
We stood side by side each one fightin' for the other
We said until we died we'd always be blood brothers

Now the hardness of this world slowly grinds your dreams away
Makin' a fool's joke out of the promises we make
And what once seemed black and white turns to so many shades of gray
We lose ourselves in work to do and bills to pay
And it's a ride, ride, ride, and there ain't much cover
With no one runnin' by your side my blood brother

On through the houses of the dead past those fallen in their tracks
Always movin' ahead and never lookin' back
Now I don't know how I feel, I don't know how I feel tonight
If I've fallen 'neath the wheel, if I've lost or I've gained sight
I don't even know why, I don't know why I made this call
Or if any of this matters anymore after all

But the stars are burnin' bright like some mystery uncovered
I'll keep movin' through the dark with you in my heart
My blood brother

BLOOD BROTHERS
As played at the last show of the 1999/2000 Tour at July 1st in New York

We played king of the mountain out on the end
The world come chargin' up the hill, and we were women and men
Now there's so much that time, time and memory fade away
We got our own roads to ride and chances we gotta take
We stood side by side each one fightin' for the other
We said until we died we'd always be blood brothers

Now the hardness of this world slowly grinds your dreams away
Makin' a fool's joke out of the promises we make
And what once seemed black and white turns to so many shades of gray
We lose ourselves in work to do and bills to pay
And it's a ride, ride, ride, and there ain't much cover
With no one runnin' by your side my blood brother

On through the houses of the dead past those fallen in their tracks
Always movin' ahead and never lookin' back
Now I'm out here on this road
Alone on this road tonight
[I] close my eyes and feel so many
friends around me
In the early evening light
And the miles we have come
And the battles won and lost
Are just so many roads traveled
So many rivers crossed
And I ask God for the strength
And faith in one another
'Cause it's a good night for a ride
'Cross this river to the other side
My blood brothers

BOBBY JEAN
Well I came by your house the other day, your mother said you went away
She said there was nothing that I could have done
There was nothing nobody could say
Me and you we've known each other ever since we were sixteen
I wished I would have known I wished I could have called you
Just to say goodbye Bobby Jean

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

Now we went walking in the rain talking about the pain from the world we hid
Now there ain't nobody nowhere nohow gonna ever understand me the way you did
Maybe you'll be out there on that road somewhere
In some bus or train traveling along
In some motel room there'll be a radio playing
And you'll hear me sing this song
Well if you do you'll know I'm thinking of you and all the miles in between
And I'm just calling one last time not to change your mind
But just to say I miss you baby, good luck goodbye, Bobby Jean

BOOK OF DREAMS
I'm standing in the backyard
Listening to the party Inside
Tonight I'm drinkin' in the forgiveness
This life provides
The scars we carry remain but the pain slips away it seems
Oh won't you baby be in my book of dreams

I'm watchin' you through the window
With your girlfriends from back home
You're showin' off your dress
There's laughter and a toast
From your daddy to the prettiest bride he's ever seen
Oh won't you baby be in my book of dreams

In the darkness my fingers slip across your skin
I feel your sweet reply
The room fades away and suddenly I'm way up high
Just holdin' you to me
As through the window the moonlight streams
Oh won't you baby be in my book of dreams

Now the ritual begins
'Neath the wedding garland we meet as strangers
The dance floor is alive with beauty
Mystery and danger
We dance out 'neath the stars' ancient light into the darkening trees
Oh won't you baby be in my book of dreams

BOOM BOOM BOOM
Boom boom boom boom
I wanna shoot you right down
Take you in my arms
I'm in love with you
a love that is true
Boom boom boom boom

I need you right now
I mean right now
I don't mean tomorrow
I mean right now
come on come on
I wanna give it up babe

Shake it up babe
Come on and shake
Shake it up babe
Come on come on shake it up babe

I like the way you walk
I like the way you talk
when you walk that walk
and you talk that talk
you knock me out
right over my feet

Shake it up babe
Come on and shake
Shake it up babe
Come on come on shake it up babe

Boom boom boom boom
I wanna shoot you right down
Take you in my arms
I'm in love with you
a love that is true
Boom boom boom boom

BORDER GUARD
Bless on the border guard so cold and alone
Bless on the child so far from his home
Pity the border guard who feels like a woman to cry
Pity the border guard whose life guards the line
A light is a funny thing
A border sometime
A light is a hurting thing
Use only to divine
I pity the refugee whose home lies behind
I pity the border guard and his border line
He keeps his machine gun nose pointed to the sky
The night time is his master
And you know the dawn light brings his captor

And I pity the border guard as he walks, well as he walks his own
The echo of his foot steps is all a friend would know
A home is a funny thing
You get tied to the earth
Like a love is a crazy thing
In the eye of a child

I Pity the border guard whose soul taken captive at birth
May the sweet brace of his grief and show him how to be so wild
Yes a light is a funny thing
A border sometimes
A light is a hurting thing
Used only to divine
He who made the open plains and the world one and all
Could not have conceived with a barbed wire brain
For the building of the wall and at night I keep my fire bright
So that I may be safe when I sleep

Till I wake on that wonderful morning with no more light well ooh

BORN IN THE U.S.A.
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.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man

Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me"
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said "Son, don't you understand"

I had a brother at Khe Sahn fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone

He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go

Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.

BORN IN THE U.S.A. (Tracks version)
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
'Til you spend half your life just covering up

Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

I got in a little hometown jam
And so they put a rifle in my hands
Sent me off to Vietnam
To go and kill the yellow man

Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me"
I go down to see the V.A. man
He said "Son don't you understand"

Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

I had a buddy at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone
He had a little girl in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years down the road
Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go

I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

BORN TO RUN
In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out 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

Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims
and strap your hands across my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run till we drop, baby we'll never go back
Will you walk with me out on the wire
`Cause baby I'm just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta find out how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
girl I want to know if love is real

Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
The girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you Wendy on the streets tonight
In an everlasting kiss

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'll 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

BRILLIANT DISGUISE
I hold you in my arms
as the band plays
What are those words whispered baby
just as you turn away
I saw you last night
out on the edge of town
I wanna read your mind
To know just what I've got in this new thing I've found
So tell me what I see
when I look in your eyes
Is that you baby
or just a brilliant disguise

I heard somebody call your name
from underneath our willow
I saw something tucked in shame
underneath your pillow
Well I've tried so hard baby
but I just can't see
What a woman like you
is doing with me
So tell me who I see
when I look in your eyes
Is that you baby
or just a brilliant disguise

Now look at me baby
struggling to do everything right
And then it all falls apart
when out go the lights
I'm just a lonely pilgrim
I walk this world in wealth
I want to know if it's you I don't trust
'cause I damn sure don't trust myself

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
We stood at the alter
the gypsy swore our future was right
But come the wee wee hours
Well maybe baby the gypsy lied
So when you look at me
you better look hard and look twice
Is that me baby
or just a brilliant disguise

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

BRING ON THE NIGHT
I lie in bed but baby I can't sleep no matter how hard I try
There's something bad, baby, wrong with me whenever I close my eyes
The dreams of Mary keep me awake with every little curve in place
When I walk home in the daybreak I pray come back home, baby, won't you give me
Darlin' bring on the night, oh yeah darlin', bring on the night
Oh now darlin', bring on the night

I walk the street, I'm lookin' for romance
I end up stumblin' in some stupid half-trance
As I watch the lovers mix with circumstance
We watch the disco dancers dance

I look for connection in some new eyes
But for protection they're tranquilized
Forbidding close inspection of who's tellin' who
Forbidding close inspection of who's tellin' who lies

Bring on the night, oh yeah darlin', bring on the night
Oh now darlin', bring on the night

Is it as simple as it seems
I don't know what I'm doin' here, is it as simple as it seems
Is it as simple as I fear, well if I'm right...

I look for connection in some new eyes
But for protection they're tranquilized
Forbidding close inspection of who's tellin' who
Forbidding close inspection of who's tellin' who
Baby of who's tellin' who lies

Bring on the night, oh yeah darlin', bring on the night
Oh now darlin', bring on the night, oh now darlin', bring on the night
Come on darlin', bring on the night
Oh now darlin' bring on the night

BROTHERS UNDER THE BRIDGE
Saigon, it was all gone
The same Coke machines
As the streets I grew on
Down in a mesquite canyon
We come walking along the ridge
Me and the brothers under the bridge

Campsite's an hour's walk from the nearest road to town
Up here there's too much brush and canyon
For the CHP choppers to touch down
Ain't lookin' for nothin', just wanna live
Me and the brothers under the bridge
Come the Santa Ana's, man, that dry brush'll light
Billy Devon got burned up in his own campfire one winter night
We buried his body in the white stone high up along the ridge
Me and the brothers under the bridge

Had enough of town and the street life
Over nothing you end up on the wrong end of someone's knife
Now I don't want no trouble
And I ain't got none to give
Me and the brothers under the bridge

I come home in '72
You were just a beautiul light
In your mama's dark eyes of blue
I stood down on the tarmac, I was just a kid
Me and the brothers under the bridge

Come Veterans' Day I sat in the stands in my dress blues
I held your mother's hand
When they passed with the red, white and blue
One minute you're right there ... and something slips...

BROTHERS UNDER THE BRIDGES ('83)
Every spring when the weather gets warm
They come pourin' into town straight off of them farms
Driving 455s running hard and strong
They'd scratch built in them tool sheds all winter long
'Neath the trestless drinkin' the beer and the wine
Now some came on run, some just to pass the time
With the brothers under the bridges

Me and Tommy we was just fourteen, didn't have our licenses yet
Our walls were covered with pictures of cars we'd get
We'd listen and wait for that highway to rumble and quake
As they drove in through town when the weekend'd break
Bringin' girls with that distant look in their eyes
Now together 'neath the trestless they'd be laughing in the night
With the brothers under the bridges

Well me and my brother'd hitched a ride in Joey's pickup to the edge of town
And we watched from the tall grass as the challenges were made and the duels went down
We'd hitchhike back home, sneak in, get in bed before our mom'd come
And we'd lay there in the night talkin' about how we might someday be one
Yeah someday run with the brothers under the bridges

Well now I hear a cry in the distance and the sound of marching feet come and gone
Well I'm stittin' down here by this highway figuring, figuring just where I belong
Tonight up on Signal Hill
I watch a young man in a red shirt walking through a night so still
Put his jacket 'round his girl as the autumn wind send a chill
Through the brothers under the bridges

As I was walking down the street
Down the street, down the street
A pretty girl I chanced to meet
And we danced by the light of the moon

Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight
Come out tonight come out tonight
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight
And we'll dance by the light of the moon

I danced with a gal with a hole in her stocking
And he knees was a-knockin' and her shoes was a'rockin'
I danced with a gal with a hole in her stocking
And we danced by the light of the moon

Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight
Come out tonight come out tonight
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight
And we'll dance by the light of the moon

I danced with a gal with a hole in her stocking
And her knees was a-knockin' and her shoes was a-rockin'
I danced with a gal with a hole in her stocking
And we danced by the light of the moon

Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight
Come out tonight come out tonight
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight
And we'll dance by the light of the moon