Bruce Springsteen: 70 years old today!

Bruce Springsteen 2019

Today Bruce Springsteen turned 70. Honoring the occasion, I draw attention to one of his most beautiful songs, according to my eldest son it’s his best ever: Racing In The Street, first released on the great 1978 album Darkness On The Edge Of Town, but arguably even better on the superb 1986 live-album Live 1975-85.

Racing In The Street

I got a sixty-nine Chevy with a 396, Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor
She’s waiting tonight down in the parking lot outside the Seven-Eleven store
Me and my partner Sonny built her straight out of scratch and he rides with me from town to town
We only run for the money, got no strings attached, we shut ’em up and then we shut ’em down

Tonight, tonight the strip’s just right, I wanna blow ’em off in my first heat
Summer’s here and the time is right for racing in the street

We take all the action we can meet and we cover all the northeast state
When the strip shuts down we run ’em in the street from the fire roads to the interstate
Now 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 racing in the street

Tonight, tonight the strip’s just right, I wanna blow ’em all out of their seats
We’re calling out around the world, we’re going racing in the street

I met her on the strip three years ago in a Camaro with this dude from L.A.
I blew that Camaro off my back and drove that little girl away
But now there’s wrinkles ’round my baby’s eyes and she cries herself to sleep at night
When I come home the house is dark, she sighs “Baby did you make it all right”
She sits on the porch of her daddy’s house but all her pretty dreams are torn
She stares off alone into the night with the eyes of one who hates for just being born
For all the shut down strangers and hot rod angels rumbling through this promised land
Tonight my baby and me we’re gonna ride to the sea and wash these sins off our hands

Tonight, tonight the highway’s bright, out of our way mister you best keep
‘Cause summer’s here and the time is right for racing in the street

© 1978 Bruce Springsteen

I am truly grateful to have seen (and heard) him play it in concert twice.

Video/Spotify
This story contains an accompanying video. Click on the following link to see it: Video: Bruce Springsteen: 70 years old today!. The A Pop Life playlist on Spotify has been updated as well.

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