Intro to "Shut Out the Light"
´´Thank you….this next song was….it was in late 70´s….I was driving across the country with a friend of mine…and we were driving through Phoenix, Arizona….and uh, I stopped in this little drugstore to find something to read….and I found this book called ´Born on the Fourth of July´ by a fella named Ron Kovic….and uh, he was a Vietnam Veteran who wrote about what he found when he went off to war and what he found when he came home to his country…and uh, we drove on to Los Angeles and I was staying in this little motel….and I was swimming in the pool and there was this fella…sitting, sitting under an umbrella by the side of the pool in a wheelchair….and I got out and I was drying myself off and I had the book with me….and he said ´I wrote that book´….and uh….this is a song about coming home and finding that….it seems like it´s not there anymore….this is called ´Shut Out the Lights´…”
Intro to "Glory Days"
´´Let´s….what´s the word, I don´t know (chuckles)….this is for anybody who´s out there, if you got your…wife sitting next to you or your kids with you…you´re over 30 years old, this is a song about old times….are you ready, Big Man ? alright, here we go….I need a hat for this song….”
09.06.85 Gothenburg, Sweden, intro to ‘My Hometown’
´´This is a song…I guess, uh….I was living in California for a little while…..and, uh….I started to think about back to my…the town that I grew up in….I grew up in this very small town….was kind of a combination of, uh….farms and some industry….about ten miles in from the beach….and uh….when I was young….I remember thinking that…..I thought I´d never…. once I was able to get out of there, I´d never miss that place….once I was able to get on the road, I´d never think back to…the friends that I had there….or I wouldn´t miss my family…I wouldn´t care what´d happen there any more….and when I was 19, I got a chance to travel a lot and uh….for a long time I never did miss it…. didn´t miss it much at all….then as I got older, I´d come home….I´d get in my car and drive down….the old streets I grew up on….I´d find my….old friends and see what had become of their lives….and I realised that the place that you´re born in and that you´re raised is always in your blood….and it never leaves you no matter where you go or what you become…and uh….I guess….I guess that, uh….what this song´s really about is responsobility…responsobility to….to your own people and to the place that you live…. ´cause you´re only as free as that guy is standing next to you….or living down the street….so anyway this is….this is…från min stad till eran stad….from my hometown to your hometown….”
Intro to "Racing in the Street"
´´It was right around the end of the summertime….and I remember the days….the days were still very warm….but the nights would get cool and clear like this….and late at night, I had this old Camaro that I´d bought for 500 dollars and I put on like two t-shirts and I put on a sweatshirt, put on my leather jacket and around midnight I´d get out….lock up the house and I´d put the top down and drive along the beach….and there was this place where we all used to meet on the weekends, guess it was like an old junkyard that people from town would come in….and leave off the things they didn´t want any more….and that was the first place that I met her…and when we first started going out, it´s like it always is when you´re first going out with somebody, everything is fun and all their jokes are funny….doesn´t matter what you do or where you go….but I don´t know, time changes things….people, I don´t know what pulls people apart….but after a while it got to where we didn´t talk as much as we used to….we didn´t….she didn´t wanna go out as much…..she used to hide my keys at night so I couldn´t take the car out (chuckles) and uh….I know that once….once she really understood that when I took out the car….and when I won…..that even though it was something that might´ve seemed stupid to a lot of people….it might´ve seemed like a stupid thing to do…. that when I did it, I felt like something was happening to me….I felt like I just wasn´t sitting around wasting away, wasting away….and to have just one thing….in your whole life that you can do….that makes you feel proud of yourself….that´s not too much for anybody to ask ….anywhere….I don´t think….”
Middle of "Rosalita"
´´Alright now….ladies and gentlemen…..children of all ages….all you Swedish people out there….anybody from Denmark…..Finland….Iceland….and wherever the hell else you´re from, it´s time to introduce the band…..first, on the piano….the smartest man in show business….´Professor´ Roy Bittan….and on the vocals, an alumni of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Miss Patti Scialfa….on the drums, the man that puts the heat in the beat to get your asses out of your seats and moving your feet….´Mighty´ Max Weinberg on the drums….and on the organ, the most mysterious man in the entertainment industry, ´Phantom´ Dan Federici…..alright, on the bass guitar, the man that takes the bass and puts it right up in your face like this, Mr.Garry W.Tallent….and now a gentleman who has relatives right here in this very country….Mr. Nils Lofgren on the guitar….and last but not least….a man that liked the Swedish girls so much that he married one of ´em….and he´s been happier ever since….weighing 265 pounds….the handsomest man….the biggest man….gimme a C…L….A ….R….E….N….C….E….what´s that spell ?…what´s that spell ?….what´s that spell ?… Clarence ´Big Man´ Clemons on the saxophone….”
Intro to "Can´t Help Falling in Love with You"
´´I would like to just take a moment and thank all of you for coming down to the shows we´ve done here, thank you very much….I know that many of you traveled a long distance and I want you to know we appreciate it….and uh, I´d also like to thank you for the support that you´ve shown our band over the years when we haven´t gotten over here as often as we´d like so thank you….I got a, I got a letter from….it´s a, it´s a girl named Maria who said that she met her husband the last time we were here in Sweden and uh, they´ve since got married and, you know, everything´s going good (chuckles)…so they said they were gonna be out there tonight (chuckles) and she, she asked me to do this song for her and lovers everywhere….”
| Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi. |
