1996-11-25 Paramount Theatre, Asbury Park, NJ

Scheduled: 20:00 Local Start Time ??:?? / End Time ??:??

Info & Setlist | Venue

Continuing the trend of the previous night, the set includes five tour debuts, including three from Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.. Two of them, the show-opening "It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City" and the only tour performance of "I Wanna Marry You", make their first appearances since 1981. Vini Lopez joins the guests present at night one. "Straight Time" is dropped for the first time on the tour.

Bruce Springsteen

Danny Federici (Guest)
Vini Lopez (Guest)
Patti Scialfa (Guest)
Soozie Tyrell (Guest)

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Atlantic City´
´´(some woman: ´We love you, Bruce´) Yeah, you´re alright too…..´´

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Highway 29´
´´Thank you…..this is sort of a song about knowing yourself (?) I know myself, uh (?) I knew myself pretty well at about 22 (?) actually thinking that I knew myself at 22 is evidence of how little I knew myself (chuckles) but this is a song about insight, uh, insight is expensive ….it´s a song about sudden insight….very expensive, usually only comes after you´ve fucked up very badly, unfortunately…that´s when, hey, that little light comes on….. ´I´ve changed….. that´s not me any more (?)´ but….this is called ´Highway 29´….´´

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Tougher Than the Rest´
´´I´m gonna be joined by two lovely ladies (?)(Patti and Soozie come onstage) red headed women….yiaks !….´´

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Darkness on the Edge of Town´ (following ´Tougher Than the Rest´)
´´Woo ! that was nice (chuckles)….´´

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´I Wanna Marry You´
´´Alright….a special song for a special friend (?)….but uh, I´ll make it up where I get there ….alright, this is for (?) to keep from dragging your feet there (chuckles) this is a song I wrote about a subject that I didn´t know anything about (chuckles) whatsoever, uh…..and, uh, but I figured I had to start somewhere (chuckles) so this all sort of, I think I wrote it as, it was sort of a street corner song, you know, I imagine it´s just somebody standing on the corner and then a girl walks by and this whole thing is imagined in his head, you know (chuckles) and uh….let´s see what happens….(?)….before actualisation there´s…..thinking about it (chuckles) ….this is for you (?)….´´

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Wild Billy´s Circus Story´
´´(?)(chuckles) check that out….alright, where´s my man, my man, yeah, come on, come on out (Danny comes onstage) he´s probably the greatest accordion player that I know…´´

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Red Headed Woman´
´´This is a, uh…..this is, if there´s any young children in the crowd tonight, this may be a good time to take ´em to the pee-pee room, alright…..I got a great song (?)(chuckles) a great song about a great subject, cunnilingus, that´s right, and I´ve been all around the country this year, uh, trying to promote cunnlingus as best as I can….I said promote, promote (chuckles) and uh, I got a variety of opinions about cunnilingus, I hope I´m pronouncing that correctly ….it´s a tricky word but if you can pronounce it, you can probably do it, that´s right (?) I got, uh, some theories about cunnilingus, one is I believe that if Bob Dole during the election had not tried to push for that 15 percent taxcut but instead decided to use cunnilingus as a part of his platform (chuckles) ´I´m Bob Dole, I believe in strong America and cunnilingus´ (chuckles)(?)….generally that, that might have helped (?) gender gap for him (chuckles)(?) (chuckles)(?) Perot, now I really can´t imagine Perot practising cunnilingus but uh…..(?)…. this is, this is the entertainment you came for (chuckles) now if somebody asked Pat Buchanan, he´d go ´Cunny-what ?´ (chuckles) but, uh, that´s why I believe Clinton got in because he´s the only candidate that people could actually imagine actually practising cunnilingus….and uh, that´s good for the country….and probably the first in a long time, around Nancy, I don´t think so….Dick and Pat, no, no….George Bush….(?)(chuckles) anyway, that´s my, uh, that´s, what else can I say about it except go right ahead (chuckles) ….´´

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Two Hearts´
´´(?)(chuckles)….come on out, red headed women (chuckles)….I gotta watch my back there for a second….who put that in the setlist ? you´re fired ! (chuckles)….´´

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Shut Out the Light´
´´I was, uh….you know, we had Veterans´ Day a couple of weeks ago, it´s, uh, yeah, it´s one of those holidays that seems to get lost, you know….and uh….I always remember….at the, uh ….outskirts of the town there was a little, uh….park outside of Freehold that had all these little white crosses when I was a kid and it always used to be real comforting to me for some reason, it was like a place where you marked you were home, you know, when you passed that little park with them little white crosses….and uh….to me, they were just, they looked beautiful, you know, and uh, as I got older, I remember I asked my mother what they meant, what they were, she said ´Well, those are the, those are the names of all the men from our town that, that died in the wars that we fought´….so this is for the, if there´s any Vets out there tonight, this is for you…..´´

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Sinaloa Cowboys´
´´Thank you…..this is Kevin Buell…..hometown boy….Wanamassa….I used to live in Wanamass in, uh, in the industrial park up there (chuckles) I did….right by that big water tower (someone yells) a man knows that location (?)(chuckles) in a surfboard factory ….and, uh, let me tell you after about a day or two all that (?) glue doesn´t bother you at all (chuckles) ´What´s smell ?´ (chuckles)….I was in a little town in Arizona about six years ago and uh….it was a beautiful late, late fall and low desert out there is so nice in the late fall, if you like it hot (chuckles) and uh….I was with some friends of mine, we take all these little state and county roads….and uh, it´s funny you get out there and….all those 7-11´s disappear (chuckles) not enough people out there to sustain ´em, I guess, you know (chuckles)(?) but, uh, but it´s kind of nice, there´s all, there´s just these little four-corner desert towns where there´s a gas-station and a motel and a grocery store and a bar, like I say, all the, uh, necessities for human life to flourish (?) that´s what it is (chuckles) that´s the gas-station (chuckles) but uh….I was in one of these little motels where you can lay at the end of your bed and leave the door open and see the car right in front of you in the parking lot (chuckles) and uh…..it was late at night and these two Mexican fellas come in from the west, they were driving a truck and….took the room next to us, one was a young kid and the other, the other guy was ´bout my age, I guess, they come over and they started talking to us….come over, take a look at our motorcycles….and uh….he said, said he´d had a younger brother that died in a Southern California motorcycle accident…. and uh…..we talked for about, uh, it seemed for quite a while about, about his brother…. he´d been living, I guess, in San Fernando Valley and….there was something in his voice that always stayed with me, you know, uh, for a long time…..and uh….maybe it was ´cause I was, we were just about to have our….own kids and it´s the whole idea that in the end you really can´t protect somebody, I think (?) sort of the fear of taking that leap and committing yourself to the idea that it´s out of your control, you know (chuckles) and, uh, that´s the way that the world….that´s just the way that is, you know, and that´s a pretty, uh, scary thought….and particularly, I think, when you….give your heart to things the way that you give to your, your family, your kids but uh…..I was writing a song about two brothers who get caught up in the Central California drug trade…..where the Mexican gangs come up and they hire the migrant workers in the Central Valley of California where the conditions have not radically changed since the 30´s or 40´s…..and…..(?) are actually a lot, very similar to the way they were right, right in this area back in the 50´s when this was a big potato farming area….and uh, so….they get a chance to make in a couple nights as they would in a whole year of, uh, of hard, hard work…..uh, it´s just real dangerous…..but as I was writing, I had this fella´s voice in my head, my friend´s voice in my head so I dedicate this tonight to him…..and uh…..wherever he may be, this is called ´Sinaloa Cowboys´….(one person applauds) don´t applaud, it embarrassed me (chuckles) ….´´

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´The Line´
´´(?) another song set on the, uh, San Diego….San Diego, right down there on the border where you get a lot of young guys that come out of the army in the Southwest and end up going to work for….the border patrol….I always say that´s a confusing job, I think….you know, it was….an issue that was abused so badly in the last, distorted so badly (?) comedic if it wasn´t so serious, in, uh…..in the last election (?) all these violent criminals rushing across the border straight into the voting booth to vote for Bill Clinton (chuckles) but uh….uh….you know, for a long time there´s been people coming across the border doing jobs that nobody else wants to do….for a pay that nobody else wants to take, at the behest of American businesses and that was sort of an unspoken deal, I guess, that your children would have a chance to a better education that you had and…..and if you got sick, you got some medical, medical care…..but anyway this is a song about a young border patrolman down there trying to figure out where that line is inside of him, I guess ….´´

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Racing in the Street´
´´This was a song, uh, it was always one of my favorite songs….and uh….came out of a fellow that I met right here in town, a young kid and uh….he used to tow his car into town on the weekends (chuckles)….not because it wouldn´t run (chuckles) there was only one way it would run (chuckles) and uh….this song sort of came out of a…..couple of conversations we had in a bar here one night….and uh…..I had a few different last verses ….I played it for Obie, she said ´I like the one with the girl´ (chuckles) so that´s the one I used (chuckles)….´´

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Across the Border´
´´(?)….(chuckles) I grew up in a house where there wasn´t a whole lot of…..culture or whatever you wanna call it (?) a lot of talk about art or films or novels, everybody was kind of busy keeping their heads above water and, uh, the first thing I remember really had an impact on me was the radio and uh….I was in grammar school and my sister and I´d come down and we´d sit, uh…..we´d sit at the kitchen table and, you know, suck up the cornflakes and, uh, my mother was a young girl at the time and she liked that rock and roll music so she´d have the radio on, used to sit on top of the refridgerator and uh…. every morning, for years, there was just all those great records….and uh, I don´t know when it started to, to sort of sink in but (?) I remember sitting there one morning and all of a sudden I heard a secret message….it said ´There´s a party going on….you´re missing it, little boy´….and I had my little green jacket on and my tie and my…..and uh…..but all of a sudden all those beautiful voices opened up to me or I opened up to them, I guess, and there was this whole world of pain and heartbreak and happiness and joy and, and sex, that was kind of running through that little kitchen every morning (chuckles) you know, uh…..some amazing, amazing voices and it was truly subversive and stuff that people thought was just junk….and uh…..that really, really carried me for a long time (?) there was life outside of my little town and, and a certain sort of possibility that I hadn´t imagined and things that were worth risking….your safety for….and, uh, then when I was 26, a friend of mine showed me John Ford´s Grapes of Wrath and it resonated in me the way that all those beautiful voices did, it was like a bell going on or something, some sort of wake-up call and I remember sitting as the credits rolled thinking that that´s what I wanted to do….I wanted to find a way to do some work that, that finds its way into people´s lives, that….that´s about basic things, you know, that, that don´t change so much ….uh, there was something, I think there was a question that, that that film and the Steinbeck novel had in common with some of those great voices that I heard and the great records that I loved and it was sort of this whole….´You are not alone´ (chuckles) you know, and….they sort of all asked a question about….human connection, if there´s such a thing as individual salvation or if people´s souls are linked together in some fashion….and if that´s so, then there´s responsobilities and if that´s so, then there´s a way to live…. there´s a scene at the end of the film that sort of catches it, nails it right on the head….uh, Tom Joad´s killed a security guard that´s killed a friend of his and he´s gotta leave his family and tell his mother that after she´s come thousands of miles and she has nothing and they´ve lost family members and they have no home…..that she´s gonna lose her son now, there´s nothing….nothing anybody can do about it…..but that scene is set up by a dance, a dance where everybody´s faces are, I think, just shot very lovely, the way people are holding one another on the dancefloor and the music….I always thought that was Ford, that was, you know, John, John Ford holding out…..the possibility of beauty….and the usefulness of beauty in people´s lives, the power of beauty, where there´s beauty, there´s hope and faith and divine love, or whatever you like to call it, you know….but at the end of that scene Tom slips into his mother´s cabin and touches her gently and they step out under the trees and he says ´I gotta go´….and she says, uh, ´I knew that this day would come…..but how am I gonna know if you´re, if you´re alive, if you´re alright, how am I gonna know if you´re well, how am I gonna know….will I ever see you again ?´….he says ´Well, I don´t know, I don´t know, all I know is I gotta go out and kick around and see what´s wrong and see if there´s anything I can do about it to make it right…..and you´ll see me…..because I´ll be in that darkness that surrounds you when you´re sleeping at night, Mama….you´ll feel me there and I´ll be in men´s voices when they´re yelling ´cause they´re angry….I´ll be in the way that kids sound when they´re laughing, they know that they got a home and that they´re safe and that there´s food on the table and that there´s somebody that cares about ´em…..you´ll, you´ll see me, Mama, I´ll be there´….and uh, he slips off into the night, the next day the Joads are heading for work, the father says ´What are we gonna do without Tommy ?´….and the mother says ´Well, we´re gonna keep going´….this is a song about, uh, how people keep going even after the world…..has dealt its harshest blows….and has revealed itself….how people fall back on love and faith and hope and ultimately on one another ´cause that´s all there is….´´

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Spirit in the Night´
´´Thank you….alright, come on Pats, Sooz, Dan….oh, and another special guest, Mad Dog Vincent Lopez….´´

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Rosalita´
´´Oh yeah, I hope I remember this….´´

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´This Hard Land´
´´I´d like to thank everybody for coming down to the show tonight, thank you very much ….I wanna thank you for your support of the Boys´ and Girls´ Club of Monmouth County ….they´re doing some good work right here in Asbury Park and they need and deserve your help, give some young kids a good, good headstart on life….and uh….so I´m gonna do this for them and Mr.McMillan (?) the staff and volunteers of the Boys´ Club and Girls´ Club of Monmouth County….´´

25.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Sandy´
´´(?)….here´s a, uh….(?) telling the folks last night, it´s just great to able to come back into town, into Asbury Park and play in this beautiful theater….they did a beautiful job with it and it´s, uh, the sound in here is really good too (?)….but uh….I was telling the folks last night that, you know….I was 18 when I first came to Asbury and it was a place….at the time, I remember there was….there was so many musicians and so many bands and it was an amazing place, I met so many of my good friends here, I was saying that I met, you know, Davey Sancious, Danny, Vinny, Clarence, uh, Garry Tallent, Southside….it was, uh, it provided a place for us where we could find ourselves, uh….a place where we could play the music we wanted to, even get paid a little bit for it (chuckles) you know, but, uh, uh….I wrote most of the, I guess, yeah, most of all of Greetings from Asbury Park right up on Cookman and Main (?)…and uh, uh….you know, it was, uh….really was the seed of the band that we put together that we….been around the world with and friendships that have lasted me my whole life, uh….met my wife in a bar here (chuckles) you know, I was saying that, uh, last night I got to see my kids running around the theater here so that sort of took the whole thing full circle, I guess….but uh….anyway, I just wanna say I´m glad to, uh, be able to come back to town and to, and to play here and…..told the folks last night, this song was written, I guess, as a goodbye, a goodbye song at a time when, uh, my life was opening up a little bit, I didn´t know where it was gonna be taking me….uh ….I didn´t know really what was up ahead but, uh…..uh, it was not just a goodbye song but it was a love note too….so ….here´s, uh, wishing better things ahead….´´

Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi

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