Intro to “Long Time Comin´”
´´Yes, gracias, hola….uh, let me see, uh, I know….I´m gonna do my best (asks the crowd in Catalan to not take pictures, then dedicates the songs to mothers and fathers) this is ´Long Time Comin´´….´´
Intro to “The River”
´´Thank you, I, uh….when I was, uh, young, I didn´t write a lot of love songs so, uh, my father told me they were government propaganda so, uh (chuckles) uh, but my mother was very romantic, very romantic (chuckles) so I got caught in the middle so what I did was when I first started to write, I, I hid my love songs in other songs and, uh, this is kind of one of those, I think….´´
Intro to “Real World”
´´Gracias….this, uh….this is a song from ´Human Touch´ that, uh, I didn´t quite get on the record so….I have this version….´´
Intro to “Nebraska”
´´I wrote this figuring that….everybody knows what it feels like to be condemned….here´s ´Nebraska´….´´
Intro to “Racing in the Street”
´´Thank you, wait a minute….got men at work (chuckles) gracias….´´
Intro to “Jesus Was an Only Son”
´´Alright…gracias…ok (?) I will try this (chuckles)(speaks Catalan)….what I was trying to say is, uh, I don´t know if I said it or not (chuckles) but our choices are given weight and value by the things that we sacrifice, by the things that we give up, that´s where they get their meaning and their gravity and, uh, ok, let me see (speaks Catalan)….this is a song I wrote, I was interested in, uh, I see my, my, my Catalan is so bad, I get a round of applause after I try anything (chuckles) but, uh….this was a song I wrote, I was interested in Jesus as Mary´s son, as, uh, as somebody´s boy, first thing that strikes you as a parent is how you want to protect your children, how, how essential and fundamental that feeling is and uh….and yet they have their own destiny, they have their own lives, they make their own choices….this is ´Jesus Was an Only Son´….
(….) at His mother´s feet….the first thing that strikes you as a parent is your desire to keep your children safe from harm….it comes so sudden and is so shocking….if you´ve lived a very self-involved life….
(….) shall pierce your dreams this night….so are choices are given weight by what we sacrifice, by what we give up….and I always figured….Jesus must´ve felt….that Galilee was pretty nice in the summertime….Mary Magdalene could tend bar, Jesus could manage the bar ….could preach on the weekends….and you could get to see your children grow and you´d see the sun fall on their faces….and feel the air in your lungs….´´
Intro to “Leah”
´´Yes, yes, we carry, uh…..we carry the seeds of our destruction….along with the seeds that ….bring good things into the world and, uh….with this hand we create, with this hand we destroy….a big tug-of-war, I wish everyone luck (chuckles) this is a song called ´Leah,´ a love song about a man who figures out how to come down on just the right side of that equation….´´
Intro to “The Hitter”
´´(?)….this is a, uh….song, uh, the other side of that story, the seeds of your destruction…. about a young man who travels to New Orleans, becomes a, gets in trouble, leaves home, becomes a great champion and steals from himself, steals from himself his best opportunities, uh….I grew up in a house that was touched by fortune and touched by a very harsh hand of fate and uh….that ended up being the parameters of my songwriting so this is, uh….this is ´The Hitter´….´´
Intro to “Matamoros Banks”
´´Thank you, this is, uh….let me see, this is, uh….uh, if I can read….(speaks Catalan to himself) I will try (chuckles)(speaks Catalan)…I´d better say it in English too (chuckles) every year, uh, this was a song I wrote as a sequel to, uh….´Across the Border,´ it tells a similar story of a man who makes the same journey trying to cross the border between Mexico and the United States and every year hundreds of people die trying to cross our borders in the rivers and in the mountains and in the deserts and uh….this was a song that I wrote, I wrote backwards, begins with the body in the river, a walk across the desert till he´s standing at the banks of Matamoros across from Brownsville, Texas, this is ´Matamoros Banks´….´´
Intro to “Land of Hope and Dreams”
´´I do this for, uh….my good friend and brother-in-arms, Tommy Morello from Audioslave …´´
Intro to “The Promised Land”
´´Uh, gracias, I want to, uh, thank, uh, thank everyone for coming to the show tonight….. this is, uh, un publique fantastic (chuckles)….I always keep Spain close to my heart….and, uh, I also wanna thank you for giving me the room and the graciousness to perform like this, it´s, uh …it´s a lovely gift, I appreciate it….´´
| Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi. |
