Intro to “Long Time Comin´”
´´Thank you and good evening….yes, yes, this is for the, uh, mamas and papas out there…. good luck with the babies….there´s three stages to parenthood, uh, you are the benevolent hand of God, a tolerable idiot, a fucking idiot….I think I´m somewhere in-between the last two (chuckles)….´´
Intro to “Silver Palomino”
´´(?)…wrote a lot about, uh, mothers and sons, parents and children on this last record and uh….this is a song I wrote for some young friends of mine that lost their mom, this is, uh, a young boy loses his mother and feels her spirit in this horse that comes out of the mountains at night, this is ´Silver Palomino´….´´
Intro to “Tougher Than the Rest”
´´Thank you, thank you very much….as a, I didn´t write many love songs when I, on my early records because, uh, as a, as a young child, my father told me that all love songs were government propaganda and, uh, that they were purely meant to, uh, get you married and have a lot of babies and get, you know, your nose to the grindstone and pay taxes and, uh, this was his romantic outlook on life but, uh
(chuckles) but my, my mom, she was very, uh, she was Italian and she was very romantic (some people cheer) and, uh, uh, a few, oh, a few wayward Italian, Ottawa, you have such a large Italian community (chuckles) wait, they, they escaped from New Jersey (chuckles) but uh, she always had the ´50s love songs on and, uh, so it only took me about 50 years to get over it but, uh, I did (chuckles)….´´
Intro to “The River”
´´Thank you….sometimes….sometimes I hid my love songs….´´
Intro to “Part Man Part Monkey”
´´Now, back home, a big debate over whether the man come first….or the monkey come first ….it was quiet for a long time and then all of a sudden….80 years ago Scopes Monkey Trial thought they sorted that out but no….all of a sudden: ´Did the man come first or did the monkey come first?´…the President´s smart….he knows the monkey don´t vote….and uh….
being brought up Catholic and everything, you know, I kind of was feeling smugly superior to the whole thing….don´t ask us….then, of course, a week or so ago….´Did the man come first or did the monkey come first?´ the Pope wants to know….what can I say?
(chuckles)….
(….) Now, we´ve come a long way….and we´re going back….´´
Intro to “I Wish I Were Blind”
´´(at the end of ´Reno,´ there is a big ´pop´-sound and lights go out due to a lightning strike)….Hear me? (some in the crowd: ´Yeah´) I would say we´re in the middle of some sort of massive fuck-up….I´m not sure what kind….is the, uh, sound systems on? (crowd
cheers) (?)…(?) all the lights out (chuckles)….I need some light, I´m good but not that good…..(crowd cheers loudly)(chuckles) a pedal that goes with this, alright? (chuckles) now everybody´s all, all screwed now (chuckles) lights went out, no, then the lights came on, then lights went out, then they came back on and when they went out, that, like, that was the best part of the show (chuckles) I can hear it all now, on the cellphone going ´Yeah, then the lights went out, Bruce said they went out and they came back on, oh, the best part of the show´ (chuckles) alright, this song may be apropos then (chuckles) ´I Wish I Were
Blind´ (chuckles)….´´
Intro to “Racing in the Street”
´´Oh yeah….oh my Lord (chuckles) so now everybody, a funny thing happens, when that happens, let me tell you, when that happens on stage, people get scared
(chuckles) oh, they get so scared, I can´t tell you
(chuckles)(?) everybody´s busy being scared (chuckles) the impossible happens, now anything can happen
(chuckles) oh….folks, that´s why it´s live and that´s what you pay your money for (chuckles)….´´
Intro to “Spare Parts”
´´They said it was a lightning strike….I like that (chuckles)….´´
Intro to “Jesus Was an Only Son”
´´Oh yeah, alright….I wrote this, uh, I was, like I was saying I was brought up Catholic so Jesus is my homeboy…just kind of, uh….de facto, you know, you, uh….you think you can get away from it but it´s like Al Pacino says in the, uh, uh, the terrible ´Godfather III,´ uh….´I keep trying to get out but they just keep pulling me back´ (chuckles) uh….´them´ being, uh, my aunts and relatives (chuckles) my version of the mafia so, uh (chuckles) but I was wondering about, uh, writing those songs about mothers and sons and I was thinking about, uh, Mary and how, you know, Jesus is just somebody´s boy and, uh, this is called ´Jesus Was an Only Son´….
(….) at His mother´s feet….the first thing that shocks you when you have your kids is how suddenly in your gut there´s this feeling that there´s nothing you wouldn´t do to keep them safe and how that is….a life sentence (chuckles)(?)….
(….) shall pierce your dreams this night….but shortly they will inform you that they have their own destiny (chuckles) and that you, my friend, are along for the ride wherever it goes ….and uh….and what make our choices, and what make our choices meaningful are the things we give up….and I always figured that Jesus had to be thinking that there was some nice little bar somewhere down in Galilee….and he could manage the place….and Mary Magdalene could tend bar and….they could have a bunch of kids, get to see the sun on their face….and get to feel the air in your lungs….and get to see the next day….and the next day….and the next day….and the next day….the next day….´´
Intro to “The Hitter”
´´Thank you, thank you, thank you….alright, well….´stay hard, stay hungry, stay alive,´ that´s hard to do (chuckles) and uh….we carry the seeds of our own destruction, our merry tendency to simply fuck up (chuckles) and, uh, I don´t know if that´s the way God planned it but that´s the way He let it be so….this is called ´The Hitter´….´´
Intro to “Matamoros Banks”
´´Thank you….thanks….wrote this song as a, uh, it´s kind of a sequel to ´Across the Border,´ a song I used to end the Tom Joad-tour with and uh….a similar story, each year hundreds of people die trying to get across the southern border into the United States….they drown in the river and they die in the mountains and die in the deserts….so this song, uh, I wrote backwards, goes from the body in the river to the walk across the desert to a man standing on the Matamoros Banks, which is a town
across….from Brownsville, Texas, over the Rio Grande….´´
Intro to “The Promised Land”
´´Thank you….I wanna thank everybody for coming down to the show tonight, thank you very much….oh yeah….man, we had a good time….lights went on, lights went off, lights went on, lights went off, we got struck by a lightning - what more could you ask?
(chuckles) oh yeah, all good….anyway, I also wanna send a shout-out to our friends in the Ottawa Foodbank, they´re in the hall tonight, on your way out, please check them out….they service agencies here in the national capital region and they, uh, they´re out there helping struggling citizens get along so please, on your way out, when you see the Ottawa Foodbank, give them a hand, they deserve your support….this is for you….´´
| Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi. |
