Black Cowboys

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Track 5 of Devils & Dust, 2005.

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Credits

• Devils & Dust (2005)
  • Bruce Springsteen: vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion
  • Brice Andrus: horn
  • Steve Jordan: percussion
  • Nashville String Machine: strings
  • Brendan O'Brien: bass
  • Donald Strand: horn
  • Susan Welty: horn
  • Thomas Witte: horn
    • String and horn arrangements by Eddie Horst

Performances

Performed live 17 times (not including snippet performances). 2005-10-30 TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA 2005-08-10 Theater Of The Clouds, Portland, OR 2005-08-06 Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 2005-08-03 Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI 2005-07-18 HSBC Arena, Buffalo, NY 2005-06-25 Hovet, Stockholm, Sweden 2005-06-13 Olympiahalle, Munich, Germany 2005-06-07 DatchForum, Milan, Italy 2005-05-28 Royal Albert Hall, London, England 2005-05-20 Orpheum Theatre, Boston, MA 2005-05-19 Theater At The Continental Airlines Arena (The), East Rutherford, NJ 2005-05-17 Tower Theater, Upper Darby, Philadelphia, PA 2005-05-15 Wolstein Center, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH 2005-05-14 Patriot Center, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 2005-05-02 Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, CA 2005-04-25 Fox Theatre, Detroit, MI 2005-04-21 Paramount Theatre, Asbury Park, NJ

Performances broken down by tour (not including rehearsals and snippet performances) Performed at 0 show(s) of 118 on the 2023-24 International Tour. Performed at 0 show(s) of 266 on the Springsteen On Broadway run. Performed at 0 show(s) of 14 on the Summer '17 Tour. Performed at 0 show(s) of 75 on the The River Tour 2016. Performed at 0 show(s) of 33 on the High Hopes Tour. Performed at 0 show(s) of 133 on the Wrecking Ball Tour. Performed at 0 show(s) of 83 on the Working On A Dream Tour. Performed at 0 show(s) of 99 on the Magic Tour. Performed at 0 show(s) of 56 on The Seeger Sessions Tour. Performed at 16 show(s) of 72 on the Devils & Dust Tour. Performed at 0 known other show(s), plus 1 public tour rehearsal(s).

Released on Album

Released on Devils & Dust (2005).

Released as Live Download

Live versions are available on the following 3 official live downloads:

• 2005-08-03 Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI
• 2005-06-25 Hovet, Stockholm, Sweden
• 2005-05-17 Tower Theater, Upper Darby, Philadelphia, PA

On The Tracks

BLACK COWBOYS

4:08

DEVILS

Note: This appears to have originally been a Springsteen solo recording, with Bruce handling vocals, guitar, keyboards and percussion. Further percussion has been added (Steve Jordan), as well as bass (Brendan O’Brien) and strings (Nashville String Machine). Horns (Brice Andrus, Donald Strand, Susan Welty, and Thomas Witte) added in Atlanta.

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^{Studio Sessions: Devils & Dust}

Lyrics

Black Cowboys

Rainey Williams' playground was the Mott Haven streets
Where he ran past melted candles and flower wreaths
Names and photos of young black faces
Whose death and blood consecrated these places

Raney's mother said, "Raney stay at my side
For you are my blessing, you are my pride
It's your love here that keeps my soul alive
I want you to come home from school and stay inside"

Raney'd do his work and put his books away
There was a channel showed a Western movie everyday
Lynette brought him home books on the black cowboys of the Oklahoma range
The Seminole scouts that fought the tribes of the Great Plains

Summer come and the days grew long
Raney always had his mother's smile to depend on
Along the street of stray bullets he made his way
To the warmth of her arms at the end of each day

Come the fall the rain flooded these homes
Here in Ezekiel's valley of dry bones
It fell hard and dark to the ground
It fell without a sound

Lynette took up with a man whose business was the boulevard
Whose smile was fixed in a face that was never off guard
In the pipes 'neath the kitchen sink his secrets are kept
In the day behind drawn curtains in Lynette's bedroom he slept

Then she got lost in the days
The smile Raney depended on dusted away
The arms that held him were no more his home
He lay at night his head pressed to her chest listening to the ghost in her bones

In the kitchen Raney slipped his hand between the pipes
From a brown bag pulled five hundred dollar bills and stuck it in his coat side
Stood in the dark at his mother's bed
Brushed her hair and kissed her eyes

In the twilight Raney walked to the station along streets of stone
Through Pennsylvania and Ohio his train drifted on
Through the small towns of Indiana the big train crept
As he lay his head back on the seat and slept

He awoke and the towns gave way to muddy fields of green
Corn and cotton and an endless nothing in between
Over the rutted hills of Oklahoma the red sun slipped and was gone
The moon rose and stripped the earth to its bone

Visit SpringsteenLyrics.com for other versions of this song.

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