Harry's Place

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Track 2 of High Hopes, 2014.

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Credits

• High Hopes (2002)
  • Bruce Springsteen: vocals, guitar
  • Roy Bittan: piano
  • Clarence Clemons: tenor saxophone
  • Nils Lofgren: guitar
  • Tom Morello: guitar
  • Garry Tallent: bass
  • Max Weinberg: drums
  • The Magic String Section
    • Eddie Horst (string arrangements, conductor); Justin Bruns, Jay Christy, Sheela Iyengar, John Meisner, William Pu, Christopher Pulgram, Olga Shpitko, Kenn Wagner (violins); Amy Chang, Tania Maxwell Clements, Lachlan McBane (violas), Karen Freer, Charae Krueger, Daniel Laufer (celli)

Performances

Performed live 0 times (not including snippet performances).

Released on Album

Released on High Hopes (2014).

On The Tracks

HARRY'S PLACE - V1		uncirculating
HARRY'S PLACE - V2		uncirculating
HARRY'S PLACE - V3		uncirculating
HARRY'S PLACE - V4	4:04	HOPES

Note: The background of this song is somewhat confusing. Springsteen has confirmed that seventeen songs were recorded in Atlanta and that "Harry's Place" was one of the two songs that didn't make the final 15-song line-up for The Rising – Bruce felt this rocker about a fictitious local kingpin didn't blend in well with the rest of the album's material. During a July 31, 2002 TV interview Springsteen, upon request of Ted Koppel, actually recited the entire first verse of this song's lyrics. Comments made by Springsteen since suggest that only the lyrics were written in 2001 (V2) during sessions for The Rising (although he has also stated that the band attempted to record the song at sessions prior to The Rising, perhaps in the late '90s - V1), and the music dates from the mid-2000s, probably from the Magic sessions in 2007 (V3). V3 was recorded at Southern Tracks studio during the Spring of 2007 for Magic. Bruce has said that it almost made the album, but was left off because he wanted twelve songs rather than thirteen, indicating the late addition of "Terry's Song" bumped it from the final sequence. Screen captures of the lyric book show that only the first verse dates from 2002, the rest appears to have been re-written in the intervening years. The song is not related, either musically or lyrically, to "Mary's Place" – they merely happen to share the same word in the title. Subsequently issued on 2014's High Hopes. It should be noted that "Hard Drive" (often mentioned in the same breath as "Harry's Place") was not a Rising-era recording or song – rather it was a never developed (i.e., no lyrics/music) title found in Springsteen's Rising sessions songwriting notebook that had first been seen and noted by journalist Jon Pareles in a July 2002 interview with Springsteen at Bruce's home.

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^{Studio Sessions: The Rising}

Lyrics

Harry's Place

Downtown hipsters drinking up the drug line
Down in the kitchen working in the coal mine
Got a special sin, mister, you can't quite confess
Messy little problem, maybe baby need a new dress
Razorback diamond you shine too hard
Need a hammer help you handle little trouble in your backyard
(Bring it on down to Harry's Place)

When Harry speaks it's Harry's streets, in Harry's house it's Harry's rules
You don't wanna be around, brother, when Harry schools
It's Harry's car, Harry's wife, Harry's dogs run Harry's town
Your blood and money spit shines Harry's crown
You don't fuck with Harry's money, you don't fuck Harry's girls
These are the rules, this is the world
(When you bring it on down to Harry's Place)
(Bring it on down to Harry's Place)

You need a little shot of something to improve your health
A taste of that one little weakness you allow yourself
You're looking for the key of that box you locked yourself in
Just step up to the line and be one of Harry's friends

Shithole on the corner, no light, no sign
Nobody on the street 'cept the deaf, dumb, and blind
Mayor Conner's on the couch, Father McGowan's at the bar
Chief Horton's at the door checking who the fuck you are

Seesaw Bobby dressed in drag and Mr. Nice
Carry me into the back room and dim the lights
My arms strapped to the table, a thousand angels spinning up the room
A voice whispers in my ear, "We do what we must do"
(When we bring it on down to Harry's Place)
(Bring it on down to Harry's Place)
(Bring it on down to Harry's Place)
(Bring it on down to Harry's Place)

Nobody knows his number, nobody knows his name
If he didn't exist, it'd all go on just the same
(Bring it on down to Harry's Place)
(Bring it on down to Harry's Place)
(Bring it on down to Harry's Place)
(Bring it on down to Harry's Place)

Visit SpringsteenLyrics.com for other versions of this song.

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