Homestead

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Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers. Bruce Springsteen and Joe Grushecky, 1995.

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Credits

• American Babylon (Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers, 1995)
  • Joe Grushecky: vocals, guitar
  • Zack Alford: drums
  • Shane Fontayne: guitar
  • Leon Pendarvis: keyboards
  • Bruce Springsteen: guitar, harmonica, mandolin
  • T.M. Stevens: bass

Performances

^{Performed live 19 times.}

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• 2011-11-03 Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
• 2010-11-05 Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
• 2010-11-04 Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
• 2005-07-28 Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA
• 2004-12-02 Heinz Hall For The Performing Arts, Pittsburgh, PA
• 2004-11-06 Stone Pony (The), Asbury Park, NJ
• 2004-07-17 Stone Pony (The), Asbury Park, NJ
• 2003-11-01 Stone Pony (The), Asbury Park, NJ
• 2002-11-02 Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ
• 2000-11-03 Stone Pony (The), Asbury Park, NJ
• 1998-03-02 Nick's Fat City, Pittsburgh, PA
• 1997-12-13 Cheers, Long Branch, NJ
• 1996-09-16 Benedum Center For The Performing Arts, Pittsburgh, PA
• 1995-10-24 Park West, Chicago, IL
• 1995-10-21 Nick's Fat City, Pittsburgh, PA
• 1995-10-20 Nick's Fat City, Pittsburgh, PA
• 1995-10-19 Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
• 1995-10-18 Tramps, New York City, NY
• 1995-10-17 Stone Pony (The), Asbury Park, NJ

Released on Album

Released on American Babylon (Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers, 1995) and American Babylon (25th Anniversary Edition) (Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers, 2021).

A live version is released on American Babylon (25th Anniversary Edition) (Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers, 2021) (recorded October 21, 1995).

On The Tracks

HOMESTEAD - V1	4:14	SA
HOMESTEAD - V2	4:11	GUEST: BABYLON

Note: Co-written by Springsteen and Joe Grushecky and released on Grushecky's American Babylon album in October 1995. Grushecky wrote the lyrics, which he showed to Springsteen in Los Angeles around October 25, 1993; Springsteen composed the music and the two recorded the song together at the Hit Factory, New York during November 1993. Springsteen's own version surfaced in November 2013, broadcast on E Street Radio.

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^{Studio Sessions: Greatest Hits}

Lyrics

Homestead

I was born in the corn fields of Kentucky
I moved north in '73
The war was still going strong so I found a job
Rolling steel in a foundry in Homestead

I worked beside a guy named Grzbowski
Who taught me how to keep safe
He said, "there's many a man who lost the fingers from their hands"
You could wind up crippled or dead in Homestead

And the steel glowed in the white hot chambers
The furnace spit fire and smoke
And the sunlight came through the cracks in the roof
And the dust was so thick you could choke

I heard all the old stories about the twelve hour shifts in the mill
And all the union brothers the Pinkertons tried hard to kill
Heard about Frick and Carnegie the day the river ran red
How the union caved in in Homestead

It was more than a job, it was my family
I got married, settled down, bought a home
And in the bars down the street, in the late summer heat
I never had to feel alone

I got work tearing those old mills down
'Til there's nothing left but the sweat and blood in the ground
At night we tuck our little babies in bed
We still pray to the red, white and blue in Homestead

(Na na na na-na na)
In Homestead (I'm still living in Homestead)
??? (Na na na na-na na)
In Homestead (I'm still living in Homestead)
(Na na na na-na na)
In Homestead (I'm still living in Homestead)
Still living in (Na na na na-na na)
I'm still living in Homestead (I'm still living in Homestead)

Visit SpringsteenLyrics.com for other versions of this song.

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