Moonlight Motel

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Track 13 of Western Stars, 2019.

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Credits

• Western Stars (2019)
  • Bruce Springsteen: vocals, acoustic guitar, glockenspiel, synth strings, banjo, percussion, electric guitar, B3, piano, orchestral samples, celeste, organ solo, 12-string guitar, mellotron
  • Ron Aniello: upright bass, piano, electric guitar, percussion, vibraphone, bass, synth strings, orchestral samples, acoustic guitar, drums, B3, celeste, loops, synth, background vocals
  • Jon Brion: drums, celeste
  • Greg Leisz: pedal steel
  • Matt Rollings: piano

Performances

Performed live 1 times (not including snippet performances). 2019-04-00 Stone Hill Farm, Colts Neck, NJ

Performances broken down by tour (not including rehearsals and snippet performances) Performed at 1 known other show(s), plus 0 public tour rehearsal(s).

Released on Album

Released on Western Stars (2019).

A live version is released on Western Stars (Songs From The Film) (recorded April 2019).

On The Tracks

MOONLIGHT MOTEL - Demo		uncirculating
MOONLIGHT MOTEL	4:16	WESTERN

Note: A demo of "Moonlight Motel" was most likely recorded 2010 at Stone Hill Studio, Colts Neck, New Jersey. Completed by Ron Aniello and Springsteen over a period of several years, ending early 2019, as stated by Ron Aniello on his Instagram: "started in 2010… finished in 2014… finished again in 2018. Sometimes it takes a minute…"

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^{Studio Sessions: Western Stars}

Lyrics

Moonlight Motel

There's a place on a blank stretch of road where
Nobody travels and nobody goes and the Deskman says these days 'round here
Two young folks could probably up and disappear into
Rustlin' sheets, a sleepy corner room
Into the musty smell
Of wilted flowers and
Lazy afternoon hours
At the Moonlight Motel

Now the pool's filled with empty, eight-foot deep
Got dandelions growin' up through the cracks in the concrete
Chain-link fence half-rusted away
Got a sign says "Children be careful how you play"
Your lipstick taste and your whispered secret I promised I'd never tell
A hall-drunk beer and your breath in my ear
At the Moonlight Motel

Well then it's bills and kids and kids and bills and the ringing of the bell
Across the valley floor through the dusty screen door
Of the Moonlight Motel

Last night I dreamed of you, my lover
And the wind blew through the window and blew off the covers
Of my lonely bed, I woke to something you said
That it's better to have loved, yeah it's better to have loved
As I drove, there was a chill in the breeze
And leaves tumbled from the sky and fell
Onto a road so black as I backtracked
To the Moonlight Motel

She was boarded up and gone like an old summer song
Nothing but an empty shell
I pulled in and stopped into my old spot

I pulled a bottle of Jack out of a paper bag
Poured one for me and one for you as well
Then it was one more shot poured out onto the parking lot
To the Moonlight Motel

Visit SpringsteenLyrics.com for other versions of this song.

Links

• MusicBrainz

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