Story 1975-09-26 Iowa City, IA
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26.09.75 Iowa City, Iowa, intro to ´Spirit in the Night´
´´Well, the night was dark and the moon was yellow….and the leaves came tumbling down ….”

26.09.75 Iowa City, Iowa, intro to ´It´s Gonna Work Out Fine´
´´Let´s, let´s slow it down a little bit….like that….here´s a song, this is a song about, like, I always notice that like….like my birthday was, I had just had a birthday, you know and it´s like, I was noticing, I was figuring I was getting old, you know, now, and uh….I was watching all these friends of mine, realised that almost all the cats that I played with in bands, you know, years back, like in my first band and second band, all these cats, except for the guys I´m playing with now, they´d all like gotten married and settled down and stuff, you know, and how many married folks here in the crowd ? who´s married here ? (not much response) only few ? that´s not many, there´s a lot of people here, everybody else out there still messing around and fooling around and stuff ? right ?….practising, right, practising, but it´s like….it´s like, uh….what started me thinking ´bout it was ´cause this guy came to my house….a few weeks ago, knocked on the door, right…..and I went to door, I went to the door and this guy dressed in a suit and a briefcase was selling insurance for, uh….uh, I forget, I always forget the name of that company…Metropolitan Life, right, which I don´t know, do they have that out here, Metropolitan Life ? well, anyway, this guy was selling insurance, he came with my brother-in-law who sells insurance too and he, he married my sister, you know, and uh….they came in and I knew I recognised the guy right away, I said he looked real familiar but I couldn´t remember where and I realised I went to high school with him but he looked all different, you know, he looked like he´d, he´d put on weight, he looked like, he looked like a different person, right, so, you know, we said ´Hey, how you doing ? how´ve you been ?´ and, you know, they ask you all the questions and (?) you grew all that hair on your face for and, you know, how´s all that stuff, you know, and it´s like….we went through this thing, he said he´d got married and had four or five kids and was doing this gig, you know….so it started me thinking about all that stuff, I´d seen all the cats….sort of settle down and I figured this must been, this, all you married people can tell me if this is the way it was when you got, who´s got married ? somebody said, you say you´re married in here ? who said they were married ?….now, nobody´s gonna confess, right….no confessing to the crowd, right ? (chuckles) but anyway, you tell me if it was like this (?)….”

26.09.75 Iowa City, Iowa, intro to ´Growin´Up´ (following ´It´s Gonna Work Out Fine´)
´´We don´t do that too much, I forgot all the words to that one (?)(chuckles) here´s, here´s something off the, off the, uh, ´Asbury Park´-album….”

26.09.75 Iowa City, Iowa, intro to ´The E Street Shuffle´
´´So….now….you see like I don´t drink, I don´t drink at all but that night we got so discouraged….that this kid, when this kid, when this guy comes up and says to me ´Hey, won´t you have a drink with us right in the bar, right ?´, you know, I figured ´Sure´ so he gives me something in a shotglass, right….weird colored stuff, I figured it was nothing, you know, so he says ´You want a chaser ?´, I said ´No, no´ so like he goes ´Bottoms up´ and I down this stuff, right….´soon as I did that, I knew I´d made a mistake….because it was, I was on fire, I mean it was like this stuff called Green Shark Juice, does anybody know it ? deadly, right, I mean like I was, my guts was burning, my mouth was flaming, I was gonna puke it up right there on the spot, really, that´s what happened, that´s what happened, like my body went through this chain reaction but I was cool, right, I didn´t wanna act like, you know (makes a sound like he´s vomiting) you don´t wanna do that (chuckles) you don´t wanna go (makes the vomiting sound again) everybody´d go ´Look at this guy´ so I fought it down and I thought the worse was over….and then I started to sweat and my knees started to shake…. and so I went outside….figured I was about to pass right out on the floor there…..and I went out and I got some air, got by, came back in but it messed me up for the whole night, right, so then I had a few beers and I don´t drink at all so I was like really, by this point (?) I was a little, I didn´t feel too good so….I sort of figured that was it for me….I picked a nice spot on the sidewalk….I lay down….and covered myself up hoping that whatever this was coming would walk on by….now Steve, Steve….had deserted his leader….how do you like that, huh ? I pay him 50 bucks a week, deserts the leader (chuckles) running, jumps in this dark doorway half a block down and….so meanwhile I´m laying there on the street….and I hear these footsteps….I cover up my head….you know how it is when you cover up your head, you figure you´re alright, you know ? (chuckles) and….but I heard these footsteps come closer….and I peeked out, I could see these biggest shoes I ever seen, must´ve been (?) I said ´I hope this guy don´t kick me ´cause he´s got some big feet´ (chuckles) he´s coming, he´s gonna stand right over me….I sort of peeked out….figured maybe I should try to make some conversation (chuckles)….(?)….he sort of reached up his hand….(?)….when we touched, it was like sparks fly on E Street….”

26.09.75 Iowa City, Iowa, intro to ´Kitty´s Back´
´´You better be good because….(Clarence : ´Kitty´s back´)(chuckles)….”

26.09.75 Iowa City, Iowa, intro to ´Rosalita´
´´Some folks said….it happened in, in Paris….a little Parisian music (the band plays) other folks said it happened in Jersey City (the band plays a boogie) other folks said it happened in Rome (the band plays an Italian tune) then some folks were foolish enough to say it happened in Japan….don´t do it (chuckles) but actually it was in a little cafe (chuckles) on the other side of the border….Steve (Steve: ´What ?´) she was giving me food, oh, that could make my mouth water….”

26.09.75 Iowa City, Iowa, intro to ´Detroit Medley´
´´Thank you….we just played Detroit a few, uh, few days ago and while we were there, we learned this song that was by one of my favorite Detroit artists….are we ready ?….”
(Bruce actually means Ann Arbor where the band played on Sept.23rd and where they debuted the song)

26.09.75 Iowa City, Iowa, intro to ´Sandy´
´´I wanna thank everybody for coming down tonight, let you know that we really appreciate you showing up and stuff and….´cause we ain´t been out this way too much before and I wanna thank, thank you all very much, this is, uh, this is something to you from all the boys and it´s from Asbury Park to you with love ….”

26.09.75 Iowa City, Iowa, intro to ´Quarter to Three´
´´This next song is a song, was, uh, done back in ´63….one of the greatest dance records ever recorded so I´m gonna put my hand over my heart as I recite these words of the national anthem of rock and roll history….uh, everybody get their note ?….we gotta get our notes to fit, this is the, this is the hard part (?)….
(….) I´m tired, I wanna go home….I wanna go home and get in bed and go to sleep….”

Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi

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