THIS HARD LAND

Live 05 Apr 1995 (Sony Music Studios) version

[Take 1:]

[Spoken intro:] Complaints about the Sony stools here, Tom, you know.
Yeah.
There was an Italian guy and an Irish guy. They're sitting next to each other in a bar. And, uh, the Irish guy says, "Italians are so stupid." Goes on and on and on. The guy sitting there says, "Wait a minute, what do you mean we're so stupid?" He says, "You're so stupid." He says, "Oh yeah?" He says, "I bet you that I saw - I bet you you're so stupid you don't even know what Easter is." Put the money down on the bar, bartender covers the hundred bucks each with glasses, Italian guy gets up on the bar. "Easter is when"... is the scenery done here so I don't have to end this joke? (chuckles) "Now Easter is when Jesus Christ..." crowd gathers around, uh... "...rises from the dead"...it's, oh, yeah... "Rolls away the stone"... oh, he's getting it right... "And if he sees his shadow..." (Max gives a little drumroll) Thank you Max. I did that joke just on David Letterman, went over much better but, uh... you'll see at 11:30 tonight. (chuckles)
All right, what do you say? Anyway, here we go.

Well hey there mister, can you tell me what happened to the seeds I've sown
Can you give me a reason, sir, as to why they never grown
They just blown around from town to town till they're back out on these fields
Where they fall from my hand back into the dirt of this hard land
Come on Max!

And me and my sister, from Germantown yeah we did ride
Well we made our beds, sir, from the rock on the mountain side
We've been blown around from town to town looking for a place to stand
Where the sun bursts through the clouds and fall like a circle, like a circle of fire down on this hard land

Well now even the rain it don't come around, don't come around here no more
And the only sound at night's the wind slamming that back porch door
It just stirs you up like it wants to blow you down, twisting and churning up the sand
And leaving all them scarecrows lying face down, face down in the dirt of this hard land

Well from a building up on the hill I can hear a tape deck blasting "Home On The Range"
I can see them bar rim choppers sweeping low across the plains
It's me and you Frank, we're looking for lost cattle, our hooves twisting and churning up the sand
We're riding in the whirlwind, searching for lost treasure way down south of the Rio Grande
We're riding across that river in the moonlight way up onto the banks of this hard land

Hey Frank, won't you pack your bags and meet me tonight down at Liberty Hall
I just want a kiss from you my brother and we'll ride until we fall
We'll sleep in the fields, we'll sleep by the rivers and in the morning we'll make a plan
Well if you can't make it, stay hard, stay hungry, stay alive if you can and meet me in a dream of this hard land
Come on band!

[Take 2:]

[Spoken intro:] So where are you people actually from? New Yorkers? (cheers) New Jerseyans? (cheers) All right, all right. Oh, you did? Oh, I had this on loan today, this is the only G harp. You got it. Listen to this!
You can give me a little extra harp when I'm, uh... when it comes around for you, 'cause... This is a poor invention. It is, you got us a good one of these? It's gonna be semi-rich. All right.

Well hey there mister, can you tell me what happened to the seeds I've sown
Can you give me a reason, sir, as to why they never grown
They just blown around from town to town till they're back out on these fields
Yeah, where they fall from my hand back into the dirt of this hard land
Come on!

Now me and my sister, from Germantown yeah we did ride
Well we made our beds, sir, from the rock on the mountain side
We've been blown around from town to town, we're looking for a place to stand
Where the sun bursts through the clouds to fall like a circle, like a circle of fire down on this hard land

Well now even the rain it don't come around, don't come around here no more
And the only sound at night's the wind slamming that back porch door
It just stirs you up like it wants to blow you down, twisting and churning up the sand
And leaving all them scarecrows lying face down, face down in the dirt of this hard land
Come on Roy!

Well from a building up on the hill I can hear a tape deck blasting "Home On The Range"
I can see them bar rim choppers sweeping low across the plains
It's me and you Frank, we're looking for lost cattle, our hooves twisting and churning up the sand
We're riding in the whirlwind, searching for lost treasure way down south of the Rio Grande
We're riding across that river in the moonlight way up onto the banks of this hard land

Hey Frank, won't you pack your bags and meet me tonight down at Liberty Hall
I just want a kiss from you my brother and we'll ride until we fall
We'll sleep in the fields, we'll sleep by the rivers, in the morning we'll make a plan
Well if you can't make it, stay hard, stay hungry, stay alive if you can and meet me in a dream of this hard land
Come on!

Whoh hoo!

Come on! Go!

Info

The above lyrics are for the live 05 Apr 1995 performance of THIS HARD LAND at Sony Music Studios in New York City, NY, during a gig with the E Street Band to promote the release of the Greatest Hits album. The song was played in a full-band arrangement. This was the first of two takes. Springsteen preceded it with a joke. Two takes of the song were performed.

Bruce Springsteen performing THIS HARD LAND (take 1) during the 05 Apr 1995 show at Sony Music Studios, New York City, NY

The 05 Apr 1995 Show

The 05 Apr 1995 show at Sony Music Studios was video taped in front of a small audience and a shortened hour-long version of the footage was later broadcast internationally to promote the Greatest Hits album.

Pass for the 04 Apr 1995 show at Sony Music Studios, New York City, NY
(Taken from Brucebase)

Credits

Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake) for the help.

Available Versions

List of available versions of THIS HARD LAND on this website:

Page last updated: 05 Feb 2015