BACKSTREETS

Album version

One soft infested summer me and Terry became friends
Trying in vain to breathe the fire we was born in
Catching rides to the outskirts, tying faith between our teeth
Sleeping in that old abandoned beach house, getting wasted in the heat
And hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
With a love so hard and filled with defeat
Running for our lives at night on them backstreets
Na, na na na

Slow dancing in the dark on the beach at Stockton's Wing
Where desperate lovers park we sat with the last of the Duke Street Kings
Huddled in our cars waiting for the bells that ring
In the deep heart of the night when you let loose of everything
To go running on the backstreets, running on the backstreets
Terry you swore we'd live forever
Taking it on them backstreets together
Yeah

Endless juke joints and Valentino drag
Where dancers scraped the tears up off the street dressed down in rags
Running into the darkness, some hurt bad some really dying
At night sometimes it seemed you could hear that whole damn city crying
Blame it on the lies that killed us, blame it on the truth that ran us down
You can blame it all on me Terry, it don't matter to me now
When the breakdown hit at midnight there was nothing left to say
But I hated him and I hated you when you went away
Whoah, whoah
Whoah, whoah

Now laying here in the dark, you're like an angel on my chest
Just another tramp of hearts crying tears of faithlessness
Remember all the movies, Terry, we'd go see
Trying to learn how to walk like the heroes we thought we had to be
Well after all this time to find we're just like all the rest
Stranded in the park and forced to confess
To hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Well we swore forever friends, hey!
On the backstreets until the end

Uh, uh, uh
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
It's alright
To go hiding on the backstreets tonight
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets
Whoah!
Hey!
Whoahhh!
Hey!
Hey, hey, hey
Yeah, yeah
Whoah, oh, oh
Whoo, ooh
Ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooooh

Page last updated: 30 May 2011

Intro

BACKSTREETS is a song written by Bruce Springsteen. It is the fourth track on his 1975 album Born To Run. In 1976, 1977, and 1978, the live performances of the song were extended with an interlude that would later be used as the basis for part of DRIVE ALL NIGHT.

The above lyrics are for Springsteen's studio version of BACKSTREETS as sung on the Born To Run album.

Composition and Recording

There are four studio recordings of BACKSTREETS in circulation:

All these four takes were recorded in the May-July 1975 period at the Record Plant in New York City, NY. The lyrics variations between one version and another show that the song was still a work in progress -- Bruce and the band had entered the studio in March 1975, and BACKSTREETS was probably written during those sessions (March or April 1975).

Bruce Springsteen plays guitar and sings vocals on this track, and is backed by Garry Tallent on bass guitar, Max Weinberg on drums, and Roy Bittan on piano and organ.

Track credits:

Bruce Springsteen: guitar, vocals
Garry Tallent: bass guitar
Max Weinberg: drums
Roy Bittan: piano, organ

Written and arranged by Bruce Springsteen
Produced by Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, and Mike Appel
Recorded and mixed at Record Plant Studio, New York City, NY

BACKSTREETS was a candidate title track for Born To Run, as evidenced in a Springsteen handwritten list titled "Album #3 Titles". The list most probably dates from 1974.

Born To Run

When the lengthy The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle Tour closed in March 1975, the recording sessions for the Born To Run album took place at The Record Plant in New York City, NY, between March and July 1975. Note that the Born To Run sessions started in 1974 at 914 Sound Studios in Blauvelt, NY, (Mike Appel's studio of choice) but the new 1975 location was advised by Springsteen's friend and future manager Jon Landau. All tracks on the Born To Run album, except the title track, were recorded during these Mar-Jul 1975 sessions.

Born To Run was commercially released on Columbia Records 01 Sep 1975. Note that a small quantity of blank label, advanced promo copies (called "Script Covers") were issued to VIPs on or aroud 12 Aug 1975, and normal promo copies were sent to radio stations on or around 24 Aug 1975.

[Click thumbnail to enlarge/reduce artwork]

The album features 8 new Springsteen compositions and clocks at 39:26. It is produced by Bruce Springsteen, Mike Appel, and Jon Landau.

Born To Run track listing, side 1 (vinyl LP format)

  1. THUNDER ROAD
  2. TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT
  3. NIGHT
  4. BACKSTREETS

Born To Run track listing, side 2 (vinyl LP format)

  1. BORN TO RUN
  2. SHE'S THE ONE
  3. MEETING ACROSS THE RIVER
  4. JUNGLELAND

Other Official Releases

In addition to its release on Born To Run, the official studio version of BACKSTREETS was also released as the B-side to BORN TO RUN in September 1975 in Japan only. The single, which comes with a picture/lyric insert with misprinted title of "Back Streets", bares catalogue number CBS/SONY SOPB 334 and is available as both white label promotional and orange label commercial copies.

In 2005, BACKSTREETS was included on Rocks Vol. 1 (1973 - 1982), a Japan-only promotional "Digest" CD-R advance sampler tying in with the release of the first six Japanese 2005 "mini-LP"-style Springsteen CD album reissues. This disc comes in a plain slimline jewel case with no artwork and bares no catalogue number.

[Click here to display/hide detailed track listing]

In 1980, an about-20-second segment of BACKSTREETS was included on The Pitman Family Of Music: Our First 20 Years, a US-only various artists promotional LP pressed in limited quantities of reportedly 200 copies and given out exclusively to employees of Columbia's pressing plant in Pitman, NJ.

Ten years later, a 30-second segment of BACKSTREETS was included on 30 Years In Pitman, a US-only various artists promotional CD sampler given out exclusively to employees of Columbia's pressing plant in Pitman, NJ celebration of its 30th anniversary. This 1990 release doesn't carry any catalogue number, and also contains a 30-second excerpt of BORN IN THE USA.

The live 18 Nov 1975 version of BACKSTREETS was officially released on Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 CD and DVD in 2005. The live 07 Jul 1978 version was released on the Live/1975-85 box set in 1986. The live 01 Jul 2000 version was officially released in 2001 on the Live In New York City home video.

Live History

The Born To Run Tour kicked off on 20 Jul 1975 at the Palace Theater, Providence, RI, (the live debut of Miami Steve as a member of the E Street Band) but the first known performance of BACKSTREETS was on 08 Aug 1975 at Akron Civic Theatre, Akron, OH. The song was performed very frequently during the tour:

  • During the 1st leg of the Born To Run Tour (81 known dates: Jul-Dec 1975), BACKSTREETS is confirmed to have been played on 34 shows. Note that many setlists from this period are incomplete or unknown, and therefore the song might have been performed on more dates.
  • During the 2nd leg of the Born To Run Tour (35 known dates: Mar-May 1976), BACKSTREETS is confirmed to have been played on 19 shows. Note that many setlists from this period are incomplete or unknown, and therefore the song might have been performed on more dates. The song must've been a stable number during that 2nd leg. That portion of the tour would soon be nicknamed by the road crew as the "Chicken Scratch Tour" because of the high proportion of secondary market, southern state locations.

Audio and video for the complete 18 Nov 1975 show at Hammersmith Odeon in London, England, was released in 2005 on the Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 CD and DVD. See the live 18 Nov 1975 version for more details.

Despite the marvelous reception received by both Born To Run and the tour which followed, he relationship between Bruce Springsteen and his now former manager and producer, Mike Appel, was deteriorating. In July 1976, the storm broke; Mike Appel wrote to Springsteen saying that he would not allow Jon Landau (Springsteen's friend and co-producer of Born To Run) to produce the next album, citing a particular paragraph from their original agreement. Bruce replied on 27 Jul 1976 by firing manager Mike Appel and suing him his management company Laurel Canyon Ltd. in Federal Court in Manhattan, claiming fraud, breach of trust, and undue influence. Appel countersued on 29 Jul in New York State Supreme Court, asking the court to prohibit Springsteen and Jon Landau from working together in studio. Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band were slated to enter the studio that year for the recording of a new album, except that on 15 Sep 1976, the judge in the lawsuits case ruled that Springsteen was enjoined from any further recording with Columbia Records until Appel's suit was resolved. This would drag for about a year.

Meanwhile, Springsteen continued gigging, and in the process broke his self-imposed rule of not playing the larger arenas. This was basically because he was not able to put a record out, and it was the only way his fans would be able to hear him at all. BACKSTREETS was played during every night of that "Lawsuit Tour":

  • During the 1st leg of the tour (29 known dates: Aug-Nov 1976), BACKSTREETS was confirmed to be played on 27 shows. Note that some setlists from this period are incomplete or unknown, and therefore the remaining 2 performances remain unconfirmed. The song must've been a stable number during that 1st leg. It was in the second month of that 1st leg that the so-called "Sad Eyes Interlude" originated. See the Sad Eyes Interlude section below for more details and several live versions from this 1st leg. Check out also the live 22 Aug 1976 version, which did not yet have any Sad Eyes interlude.
  • During the 2nd leg of the tour (33 known dates: Feb-Mar 1977), BACKSTREETS was confirmed to be played on 28 shows. Note that some setlists from this period are incomplete or unknown, and therefore the remaining 5 performances remain unconfirmed. The song must've been a stable number during that 2nd leg. See the Sad Eyes Interlude section below for several live versions from this 2nd leg.

The last show of the "Lawsuit Tour" was on 25 Mar 1977 at the Music Hall, Boston, MA, but the suit dragged until late-May 1977. During that time, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes were on tour. On 3 gigs that were originally scheduled as regular Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes shows, Southside was ill and he couldn't perform. E Street Band member Steve Van Zandt came to the rescue by organizing "The Asbury Park All-Star Revue", a combination of The Asbury Jukes, The E Street Band, Ronnie Spector, and Bruce Springsteen. Van Zandt was the lead vocalist with Bruce on guitar/background vocals on most numbers, with the exception of a few tracks, including BACKSTREETS which was performed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on the first of these 3 gigs: 12 May 1977 at Monmouth Arts Center, Red Bank, NJ.

On 28 May 1977, the Springsteen-Apple lawsuits reached a final settlement and finally Springsteen was able to get into a studio and record. Recording sessions for the next album began in early June 1977, but Springsteen kept making guest appearances at other artists' gigs, and jamming with Southside Johnny at The Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ. On 31 Dec 1977, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band joined Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes onstage for a 4-songs set during their show at the Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, and then kicked into a set of their own that included a rendition of BACKSTREETS. Bruce had forgotten much of the song, making up lyrics on the spot. Check out the live 31 Dec 1977 version for more details.

The actual recording sessions for Darkness On The Edge Of Town were completed by early January 1978, and the mixing sessions dragged until early April. Bruce and the band start preparing for the upcoming tour, and the only known/confirmed pre-tour rehearsal was on 19 May 1978 at the Paramount Theater, Asbury Park, NJ. BACKSTREETS was one of the numbers performed during that private rehearsal (audience tape is available, but the only take of the song is cut on that tape).

The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour kicked off on 23 May 1978 in Buffalo, and BACKSTREETS was performed that night. It should be noted that a few setlists from this period are incomplete or unknown, and the tour consisted of 111 known dates. The song is confirmed to be played on 86 shows and not played on 9. The remaining 16 performances of the tour remain unconfirmed. See the Sad Eyes Interlude section below for several live versions from this tour.

The 07 Jul 1978 performance at The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, CA, was officially released on the Live/1975-85 box set in Nov 1986, with the Sad Eyes interlude edited out. See the live 07 Jul 1978 version for more details.

The River Tour opened on 03 Oct 1980 at Chrisler Arena in Ann Arbor, MI, and BACKSTREETS was played on that opening night. It was performed on almost half of the tour's dates, making a total of 62 performances. See the live 28 Aug 1981 version.

The Born In The USA Tour opened on 29 Jun 1984 at Saint Paul Civic Center Arena in Saint Paul, MN, and BACKSTREETS was played on that opening night. It was performed a total of 30 times, most of them during the first couple of months of the tour. See the Sad Eyes Interlude section below for several live versions from this tour.

During the Tunnel Of Love Express Tour, BACKSTREETS was played a total of 19 times. Check out the following versions:

BACKSTREETS was not performed during the World Tour 1992-1993 shows, but the song was reported to be sound-checked twice during the course of the tour:

  • 10 Jul 1992 at Wembley Arena, London, England
  • 31 Jul 1992 at Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, NJ (4 takes)

The song was played off-tour on 21 Feb 1995 at Tramps Nightclub in New York City, during a reunion gig with the E Street Band. See the live 21 Feb 1995 version for more details. The next performance was on 31 Jan 1998 at Count Basie Theater, Red Bank, NJ, during the "Come Together: Jon Bon Jovi & Friends" benefit concert. See the live 31 Jan 1998 version for more details.

BACKSTREETS was also performed on 15 Mar 1999 in the main ballroom of Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City, NY, during Springsteen's induction to the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame. Check out the live 15 Mar 1999 version for more details.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band embarked on The Reunion Tour in April 1999, and BACKSTREETS was frequently performed during that tour, making a total of 59 apparitions.

  • The song was played during the tour's private rehearsals, on 11 Mar 1999 at the Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ. 25 people were allowed into the hall to hear the band play. A security guard stepped outside and told the fans gathered there, "I'm going to do you guys one hell of a favor." Bruce welcomed his first audience - "You guys have been out in the cold too long!" - and treated them to five songs.
  • It was also played during both of the tour's public warm-up rehearsal shows: 18 and 19 Mar 1999 at the Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ.
  • The 01 Jul 2000 performance of the song was officially released in 2001 on the Live In New York City home video. See the live 27 Jun 2000 version for more details.

BACKSTREETS was also played on one of the public rehearsal shows for The Rising Tour, on 02 Aug 2002 at the Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ. On tour, it was played a total of 13 times out of the 120 regular dates of the tour. Check out the live 16 Sep 2003 version.

The song appeared 3 times during the Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour, played solo on grand piano. Prior to that tour, it was never performed this way.

  • 06 Aug 2005 at Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO
  • 16 Nov 2005 at Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, NJ
  • 22 Nov 2005 at Sovereign Bank Arena, Trenton, NJ (check out the live 22 Nov 2005 version)

Up to the time this page was last updated, BACKSTREETS had been played a total of 13 times during the Magic Tour:

On 07 May 2008, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band played a concert at Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ. This was an off-tour benefit show to aid of renovations for the venue. It was a setlist with Bruce and the band running through the entire Darkness On The Edge Of Town and Born To Run albums in order, in addition to four other songs from their repertoire.

Sad Eyed Interlude

On the Born To Run album, BACKSTREETS was already six-and-a-half minute long, but in 1976, 1977, and 1978, the live performances of the song were extended with an interlude that is most know under title "Sad Eyes" -- a name probably give to it by bootleggers. Note that this has nothing to do with SAD EYES, the 1990 outtake that was released in November 1998 on the Tracks box set.

Sad Eyes is a mostly soft-piano based monologue toward the end of the song. It gradually rises in tempo before it suddenly stops and the "Hiding on the backstreets" coda kicks back in full band.

The Sad Eyes interlude debuted in Sep 1976 and disappeared with the end of the Darkness On The Edge Of Tour. It evolved through those three years to later be used as the basis for part of DRIVE ALL NIGHT on The River album in 1980. The live 22 Aug 1976 version of BACKSTREETS is the last one known from that year not to yet include the Sad Eyes interlude. Check the list of BACKSTREETS versions below to see how the Sad Eyes interlude evolved through the period:

Cover

Very few artists covered BACKSTREETS. 7 Lvvas released a Galician-translated (one of Spain's 4 official languages) version titled "Calex�ns" on his 1995 album Pirata. Cory Arcangel released in 2006 a 5-track EP titled The Bruce Springsteen Born To Run Glockenspiel Addendum containing his glockenspiel arrangements of 5 songs from Springsteen's Born To Run album including BACKSTREETS. Maria McKee released a live version on her 2006 album Maria McKee Live: Acoustic Tour 2006.


7 Lvvas -- Pirata

CD - Boomerang Records (BG-008) - Spain, 1995

Contains a Galician-translated version of BACKSTREETS titled "Calex�ns"

Cory Arcangel -- The Bruce Springsteen Born To Run Glockenspiel Addendum

12" EP - no label (GA001) - USA, 2006

Contains a glockenspiel arrangement of BACKSTREETS

Maria McKee -- Maria McKee Live: Acoustic Tour 2006

CD - Cooking Vinyl (CKV-CD-4787) - USA, 2006

Contains a live version of BACKSTREETS

Backstreets Magazine

Backstreets Magazine, a quarterly Bruce Springsteen fanzine, has been covering the music of Bruce Springsteen and Jersey Shore artists since 1980. The print began in 1980 when Seattle-based Springsteen fan Charles R. Cross printed 10,000 copies of a 4-page tabloid he called "Backstreets". He passed it out for free at Bruce's 24 Oct 1980 show at the Seattle Coliseum, Seattle, WA. Most copies of this first issue wound up trampled under foot, soaking in puddles by the end of the night; original copies of this three-color premiere issue now sell for three figures.

Backstreets Magazine issue #1

Backstreets became an uninterrupted run of quarterly publishing and is a Music Journalism Award winner for Best Fanzine. From its 4-page debut, Backstreets grew slowly, but after nine issues on newsprint, it switched to the magazine format with issue #10, adding slick paper and full-color covers soon after.

Current Publisher and Editor Christopher Phillips moved to Seattle in 1993 and began working with Charles R. Cross at Backstreets on issue #44, became Managing Editor in 1994, developed the Backstreets website in 1995, and took the reins in 1998. After a couple more years in Seattle, Phillips moved Backstreets to the East coast in 2000, with the magazine and website headquarters now based in Chapel Hill, NC.

Available Versions

List of available versions of BACKSTREETS on this website:

Credits / References

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

Some of the above info about the studio recording and the live performances are taken from Brucebase. Info and scans for the some of the above Bruce Springsteen official releases are taken from the Lost In The Flood website.

Request

An aborted outtake (duration 3:12) of BACKSTREETS is in circulation. If you have it, please send it to me. I also need the live 26 Sep 1976 performance of the song for it might be the first ever BACKSTREETS with Sad Eyes Interlude.

A higher resolution scan of Backstreets Magazine original issue #1 is also needed.

Any additions, comments, or corrections to this page are welcome. You can contact me via the below form or by email: . You will be credited. Thanks in advance.

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