BACKSTREETS^©

Live 18 Nov 1975 version

One soft infested summer me and Terry became friends
Trying in vain to breathe the fire we was born in
Catching rides from 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

Hey!

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 from everything
To go running on the backstreets, running on the backstreets
We swore we'd live forever
Bam!
On the backstreets we'd make it together
Together

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, on the truth that ran us down
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!

Laying here in the dark, you're like an angel on my chest
Another tramp of hearts crying tears of faithlessness
Remember all the movies, Terry, that 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
We swore forever friends
Do!
On the backstreets until the end

Till the end
Me and you baby
Run along baby
On the backstreets
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, 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
On the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets
On the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets
On the backstreets
On the backstreets
On the backstreets
Whoah!

Sing it out loud!
Sing it oh!
Whoah, I'm gonna whoah, whoah
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh

Page last updated: 00 Xxx 2008

The above lyrics are for the 18 Nov 1975 performance at Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK, during the Born To Run Tour.

This was one of Springsteen's most mysterious, most hyped, and most disparaged performances ever. "For me, the set went by like a freight train," he writes. "Later, all I remembered is an awkward record company party, that 'what just happened?' feeling, and thinking we hadn't played that well. I was wrong."

The complete concert was captured on 16 mm film and recorded on 24-track. It is also known that this show was initially going to be broadcast on radio (either live or delayed) but Mike Appel, Springsteen's manager at the time, backed out at the last minute as he felt that Bruce's mood at the time would not lead to a particularly good show.

The film remained largely untouched for nearly 30 years. "Lost in my private Idaho, I'd paid no attention to it. I never looked at it... for thirty years," Springsteen writes. "At the end of the Rising tour, I became interested in checking out film of the early part of my work." [Read complete liner notes below]

Emmy Award Winner Thom Zimny would receive the 16 mm negatives along with the 24-track recording. His production team painstakingly cleaned the original negatives and digitally restored the footage, ultimately presenting this indispensable concert in vibrant color and detail. Producer Bob Clearmountain remastered and remixed the DVD in both stereo and 5.1 surround sound. Zimny has worked with Springsteen on several projects, including editing the Live In New York City, Live In Barcelona, and VH1 Storytellers films. Clearmountain is the legendary mixer who has often collaborated with Springsteen over the last 25 years, most famously on the Born In The USA album.

The complete show was released in Nov 2005 on the Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 DVD, as part of the "30th Anniversary Edition" of Born To Run. Audio for the concert was released on a 2-CD set by the same title in Feb 2006.

List of available versions of BACKSTREETS on this website:

• Album's version (more details)

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

Liner notes from the Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 DVD and CD:

In 1975, we stepped of the plane into the land of our mythic heroes. A London, that was yet to see it's first McDonalds's, that was still wrasslin' with making good cheeseburger and that seemed very foreign and exotic to a bunch of provincial Jersey Shore beach bums and musicians.

From the "very" anxious heavens of our first trans-Atlantic flight we descended into... well... hell, as I would soon come to know it.

There was a lot of publicity.

Without going into excessive and ancient detail, yeah, there were promo posters, yeah; there was the "London is finally ready for..." marquee; the raves, the pans, the fans, the existential angst... the... the... HYPE!

The whole city, or at least the part that was interested in pop music, seemed primed for... a party? a funeral? a coronation? All of the above? With the shadow of the crown and the noose upon my neck, I stood in the middle of it, this week's Next... Big... Thing. All I remember thinking was, Whoa! This is a little more than I bargained for. Not quite savvy enough to realize that this was exactly what I had bargained for, I arrived at the theater and created pre-show chaos, stomping through the aisles, pulling promo flyers of the seats in a "The Man can't steal my music" frenzy. The record company, of course, was just doing its job, and I was just learning mine... real fast.

Later that evening an E Street Band, with a good deal of the carnival still left in it and armed with a set list I still dare any young band to match, strode onto the stage of the Hammersmith Odeon. The tempos were fast. A Jersey stew of almost punk soul, fueled by the visionary songwriters, 60's records, garage bands, and Rhythm and Blues we loved. For me, the set went by like a freight train. Later, all I remembered is an awkward record company party, that "what just happened?" feeling, and thinking we hadn't played that well. I was wrong. With the keys to the kingdom dangling in front of us and the knife at our neck, we'd gone for broke. Whatever happened, it became one of our "legendary" performances, marked only in memory, bits of bootleg tape, and "I was there when" stories. It was the show that put us on the map in England and began a long and beautiful relationship with our fans overseas.

The evening had been recorded and filmed. Lost in my private Idaho, I'd paid no attention to it. I never looked at it... for thirty years. At the time I was anxious to move away from the commotion and on down the road, as the band and I were "busy bein' born."

At the end of the Rising tour, I became interested in checking out film of the early part of my work. It had remained a blank spot with virtually nothing released. I started with bits and pieces of this show figuring we could cut together a song or two. To our surprise the entire concert emerged from the vault along with the 24-track recording. Restore by Thom Zimny and mixed by Bob Clearmountain, removed from the bluster and noise of the moment, all that's left if the music. So Ladies and Gentelmen... "London is finally ready for Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band." Live! At the Hammersmith Odeon.

- BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, 9/22/05