GLORY DAYS^©

Live 19 Nov 1984 version

Well you see, I had this friend, he was a big baseball player back in high school
And man, he could throw that speedball by you, make you look like a fool boy
I saw him the other night at this roadside bar, I was walking in, he was walking out
We went back inside, sat down, had a few drinks, but all he kept talking about was

Glory days
They'll pass you by, glory days
In the wink of a young girl's eye, glory days
Glory days

Well there's this girl, well she lives up the block, but back in school she could turn all the boys' heads
Sometimes on a Friday I'll stop by and have a few drinks with her after she put her kids to bed
Her and her husband Bobby, well they split up I guess, I guess about two years gone by now
We just sit around talking about the old times, she says when she feels like crying, she starts laughing thinking about

Glory days
They'll pass you by, glory days
In the wink of a young girl's eye, glory days
Glory days

Alright everybody, express yourselves
As good!

Think I'm going down to the well tonight and I'm gonna drink till I get my fill
Well I hope when I get old I don't sit around thinking about it, but I probably will
Hey just sitting back trying to recapture a little of the glory of
But the time slips away, leaves you with nothing mister but boring stories of

Glory days
They'll pass you by, glory days
In the wink of a young girl's eye, glory days
Glory days
They'll pass you by, glory days
In the wink of a young girl's eye, glory days
Glory days

Alright!
Oh yeah! (crowd: Oh yeah)
Alright! (crowd: Alright)
Oh yeah! (crowd: Oh yeah)
Alright! (crowd: Alright)
Alright! (crowd: Alright)
Oh yeah! (crowd: Oh yeah)
Whoa! (crowd: Whoa)
Whoa! (crowd: Whoa)
Whoa! (crowd: Whoa)
Whoa! (crowd: Whoa)
Oh yeah! (crowd: Oh yeah)
Come on now! (crowd: Come on now)
Alright! (crowd: Alright)
Oh yeah! (crowd: Oh yeah)
Ahh now you gotta keep rocking now boys
Don't ever stop
Don't let me down now
Because I can hear that big clock ticking away, every minute of my life, everyday (alright)
It says Boss (alright), you're 30 (what), 31 (alright), 32 (oh no), 33 (oh no), 34 (what), 35 (oh no)
Thirty (what), thirty (what), thirty (what)
Alright! (Alright)
Oh yeah! (Oh yeah)
Alright! (Alright)
Come on now! (Oh whoa)
Alright! (Alright)
Oh yeah! (Oh yeah)
Alright! (Alright)
Ah everybody dance! (Oh yeah)

I don't wanna die, ever

These lyrics refer to the live performance on 19 Nov 1984 at Kemper Arena, Kansas City, KA, during the Born In The USA tour.

Check the album's version, the extra verse outtake, and the original demo. Check also these live versions form the Born In The USA tour: 12 Jul 1984, 19 Aug 1984, 20 Aug 1984, 14 Sep 1984, 18 Nov 1984, 07 Dec 1984, 07 Jan 1985, and 04 Jul 1985. They are pretty similar, but the spoken introductions differ sometimes. Check also these live versions form the Tunnel Of Love Express tour, 10 May 1988, Human Rights Now! tour, 15 Oct 1988, Human Touch tour, 10 Jul 1992 and 24 Jun 1993, and The Rising tour, 16 Nov 2002, 07 Mar 2003, 26 Jul 2003, and 06 Aug 2003. All those live versions are very similar.

Song intro on 19 Nov 1984 at Kemper Arena, Kansas City, KA:

Alright! Alright! Discontinue! Come on ???
Look out now! Alright! Oh yeah! (crowd: Oh yeah) Alright! (crowd: Alright) Oh yeah! (crowd: Oh yeah) Alright! (crowd: Alright) Oh yeah! (crowd: Oh yeah) Alright! (crowd: Alright) Come on now! (crowd: Come on now) Alright! (crowd: Alright) Oh yeah! (crowd: Oh yeah) Whoa! (crowd: Whoa) Whoa! (crowd: Whoa) Whoa! (crowd: Whoa) Whoa! (crowd: Whoa) Whoa! (crowd: Whoa) Alright! (crowd: Alright) Oh yeah! (crowd: Oh yeah) Alright! (crowd: Alright)
Very good. That's pretty good singing.
Now this song, this is a song about my personal life. I mean the kind of stuff that you're gonna read in the National Enquirer after I die, or if my girlfriend gets mad at me you're gonna read it while I'm still alive. And then I'm mad about it. I gotta be good. But anyway, like when I was like, when I was about 15, I got interested in three things. One I was interested in playing pool cause my father did, and then I was interested in the guitar, and then the third thing I was interested in was... The you know... The one Christmas time, one Christmas time my mother took me down to Sears and for 69.95, she got me one of these little pooltables. Then like we took it home on top of the car, we tied it to the top of the car and, like you know, lugged it upstairs all, I had it, I put it in my bedroom. So like I used to bring my girlfriends over and I would tell my father, I'd say "Dad, if we're gonna go up, we're gonna go up in my room and play pool for a little while". But like, like my bedroom was right over the kitchen and he used to sit in the kitchen all the time, and so, if he didn't hear the guitar, and if he didn't hear the pool balls knocking around, he had a broomstick that he used to bang on the ceiling. Stop that! (chuckles). Dam! But I had it all figured out cause I used to pull the pooltable like real over close to the bed, you know, and like every once in a while I'd like reach up and knock the pool balls around a little bit. But anyway, as I matured, I put away those childish things. Gave up playing pool, and of the other two, the guitar is the only thing that I became proficient at. But the third thing, I'm still looking for some volunteers who wanna practice, practice, practice. You know you gotta practice all the time. I'm gonna get it down (chuckles). This year some time (chuckles). Anyway, in the end this song is about how all things must pass. All those wonderfully frustrated years (chuckles), and how in the end it ain't nothing but glory days.