GROWIN' UP^©

Album's version

Well I stood stone-like at midnight suspended in my masquerade
And I combed my hair till it was just right and commanded the night brigade
I was open to pain and crossed by the rain and I walked on a crooked crutch
I strolled all alone through a fallout zone, came out with my soul untouched
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, when they said "sit down" I stood up
Ooooh, growin' up

The flag of piracy flew from my mast, my sails were set wing to wing
I had a jukebox graduate for first mate, she couldn't sail but she sure could sing
And I pushed B-52 and bombed 'em with the blues with my gear set stubborn on standing
I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school, never once gave thought to landing
I hid in the clouded warmth of the crowd, when they said "come down" I threw up
Ooooh, growin' up

Look ??? now!

I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere and you know it's really hard to hold your breath
Swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared, I was the cosmic kid in full costume dress
But my feet they finally took root in the earth but I got me a nice little place in the stars
And I swear I found the key to the universe in the engine of an old parked car
I hid in the mother breast of the crowd, when they said "pull down" I pulled up
Ooooh, growin' up
Ooooh, growin' up
Hoohoo

Perhaps one of the most important songs for Bruce himself. Published on Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ. The video of the 22 Sep 1992 performance at Warner Hollywood Studios, Los Angeles, CA, can be found on the MTV UnPlugged DVD. ELOISE shares the same music with this song.

GROWIN' UP first appeared during a private audition on 02 May 1972 at the CBS building, New York City, NY (read below). Performed live for the first time on the same day at The Gaslight Au Go Go, New York City, NY (read below). Recorded at CBS Studios, New York City, NY, the following day (read below). That 03 May 1972 studio recording was later published on Tracks and 18 Tracks (check the Tracks version). Read more about that audition below in the interview with Mark Hagen on MOJO Magazine, Jan 1999.

Recorded for Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ between early Jul and early Sep 1972 at 914 Sound Studios, Blauvelt, NY. These lyrics refer to that studio recording that was published on the album.

The song is believed to be performed at least twice during Bruce's residency at Max's Kansas City, New York City, NY, in Aug 1972 (read below - check the live 10 Aug 1972 version). The song later appeared during a radio broadcast on 31 May 1973 on WGOE-FM radio station, Richmond, VA (read below). Also appeared during another radio broadcast on 02 Jun 1973 on WHFS-FM radio station, Bethesda, MD (read below). The next known performance was on 09 Jun 1973 at Boston Garden, Boston, MA. Performed on 30 and 31 Oct 1973 at The Main Point, Bryn Mawr, PA.

Appeared, as far as it's known, 18 times in 1974 and 1975, before the Born To Run tour:
- 06 Jan 1974 at Joe's Place, Cambridge, MA
- 12 Jan 1974 at The Joint In The Woods, Parsippany, NJ
- 29 Jan 1974 at Muther's Music Emporium, Nashville, TN
- 09 Mar 1974 on KLOL-FM radio station, Houston, TX, during a radio broadcast
- 09 Apr 1974 on WBCN-FM radio station, Boston, MA, during a radio broadcast
- 26 Apr 1974 at Brown University, Providence, RI
- 27 Apr 1974 on WHCN-FM radio station, Hartford, CT, during a radio broadcast
- 27 Apr 1974 at the University Of Hartford, Hartford, CT, this show may have also been broadcasted on WHCN-FM
- 04 May 1974 at Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ
- 08 Nov 1974 at Ritz Music Hall, Corpus Christi, TX
- 23 Nov 1974 at Salem State College, Salem, MA
- 29 Nov 1974 at the War Memorial Theater, Trenton, NJ
- 06 Dec 1974 at the State Theater, New Brunswick, NJ
- 08 Dec 1974 at the Memorial Auditorium, Burlington, VT
- 05 Feb 1975 at The Main Point, Bryn Mawr, PA, and radio-broadcasted live by WMMR-FM
- 06 Feb 1975 at Widener College, Chester, PA
- 23 Feb 1975 at Westbury Music Fair, Westbury, NY
- 08 Mar 1975 at the Constitution Hall, Washington, DC
The live 06 Jan 1974 recording is the one found on the Introducing Rosie bootleg (B Street Records) that incorrectly lists the audio as coming from the 05 Jan 1974 show at Joe's Place, Cambridge, MA. The 29 Jan 1974 live recording is the one found on the You Mean So Much To Me bootleg (Great Dane Records) that incorrectly lists the audio as coming from the 19 Jan 1974 show at Kent State University, Kent, OH.

As far as it's known, performed at least 46 times during the official Born To Run tour in 1975 and 1976, starting on the opening night on 20 Jul 1975 at Palace Theater, Providence Rhode Island, NY. Also played at least 20 times in 1976 during the period of the lawsuit with Mike Appel.

4 known performances during the 1977 tour:
- 13 Feb 1977 at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada
- 10 Mar 1977 at the Sports Arena, Toledo, OH
- 23 Mar 1977 at the Music Hall, Boston, MA
- 24 Mar 1977 at the Music Hall, Boston, MA

As far as it's known, performed at least 45 times during the Darkness On The Edge Of Town tour, 18 times during The River tour, 40 times during the Born In The USA tour. The live 07 Jul 1978 version from The Roxy, Los Angeles, CA, was included on the Live 1975-85 box set.

The song reappears during the Human Touch tour on 04 Aug 1992 at Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, NJ, played 12 times during that tour. Played on 22 Sep 1992 at Warner Hollywood Studios, Los Angeles, CA, for the MTV Unplugged Taping. Though it was performed, GROWIN' UP was not included on the MTV UnPlugged CD, but was later included on the Streets Of Philadelphia maxi single in 1994 with STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA, IF I SHOULD FALL BEHIND (live 22 Sep 1992), and LIGHT OF DAY (live 22 Sep 1992), and the video was included on the MTV UnPlugged DVD. Check the live 22 Sep 1992 version.

Performed only 7 times during The Ghost Of Tom Joad tour:
- 08 Nov 1996 at St. Rose Of Lima, Freehold, NJ
- 24 Nov 1996 at Paramount Theater, Asbury Park, NJ
- 15 May 1997 at Auditorium Maurice Ravel, Lyon, France
- 18 May 1997 at Acropolis, Nice, France
- 21 May 1997 at Teatro Verdi, Florence, Italy
- 22 May 1997 at Teatro Augeo, Naples, Italy
- 25 May 1997 at Palais Des Congres, Paris, France

Performed only 7 times during the Reunion tour:
- 24 Sep 1999 at The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA
- 21 Oct 1999 at Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
- 26 Oct 1999 at Oakland Arena, Oakland, CA
- 15 Nov 1999 at Gund Arena, Cleveland, OH
- 07 May 2000 at Civic Center, Hartford, CT
- 20 Jun 2000 at Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 29 Jun 2000 at Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY

Performed on 26 Jul 2002 at Sonny's Southern Cuisine, Asbury Park, NJ, when Bruce played an intimate acoustic set for contest winners that were at the warm up gig for The Rising tour on the afternoon of the same day at the Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ. All songs, except GROWIN' UP were played by request of the contest winners. Appeared only 7 times during The Rising tour:
- 06 Dec 2002 at USC Arena, Columbia, SC
- 02 Mar 2003 at Frank Erwin Center, Austin, TX
- 18 Apr 2003 at Corel Centre, Ottawa, Canada, not on the setlist, but was played during the show
- 24 May 2003 at Stade de France, Paris, France, during an acoustic sound-check
- 22 Jun 2003 at Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg, Sweden
- 28 Jun 2003 at San Siro Stadium, Milan, Italy
- 17 Jul 2003 at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
Also played during the DoubleTake Magazine benefit shows, on 19 and 20 Feb 2003 at Somerville Theatre, Somerville, MA.

Performed 4 times during the Devils & Dust tour on:
- 27 Jun 2005 at Color Line Arena, Hamburg, Germany
- 28 Jul 2005 at Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA
- 07 Aug 2005 at Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI
- 11 Aug 2005 at Key Arena, Seattle, WA

These lyrics refer to the Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ album's version. Check also the Tracks version and the alternative version. The live versions are all pretty similar, and have no important lyrics variations. Only the spoken intro differs. Check them out: 10 Aug 1972, 31 Oct 1973, 05 Feb 1975, 30 Dec 1975, 07 Apr 1976, 27 Oct 1976, 04 Nov 1976, 23 Mar 1977, 24 Mar 1977, 31 May 1978, 25 Jun 1978, 05 Jul 1978, 07 Jul 1978, 04 Aug 1978, 09 Aug 1978, 20 Aug 1984, 14 Sep 1984, 22 Sep 1992, 24 Sep 1999, 19 Feb 2003, and 22 Jun 2003.

From Brucebase, about the 02 May 1972 private audition at the CBS building, New York City, NY:

01- GROWIN' UP
02- IT'S HARD TO BE A SAINT IN THE CITY
03- MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS
04- IF I WAS THE PRIEST
One (informal) private audition that took place in front of an audience of two (John Hammond and Mike Appel) around 10:30AM upstairs in Hammond's office in the A & R Department at Columbia Records. The above mentioned setlist is culled from the scattered, collective recollections of the attendees. All songs were performed on acoustic guitar. This performance was not recorded. The performance lasted 30-40 minutes, so one or two additional songs were probably played, but those titles have never been articulated. In a 1980 interview, Hammond mentioned he wasn't all that enamored with MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS, but that he loved all the other songs Bruce performed that morning. Springsteen played IF I WAS THE PRIEST only after a probing Hammond requested that Bruce sing something he wouldn't otherwise play live. Springsteen has since mentioned that IF I WAS THE PRIEST was written in late 1970 or early 1971 and that he'd performed it live during his late 1971 residency at The Student Prince. When Bruce was finished with this audition Hammond mentioned that he would need to see how Bruce interacted in front of a live audience, so Appel immediately went about organizing a local club performance for that evening.

From Brucebase, about the 02 May 1972 show at The Gaslight Au Go Go, New York City, NY:

01- GROWIN' UP
02- IT'S HARD TO BE A SAINT IN THE CITY
One (informal) show. This famous performance was organized by Mike Appel within hours of the morning audition meeting with John Hammond [see above]...
The Gaslight Au Go Go wasn't Bruce's preferred choice for this performance. The Bitter End, Max's Kansas City, and Kenny's Cataways were approached first, but none could accommodate a Springsteen billing on such short notice.
...There is evidence (from comments made by Springsteen and Appel) that this early evening timeslot this night may have been booked with unadvertised amateur comedy acts. Bruce's performance lasted about 30 minutes and included just 4 or 5 songs. Both Springsteen and Appel have mentioned the two above mentioned setlist tracks as having been played, but the other titles have never been articulated publicly. There is no circulating audio/video from this performance, although both video and audio from Springsteen performances at Max's Kansas City in mid-Aug are sometimes incorrectly attributed to this gig. Note: John Hammond attended this show, was impressed, and invited Springsteen back to CBS the following day to make a studio demo audition tape.

From Brucebase, about the 03 May 1972 recording at CBS Studios, New York City, NY:

01- MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS
02- MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS
03- IT'S HARD TO BE A SAINT IN THE CITY
04- JAZZ MUSICIAN
05- JAZZ MUSICIAN
06- IF I WAS THE PRIEST
07- ARABIAN NIGHT
08- GROWIN' UP
09- DOES THIS BUS STOP AT 82ND STREET?
10- TWO HEARTS IN TRUE WALTZ TIME
11- THE ANGEL
12- STREET QUEEN
13- SOUTHERN SON
14- COWBOYS OF THE SEA
...John Hammond was prepared to sign Bruce on the spot on May 3rd. But administrative formalities within CBS meant that it would take several weeks for that to become reality. Mike Appel sent cassette copies of some (not all) of this May 3rd material to several record company executives during May in an attempt to create a "bidding war" for Springsteen's services. However none of the other companies were interested in Bruce.
A week or so following this May 3rd CBS session, Springsteen finally signed his "Exclusive Songwriting Agreement" with publisher Sioux City Music (Appel & Cretecos). It was following the signing of this Agreement that Springsteen began a series of May-Jun demo sessions for Sioux City Music at two New York City locations: Wes Farrell's Pocketful Of Sounds Studios (where Appel was still employed) and at the apartment of Bruce's co-manager Jim Cretecos. There were multiple sessions held at each location and the session dates at the two locations may have actually intertwined. Cretecos' apartment was utilized due to the limited availability of the studio at Pocketful Of Sounds. Cretecos was an electronics engineer and was able to emulate a reasonable recording environment in his apartment – so much so that it is difficult to distinguish some of the recordings Bruce made in Cretecos' apartment from those made in a professional studio.

From the interview with Mark Hagen on MOJO Magazine, Jan 1999:

[Mark Hagen:] The first voice that we hear on Tracks is John Hammond, introducing your audition for Columbia. What do you remember of that day?

[Bruce:] It was a big, big day for me. I'd played a lot of bars, a lot of different shows. I was 22 and come up on the bus with an acoustic guitar with no case which I'd borrowed from the drummer from The Castiles. I was embarrassed carrying it around the city. I walked into his office and had the audition and I played a couple of songs and he said, "You've got to be on Columbia Records. But I need to see you play. And I need to hear how you sound on tape." Me and Mike Appel [his manager/publisher] walked all around the Village trying to find some place that would let somebody just get up on stage and play. We went to the Bitter End, it didn't work out. We went to another club. And finally we went to the old Gaslight on McDougai Street and the guy says, "Yeah, we have an open night where you can come down and play for half on hour." There were about 10 people in the place and I played for about half on hour. John Hammond said, "Gee, that was great. I want you to come to the Columbia Recording Studio and make a demo tope." A demo I made at Bill Graham's studio in San Francisco in '69 was the only other time I'd ever been in a real recording studio. Columbia was very old-fashioned: everybody in ties and shirts; the engineer was in a white shirt and a tie and was probably 50, 55 years old, it was just him and John and Mike Appel there, and he just hits the button and gives you your serial number, and off you go. I was excited. I felt I'd written some good songs and this was my shot. I had nothing to lose and it was like the beginning of something.

I knew a lot about John Hammond, the work he'd done, the people he'd discovered, his importance in music and it was very exciting to feel you were worth his time. No matter what happened afterwards, even it it was just for this one night, you were worth his time. That meant a lot to me. He was very encouraging - simply being in that room with him at the board was one of my greatest recording experiences.

...[Mark Hagen:] What would the 22-year-old who went to see John Hammond think of you now?

[Bruce:] I really don't know. You hear your voice from that particular period of time, and you try to think back to what you were thinking, and who you were, and you probably tell yourself that you're the same. In some essential way you are the same, but of course you're the same person at a very different place in your life. The kid that walked in that particular night hadn't begun to imagine a life with children, a wife, and responsibilities - I was trying to avoid responsibilities, that was why I became a musician.

From Brucebase, about the 10 Aug 1972 show at Max's Kansas City, New York City, NY:

01- HENRY BOY
02- GROWIN' UP
Two shows, triple bill, with Springsteen (solo) opening for headliner Dave Van Ronk and folk stylist Doris Abrahams. Each of Bruce's shows was limited to about 30 minutes (3 to 5 songs).
Very brief audio-video excerpts of both HENRY BOY and GROWIN' UP from one of the 12 shows during this Aug 1972 Max's residency first surfaced in a 1990 documentary about John Hammond called From Bessie Smith To Springsteen. The complete audio-video of both songs has recently leaked out and is circulating among collectors. These complete takes represent what was originally supplied to the Hammond film producers by CBS. The producers were only allowed to use brief excerpts of the two songs in the documentary – and were not supplied any footage of the rest of the show. HENRY BOY is the opening number of Bruce's show and GROWIN' UP is the closing number. The remainder of the show (probably only a couple of more songs) exists in CBS's vault but has never circulated. The other show this night may also have been filmed.
...Brucebase has placed this audio-video segment under this date but it could be from any of the shows during this residency.

From Brucebase, about the 11 Aug 1972 show at Max's Kansas City, New York City, NY:

01- GROWIN' UP
Two shows, triple bill, with Springsteen (solo) opening for headliner Dave Van Ronk and folk stylist Doris Abrahams. Each of Bruce's shows was limited to about 30 minutes (3 to 5 songs).
A brief, 20-second audio-video excerpt of Bruce performing GROWIN' UP first surfaced in Apr 1992 in MTV's 50-minute Springsteen Rocumentary (produced by John Landau's longtime friend Kurt Loder). MTV's credits failed to identify either the location or recording date of this performance. It is likely this clip is also from one of the Aug 9 thru 14, 1972 Max's Kansas City shows. However it is clearly from a different show (and a different night) than the other performance of GROWIN' UP seen in the Hammond documentary. The same video camera seems to have been utilized – but positioned at a different angle to the other show. Note: Brucebase has placed this performance under this date but it could be from any of the shows during this 6-night residency and it could possibly be from Bruce's Jan 31 – Feb 05 1973 Max's Kansas City residency.

From Brucebase, about the 31 May 1973 radio broadcast on WGOE-FM radio station, Richmond, VA:

01- SATIN DOLL
02- DOES THIS BUS STOP AT 82ND STREET?
03- WILD BILLY'S CIRCUS STORY
04- GROWIN' UP
05- NEW YORK SONG
06- YOU MEAN SO MUCH TO ME
Broadcast by Richmond's WGOE-FM live via remote hook-up from an actual recording studio [Alpha Sound Studios] - the only time Springsteen ever did it this way (all other radio shows were merely recorded inside the DJ broadcast room). WGOE paid for the studio time. Besides the WGOE DJ, the small audience heard inside the studio with the band includes Mike Appel, Jim Cretecos, and David Sancious! After the show, Mike Appel took possession of the master tape.
The recording of YOU MEAN SO MUCH TO ME from this show was one of the 27 songs cut from the official Tracks box set when it was culled from a 6CD set down to a 4CD set. Fortunately a beautiful transfer of this song off the master tape has since leaked out and can be found on the CD boot Deep Down In The Vaults. The remainder of this show is available but in significantly weaker (but still enjoyable) sound quality - some tracks are on Radio Waves CD (GDR).

From Brucebase, about the 02 Jun 1973 radio broadcast on WHFS-FM radio station, Bethesda, MD:

01- SATIN DOLL
02- CIRCUS SONG
03- NEW YORK SONG
04- GROWIN' UP
05- MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS
Bruce's second radio station foray. The above mentioned setlist is the entire performance and it is circulating complete. It appears to have been taped off the radio and is in good (but not brilliant) quality. However only the track MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS is widely circulating - via the CD Radio Waves (GDR).