GROWIN' UP^©

Live 31 May 1978 version

I stood stone-like at midnight suspended in my masquerade
And I combed my hair till it looked just right and commanded the night brigade
Well I was open to pain and crossed by the rain, walked on a crooked crutch
I strolled all alone through a fallout zone and 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 wouldn't sail but she sure could sing
I pushed B-52, 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
Hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, when they said "come down" I threw up
Ooooh, growin' up

Big Man!

[spoken intro]

Well I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere, you know it's really hard to hold your breath
I swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared, I was the cosmic kid
My feet they finally took root in the earth, got me a nice little place in the stars
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 "come down" I said
Ooooh, growin' up
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Growin' up

These lyrics refer to the live 31 May 1978 performance at the Music Hall, Boston, MA.

Check also the album's version (more details), 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, 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.

Spoken intro on 31 May 1978 at the Music Hall, Boston, MA:

There we were. It was me and Miami and the Big Man. We took these girls out to dinner and we took 'em out to the movies, and we were trying to get 'em, get 'em to come over to my house, but they kept ditching us and stuff, they didn't wanna come. So it was about midnight, 1AM. I think it was last Jul 25th, was that the date? And we were riding down this dark road, and all of a sudden, we were doing about 85, and something came shooting past us. Remember that thing that came shooting past us? It was just, it was like a red, something all striped with red. And as it passed, the right rear tire blew out and we skidded into the swamps and we all bumped our heads and the girls, they're all full of mud and they were screaming and yelling at us to take 'em home and, as we looked up, we looked over and in the mud about a hundred yards away and we saw this thing just sitting there glowing sitting in the dark. It sort of looked like a chartreuse Big Mac. And street stock racing slicks. And we got out of the car and we were walking across, across the field and we got up to it, it was about, it was pretty big, what is it? And we knocked on the outside and on the outside it had red and white paint: "Big Daddy Don Garlitz - Born To Lose". So we knocked on it, and this guy stuck his head out and he said that he was on his way to the solar system and if we could, if we could tell him the way to the New Jersey Turnpike he'd gives us each three wishes, yeah. One wish a piece so that sounded like a pretty good deal, and we thought about it for a long time and, "Steve, what'd you wish for?" Oh, Steve wished for a winner at the track, for just once. "Clarence, what'd you wish for, huh?" Oh yeah. I can't tell you what Clarence wished for. And me, I said "I'll tell you what. You think, you think that". I thought a million dollars? No... "You think that you can make us all movie stars?", and he said "oh, no but would you settle for Rock 'N' Roll?"