GROWIN' UP^©

Live 22 Sep 1992 version

Well I stood stone-like at midnight suspended in my masquerade
I combed my hair till it looked just right, commanded the night brigade
Well 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
Hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, when they said "sit down" I stood up
Ooooh, growin' up

Well 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
Well 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 wrath of the crowd, when they said "sit down" I threw up
Ooooh, growin' up

Aah come on Professor!

I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere and 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 in full costume dress
My feet they finally took root in the earth but I 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 clouded wrath of the crowd, when they said "sit down" I stood up
Ooooh, growin' up
Ooooh, growin' up

These lyrics refer to the live 22 Sep 1992 performance at Warner Hollywood Studios, Los Angeles, CA, during 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. The below spoken intro is edited out on the Streets Of Philadelphia maxi single.

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, 31 May 1978, 25 Jun 1978, 05 Jul 1978, 07 Jul 1978, 04 Aug 1978, 09 Aug 1978, 20 Aug 1984, 14 Sep 1984, 24 Sep 1999, 19 Feb 2003, and 22 Jun 2003.

Spoken intro on 22 Sep 1992 at Warner Hollywood Studios, Los Angeles, CA:

A song for the man who just yelled out. Give me the acoustic guitar. Just me and the Professor on this one, way back to our youths. I was in this hairdressing salon, this is true, I used to live on a third floor apartment, ??? was a drugstore. Then there was this uh, it was an abandoned hairdressing salon actually, and somebody had left the place and for some reason left all, like the, those old-fashioned, big 50's driers and, and everything still in the place, and had one of those old time headmassagers, like there's three suction cups that sit on your head and like, you know, make your whole face ???. And it was worse 'cause I lived on the third floor and I used to have to walk through it every night. When I was a kid, I didn't like uh, I never liked the, the dark, you know. I always used to sleep with the light on. I used to cry if my, you know, Dad used to turn out the light so I used to, uh (some people: Aaw). Hey, this is uh, this is the hard, the hard, hard cold truth here (chuckles). But uh, so I used to have to walk through this abandoned hairdressing salon every night, from one end to the other. Really scary, it was... Anyway, I wrote this song, I, I don't know why I wrote, I made that whole story up (chuckles), the whole thing, there wasn't a word of truth in any of it (chuckles). Alright, where were we?