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GROWIN' UP 
Live 07 Jul 1978 version
[Spoken intro:] This is for a fellow sent me a note
backstage. Said he's here with his son who's six years old. Are you here any place? The cat that
sent the note? Is that you? It was a fine note, and, uh, this was his son's first rock show or
something, rock concert? I forgot his name. [chuckles] It was Jason or something. And uh, this is
for him and this is for everybody else that's still growing up.
There I was... Gotta get my buttons straight. There, I got it. There I was one night, just
a normal guy. And then, there I was the next night -- goddamn it I was still just a normal guy. I
was...
Well I stood stone-like at midnight suspended in my masquerade
Then I combed my hair till it was just right and commanded the night brigade
Well I was open to pain and crossed by the rain, I walked on a crooked crutch
I strode all alone into a fallout zone and came out with my soul untouched
Hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, when they said "sit down" I stood up
Ooh, ooh, 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, bombed 'em with the blues, 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
Ooh, ooh, growin' up
Big Man, assist me please!
[Spoken:] I think, I ain't sure, but I think my mother and father and my
sister, they're here again tonight. Hey, are you guys out there? You're over there? For six years,
they've been following me around California, trying to get me to come back home. Hey Ma! Give it
up, Ma! Give me a break! They're still [chuckles] [someone in the crowd: where are they?] I don't
know. They're over there somewhere. But, [audience voice: get them to take a bow] you know,
they're still trying to get me to go back to college. Every time I come in the house, "You
know, it's not too late, you can still go back to college," they tell me. I say,
"Alright, alright, Ma". But it's funny, 'cause when I was growin' up, there were two
things that were unpopular in my house. One was me, and the other one was my guitar. And my
father, he used to sit in the kitchen. And we had this grate, like the heat's supposed to come
through, except it wasn't hooked up to any, any like, heating ducts. It was just open, straight
down to the kitchen. And there was a gas stove right underneath it. And when I used to start
playing, he used to turn on the gas jets and try to smoke me out of my room. I'd end up out on
the, out on the roof or something, you know. And he used to always refer to this guitar, you know,
never "Fender guitar", "Gibson guitar", it was always the "goddamned
guitar", you know. Whenever he stuck his head into my door, that's all I'd hear: "Turn
down the goddamned guitar." You know. He used to try to get me to be a lawyer. And it was
funny 'cause I was in a motorcycle accident when I was 17. And like, this cat just, you know, ran
head on into me and then got out and yelled at me for ruining his Cadillac. And we had like a
suit, a legal suit. And my father took me down to this lawyer in town. His
name was Billy Boyle, and he later became mayor, which, uh, and anyway, I went down there, and he
looked at me, he said, "Oh man, I gotta defend this?" I looked about, just about
exactly the same way I look right now. And uh, and like I remember, we were going to court, right?
The day of the suit. Like I got, I'm like in the right! I just got hit, and my leg's messed up.
And I remember my lawyer telling me, "If I was the judge, I'd find you guilty!" You
know? I don't know for what. For being, just for being there, I guess, you know. And I said... But
anyway, my father always said "You know, you should be a lawyer. You know, you get, get a
little something for yourself." You know? Then my mother, you know, she used to say "No,
no, no, no. He should be, he should be an author. He should write books. You know, you should...
That's a good life, you can get a little something for yourself." Well, like, what they
didn't understand was, was that I wanted everything. [some woman in the crowd: you got it!] And so
you guys, you, one of you guys wanted a lawyer, and the other one wanted an author. Well, tonight,
youse are both just gonna have to settle for Rock 'N' Roll.
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 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
Ooh, ooh, growin' up
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Growin' up
Yeah!
It was bye bye New Jersey, we were airborne!
Page last updated: 19 Sep 2010
Info
The above lyrics are for the live 07 Jul 1978 performance of GROWIN' UP at The
Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, CA, during the Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour. The
song was played in a full-band, album-style arrangement, and featured a story in the break.
This concert was originally broadcast live on the now-defunct local KMET-FM
radio station, and later became one of the main source concerts for the Live/1975-85 box
set which includes eight recordings from this show, including GROWIN' UP, but the recording of the
song has been altered prior to the official release:
- The spoken intro is shortened; the part in red was not included.
On the box set, the track starts from "There I was one night, just a normal guy..."
- For legal reasons, the "Lawyer" rap was slightly cut and shortened; the "His
name was Billy Boyle..." part in red was edited out.
- The "It was bye bye New Jersey, we were airborne!" line at the end is not from the
original source tape; it was added from another show.
The Live/1975-85 Box Set
With the Born In The USA album and tour, Bruce Springsteen & The E
Street Band reached the highest level of rock stardom. Columbia Records was expecting a follow up
studio album and tour that would, like it's predecessor, achieve a huge commercial success.
Instead, Springsteen released Live/1975-85, an over-three-hours-and-a-half-long live
compilation album consisting of 40 tracks recorded at various concerts between 1975 and 1985.
[Click thumbnail to enlarge/reduce artwork]
The set was produced by Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, and Bruce Springsteen, and
hit the stores on 10 Nov 1986. It was released as a box set with either five vinyl records, three
cassettes, or three CDs. Live/1975-85 is the first album to be credited to "Bruce
Springsteen & The E Street Band" instead of "Bruce Springsteen" only.
The highly-anticipated live album generated advance orders of more than 1.5
million copies, making it the largest dollar-volume pre-order in the history of the record
business at the time. Record stores around the country found fans waiting in line on Monday
morning before opening and one New York store reportedly sold the album right off the back of the
delivery truck. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard album chart and also became the
first five-record set to reach the top 10 and the first to sell over a million copies.
Live/1975-85 is the second-best-selling live album in U.S. history based on RIAA
certification. It has been certified by the RIAA for 13 times platinum, trailing only Garth
Brooks' Double Live.
Live/1975-85 disc 1 track listing (CD format):
- THUNDER ROAD [18 Oct 1975 at The Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, CA]
- ADAM RAISE A CAIN [07 Jul 1978 at The Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, CA]
- SPIRIT IN THE NIGHT [07 Jul 1978 at The Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, CA]
- 4TH OF JULY, ASBURY PARK (SANDY) [31 Dec 1980 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY]
- PARADISE BY THE C [07 Jul 1978 at The Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, CA]
- FIRE [16 Dec 1978 at Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA]
- GROWIN' UP [07 Jul 1978 at The Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, CA]
- IT'S HARD TO BE A SAINT IN THE CITY [07 Jul 1978 at The Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, CA]
- BACKSTREETS [07 Jul 1978 at The Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, CA]
- ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) [07 Jul 1978 at The Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, CA]
- RAISE YOUR HAND [07 Jul 1978 at The Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, CA]
- HUNGRY HEART [28 Dec 1980 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY]
- TWO HEARTS [08 Jul 1981 at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ]
Live/1975-85 disc 2 track listing (CD format):
- CADILLAC RANCH [06 Jul 1981 at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ]
- YOU CAN LOOK (BUT YOU BETTER NOT TOUCH) [29 Dec 1980 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY]
- INDEPENDENCE DAY [06 Jul 1981 at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ]
- BADLANDS [05 Nov 1980 at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ]
- BECAUSE THE NIGHT [28 Dec 1980 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY]
- CANDY'S ROOM [08 Jul 1981 at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ]
- DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN [29 Dec 1980 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY]
- RACING IN THE STREET [06 Jul 1981 at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ]
- THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND [28 Dec 1980 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY]
- NEBRASKA [06 Aug 1984 at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ]
- JOHNNY 99 [18 Aug 1985 at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ]
- REASON TO BELIEVE [19 Aug 1984 at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ]
- BORN IN THE USA [30 Sep 1985 at Los Angeles Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA]
- SEEDS [30 Sep 1985 at Los Angeles Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA]
Live/1975-85 disc 3 track listing (CD format):
- THE RIVER [30 Sep 1985 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA]
- WAR [30 Sep 1985 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA]
- DARLINGTON COUNTY [30 Sep 1985 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA]
- WORKING ON THE HIGHWAY [19 Aug 1985 at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ]
- THE PROMISED LAND [30 Sep 1985 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA]
- COVER ME [30 Sep 1985 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA]
- I'M ON FIRE [19 Aug 1985 at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ]
- BOBBY JEAN [21 Aug 1985 at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ]
- MY HOMETOWN [30 Sep 1985 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA]
- BORN TO RUN [19 Aug 1985 at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ]
- NO SURRENDER [06 Aug 1984 at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ]
- TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT [20 Aug 1984 at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ]
- JERSEY GIRL [09 Jul 1981 at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ]
Other Official Releases
Besides it release on the Live/1975-85 box set, this live 07 Jul 1978
version of GROWIN' UP appears on an official Japanese sampler.
In 2005, the live 07 Jul 1978 version of GROWIN' UP was included on Live 1975-1985 Digest
CD, a Japan-only promotional "Digest" CD-R advance sampler tying in with the release of the
Japanese 2005 "mini-LP"-style CD album reissue of Live/1975-85. This disc comes in a
plain slimline jewel case with no artwork and has no catalogue number.
[Click here
to display/hide detailed track listing]
Available Versions
List of available versions of GROWIN' UP on this website:
Credits
Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake).
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