GUILTY^©

a.k.a. HE'S GUILTY
a.k.a. SEND THAT BOY TO JAIL
a.k.a. THE JUDGE SONG

Robbin Thompson's version

All rise

Judge and the jury came into the court room
It was about 9:30, the 23rd of Jun
They were here to try this boy for a crime
To see if we set him free or make him serve his time
The jury all got up in the chairs
He's guilty, he's guilty, send that boy to jail

George been speeding, running down his mother
Stabbing his wife and strangling her lover
The court is ready to hear your plea
Son, are you guilty or not guilty
The jury all got up to hear his plea
He's guilty, he's guilty, don't let that boy go free

All rise

The judge and the jury came into the court room
It was about 9:30, the 23rd of Jun
They were here to try this boy for a crime
To see if we set him free or make him serve his time
The jury all got up in the chairs
He's guilty, he's guilty, send that boy to jail
He's guilty, he's guilty, send that boy to jail
He's guilty, he's guilty, send that boy to... jail

Robbin Thompson, the former Still Mill vocalist, recorded GUILTY for his 1985 album Better Late Than Never, and that recording was later included on the One Step Up / Two Steps Back tribute album in 1997.

These lyrics refer to Robbin Thompson's album version. Check also Bruce's versions: studio version (more details), live 13 Jan 1970 version, and live 04 May 1970 version.

From Backstreets Magazine # 62, page 8:

Robbin Thompson was a member of Still Mill, Bruce Springsteen's best Asbury Park band before he pursued a solo career. Raised in Florida, the son son a NASA engineer, Thompson met Springsteen while Steel Mill was touring Virginia. Thompson was attending school there at the time when not gigging with a band called Mercy Flight.

Thomson quit school, moved North to Asbury Park, and joined Still Mill after Mercy Flight broke up. But when Springsteen went solo shortly after that, Thompson returned to Virginia, where he now owns a successful recording studio, In Your Ear. He has also pursued a solo career of his own, releasing eight albums, some on his Out There label.

From Backstreets Magazine # 62, page 9:

[Robbin Thompson in his interview with Backstreets Magazine]
What amazed me when I got there [Asbury Park, NJ] was that you had to pay to get on the beach. I couldn't figure that out. That's why I liked Bruce's song GUILTY, which I did for that tribute album [One Step Up / Two Steps Back]. It was about getting arrested for sneaking on the beach. They'd make such a big deal out of it.

Liner notes from the One Step Up / Two Steps Back tribute album booklet:

I first heard "Guilty" in late 1969 or early 1970 in Richmond, VA. I was a student in Virginia Commonwealth University. The new kid in town from Florida by way of Woodstock. I started a band in Richmond called Mercy Flight and we were booked to open for this band from Jersey that everyone was talkin' about called Steel Mill.

Mercy Flight did some original songs but most of it was like long versions of Creedence Clearwater Revival stuff. Anyway... we opened and Steel Mill hit the stage with "Guilty," and it blew me away. I said "this guy is gonna be somebody one day."

Over the course of about a year and many concerts together, Bruce asked me if I wanted to join a band as a singer. I quit school and moved to Jersey to live in the Challenger Surfboard factory with Bruce and Tinker West, who was the manager at the time. Steel Mill broke up a year later and I went back to Virginia to do my own thing. I think it was 1982 or '83 when Bruce came to one of my concerts at the bayou in D.C. I saw him come in so we broke into "Guilty." He sat in with us for the encores and after the show he said, "man. I really liked that 'Judge Song'." I said, "well, it's your tune, can I record it?" He said, "sure, go ahead." So in 1984 I did.

I think I remember Bruce tellin' me that it was written after he was arrested for sneakin' into the beach on the Jersey Shore to avoid the dollar admission fee.

-Robbin Thompson