PARTY LIGHTS

1979 take

Sitting all alone tonight
But tell me, darling, do you miss the party lights?
Oh, oh, do you miss it every night?
Do you miss the party lights?
Oh, oh, and I don't miss the days I'd ride through the night
Do you miss the party lights?

You got married and...
Baby married and you...
There's...
Married but you were just fifteen
You, you're all alone
Everyday and you're, oh, in game
You got dirty and you had enough
Baby, that's the thing, you just think it right
Doo, da, diddy, di

So you tell me
Do you miss the party lights?
Oh, oh, when you're sitting at home at night
Tell me, whoa
Do you miss the party lights?
Now baby
Do you miss the party lights?
Oh, yeah, do you miss...
You says you watch them shine from your window at night down in town
Baby do you miss the party lights?
Well, darling, do you miss the party lights?
Oh, as you watch them shine from your window at night down in town
Do you miss the party lights?

You'll be up at home tonight
Baby's in tired town, now
You were gone through the deeper time
And they don't know her angel 'round
You got a man and he treats you mighty right
Isn't that right?
Oh, oh, oh, oh, even as he breathes in the night

But, baby, do you miss the party lights?
Watch them out...

[Spoken (Springsteen):] Time to eat?
[Spoken (unidentified voice):] Yeah! Your friends are eating.

Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da

Page last updated: 12 May 2012

Info

PARTY LIGHTS is a song written by Bruce Springsteen. Not to be confused with the Claudine Clark hit single PARTY LIGHTS that Springsteen covered live in 1975.

Two takes of PARTY LIGHTS are in circulation. The first is a solo acoustic guitar demo recorded at Springsteen's home in Holmdel, NJ, sometime between September and December 1979. He recorded many demos at his home around the time The River was being cut in studio. These home demos were not professionally recorded; it seems that Springsteen used a regular cassette recorder. They were just song fragments, and there is much stopping and starting heard as Springsteen records bits and pieces, manually stops the recorder, and then returns sometime later to add more ideas.

The second circulating take is another solo acoustic guitar demo recorded in 1981. See the 1981 take for more details.

The above lyrics are transcribed from the 1979 take of PARTY LIGHTS and can be found on The Lost Masters Vol. 7 (Labour Of Love) bootleg.

Credits

Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake).