RED HEADED WOMAN^©

In Concert / MTV Plugged version

Yiii...

Well brunettes are fine man
And blondes are fun
But when it comes to getting the dirty job done

I'll take a red headed woman
A red headed woman
It takes a read headed woman
To get a dirty job done

Well listen up stud
Your life's been wasted
'Til you've got down on your knees and tasted

A red headed woman
A red headed woman
It takes a read headed woman
To get a dirty job done

Tight skirt, strawberry hair
Tell me what you've got baby, waiting under there
Big green eyes that look like sun
They can see every cheap thing that you ever done

Well I don't know how many girls you've dated, man
But you ain't lived till you've had your tires rotated

By a red headed woman
A red headed woman
It takes a read headed woman
To get a dirty job done

Alright!
Yiii...

Obviously written about his second wife and E Street Band member Patti Scialfa. This song made its first appearance, in an acoustic form, during the two-night benefit shows for the Christic Institute on 16 and 17 Nov 1990 at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA [read notes below]. The song was only played 12 times (between Aug and Dec 1992 in the US only) during the Human Touch / Lucky Town tour, debuting on 04 Aug 1992 at the Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, NJ.

Played for the In Concert / MTV Plugged taping on 22 Sep 1992 at Warner Hollywood Studios, Los Angeles, CA, which was broadcasted on MTV on 11 Nov 1992. The song was the opener of the night, and it was the only "unplugged" song of the show. The above lyrics refer to that version. Along with LIGHT OF DAY, the song was released for the first time on In Concert / MTV Plugged, both the album and the DVD.

Played 70 times during The Ghost Of Tom Joad tour, starting 24 April 1996 at the Brixton Academy, London, UK, till the end of the tour. The song featured a new verse during that tour (read notes below).

Bruce finally celebrated his 49th birthday on 11 Oct 1998 in at a private party in Colt's Neck, NJ. The birthday (23 Sep) was been postponed several times due to bad weather. A country band provided the entertainment, and Bruce joined them for a set that included RED HEAD WOMAN. Guests included Little Steven, Max Weinberg, Jon Bon Jovi, and Sheryl Crow.

The song appeared 4 times during the Reunion tour, played in a full band extended version that also featured The Ghost Of Tom Joad tour extra verse:

• 25 May 1999 at RDS Arena, Dublin, Ireland
• 29 Jul 1999 at the Continental Arena, Meadowlands, NJ
• 03 Sep 1999 at the MCI Center, Washington, DC, with guests Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Hornsby, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin
• 29 Nov 1999 at Target Center, Minneapolis, MN

Note that a snippet of RED HEADED WOMAN appeared several other times during the Reunion tour, as part of TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT, while Bruce is introducing the band, Patti Scialfa in particular.

Performed on 04 Dec 1999 in Colt's Neck, NJ, during a benefit private party organized by Jon Bon Jovi. The last known appearance of the song was on 01 Jul 2000 at Madison Square Gardens, New York City, NY, also as part of TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT.

The song was covered by:

• Darren Coggan & Mitchell Shadlow on their CD EP Red Headed Woman (Australia - 1999)
• Hank Engel & the Hoosier Daddies on their CD Barrel Of Fun (USA - 1999)
• Pepi Hopf & Die Buben on their CD Ans & Zwa (Austria - 1999 - song is in Austrian, and titled "Rothaarigs Mädi")
• Two Tons Of Steel on their CD Tuesday Live From Gruene Hall (USA - 2002)

Check out the live 16 Nov 1990 version, live 17 Nov 1990 version, live 24 Apr 1996 version, live 26 Nov 1996 version, live 29 Nov 1999 version, and live 29 Jun 2000 version.

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

Good evening! One two. Yiii! Alright.

Liner notes on The Genuine Tracks bootleg booklet:

Following his divorce from Phillips and the beginning a new relationship with backup singer Patti Scialfa, Springsteen found himself at an artistic loose end. By the fall of 1990, he'd gone three years without releasing a new album, and the end of this drought was nowhere in sight. Still, a pair of benefit shows with Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt for the Christic Institute at L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium afforded him the opportunity to try out the new material he had written, and if these songs seemed to lack any unifying theme, they still showed flashes of the honesty and brilliance his fans came looking for. WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT, REAL WORLD, 57 CHANNELS (AND NOTHING ON), THE WISH, and SOUL DRIVER were all introduced during this two night stand, and each sounded a world fresher and more convincing here than they would in the studio versions that eventually saw release on Human Touch and Tracks. (RED HEADED WOMAN also made its debut at the Shrine shows, with an alternative verse that had Patti rotating Bruce's tires rather than him kneeling her burning bush, as he'd sing on the Tom Joad tour from 1995 to 1997.)