THE WALL

Live 19 Feb 2003 version

[Spoken intro:] I was uh, [clears throat] I was down in Washington and I was at an event at the White House that was honoring Bob Dylan. And uh... and uh, I had an unusual experience; It was uh... I took my wife to the Vietnam War Memorial and uh -- well she'd never seen it -- we went there and... and I had a few friends when I was a kid, the drummer of my first band and another close friend in town... and we're looking for their names and we found their names and... And uh, that night we had this event, we end up at this dinner and, and there was Robert McNamara, you know. And uh, Joe Grushecky send me for some reason a few, a week or so later send me an article out of a newspaper. And uh... so we kinda wrote this song together in some, in some fashion. This is called the... this is called "The Wall".

Cigarettes and a bottle of beer, this poem that I wrote for you
This black stone and these hard tears are all I've got left now of you
I remember you in your Marine uniform laughing, laughing at your shipping out party
I read Robert McNamara says he's sorry

You and your boots and black t-shirt, ah, Billy you looked so bad
Yeah you and your rock and roll band was the best thing this shit town ever had
Now the men that put you here eat with their families in rich dining halls
And apology and forgiveness got no place here at all at the wall

I'm sorry I missed you last year, I couldn't find no one to drive me
If your eyes could cut through that black stone, tell me would they recognize me
For the living time must be served, life goes on
Cigarettes and a bottle of beer, skin on a black stone

High school pictures, paper flowers, ribbon red as the blood
Yeah as the blood you spilled in the Central Highlands mud
Now the limousines rush down Pennsylvania Boulevard as the rain falls
Apology and forgiveness got no place here at all

Page last updated: 06 Feb 2012

Intro

Bruce Springsteen co-wrote THE WALL with Joe Grushecky after visiting Washington, DC, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in December 1997. Note that this song is different from Grushecky's own ON THE WALL which appears on his 2002 album Fingerprints.

The above lyrics are for the live 19 Feb 2003 performance of THE WALL at Somerville Theatre in Somerville, MA, during the first of the two DoubleTake Magazine benefit shows.

Ticket stub for the 19 Feb 2003 show at Somerville Theatre, Somerville, MA

History

THE WALL was written in honor of Walter Cichon and Bart Haynes who were killed in Vietnam (read spoken intro above).

Cichon was the lead singer of The Motifs, a mid-60's New Jersey shore band. The Motifs was a new British Invasion-inspired band in early 1965 that soon afterwards was taken under the professional management of Norman Seldin. The Motifs immediately struck a chord with the teen audiences and by the summer of 1965, becoming the hottest new band in the New Jersey shore region. They eventually released a single, "Molly", in December 1965 on Seldin's fledgling Selsom Records label. The Motifs were a major inspiration in other kids forming bands during 1965-66. Sadly The Motifs dynamic lead singer (Walter Cichon) was drafted in 1967 and killed in Vietnam. Read the spoken intro for the live 16 Nov 2005 version for more details.

Bart Haynes was the first drummer in Bruce's earliest band, The Castiles. He joined the Marines and went to Vietnam on 13 May 1967. He was killed in action 5 months later, on 22 Oct 1967 (at the age of 19) in Quang Tri, South Vietnam. He was then replaced by drummer Vini Maniello.

Live History

THE WALL was performed off-tour on both DoubleTake Magazine benefit shows in February 2003 at Somerville Theatre in Somerville, MA.

[Click here to display/hide detailed 2003 off-tour performances list]

THE WALL was performed twice during the Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour. See the live 16 Nov 2005 version for more details.

[Click here to display/hide detailed Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour performances list]

DoubleTake Magazine Benefit

Founded by Harvard psychiatrist Robert Coles, DoubleTake Magazine has been in business since 1995, but started facing financial problems a few years later. Springsteen's relationship with the publication goes back to late 1997 when he was interviewed by Will Percy (nephew of the late Walker Percy, a writer/novelist Springsteen admired) at Springsteen's farmhouse in Rumson, NJ. Part of the audio-recorded interview was printed in the March 1998 issue of the magazine. The interview is probably one of the most philosophical of Springsteen's career -- it dealt with the effect books and movies have on Springsteen's writing and the culture of celebrity, among other things. Springsteen also became friend with magazine founder Robert Coles when the two met in 1998. He praised his book A Secular Mind, and even attended one of his classes in Harvard. In November 2004 Coles published in his book Bruce Springsteen's America - The People Listening, A Poet Singing.

Tickets for the two fundraisers were priced at $500 and billed as "An Intimate Evenings Of Music And Conversation With Bruce Springsteen". These were solo acoustic shows, played on acoustic guitar (or piano on a few songs), held at the small Somerville Theatre (900 seats capacity). Springsteen chatted between songs, and closed out each night with a Q&A session, taking questions from the audience. The unprecedented "conversation" element of the shows made them unique to Springsteen fans.

The almost one million dollars raised from the ticket sales went to the non-profit DoubleTake Community Service Organization Corporation, publishers of DoubleTake Magazine, which owed $600,000 to vendors and contributors. "The concert was a success beyond our wildest dreams," managing editor Kirk Kicklighter commented, "[But] we never really had a plan for what we were going to do after the concert." By the fall of 2004, the magazine was no longer publishing, officially put on "hiatus".

Available Versions

List of available versions of THE WALL on this website:

• Live 19 Feb 2003 version
• Live 16 Nov 2005 version

Credits/References

Thanks Elke for the help on this page and Saj for the corrections. Information about The Motifs is taken from Brucebase.