Before the Fame (1999)

Leggi l'articolo di Enrico Sisti Springsteen, Ritratto del Boss da Piccolo e la Recensione relativi a Before the Fame.

Aggiornato al 08-12-2000

Disk 1


Lady and the Doctor

The lady keeps the doctor in a place inside her pocket
The circle made of silver like a wreath
The doctor gives the strange love but the lady she don't knock it
Cause she's glad to get a piece of anything
Cause the lady needs the medicine he brings
And the doctor needs the lady to see
The doctor keeps the lady in a page in a book
on the history of communicable disease
The lady's been to school, she lets the doctor play it cool
He writes the script, she follows his lead
'Cause the doctor writes a love story so fine
The lady's learned to read between the lines
Sometime
The doctor, he takes house calls where he visits the animals in their 
	stalls shoots them full of juice and then goes home.
The lady hits the supermart where she rides the aisles in a shopping cart
'till she feels she's played enough of the part to set by ooh,
The lady feels its enough to just be good
But the doctor has his need to be understood
The doctor feels he's so abused and the lady feels she's so unused
and demands the doctor tends her daily farce
Oh, but the doctor just can't do it
Cause long ago the lady blew it 
And they're too old now 
	to make another start
The lady feels the doctor's made of stone
But the doctor's heart, it just ain't found a home.


Southern Sun

Born on the Hudson, twenty-two years gone
Bred and raised in the City
From my daddy's knee I learned the Union songs
Grandma sang lullabies in Dixie
And though the Northern winters fills my heart with joy
It's the Southern sun that shines down
On this Yankee boy

Well mama dreams of Paris nights and boatin' on the Seine
She said, we're gonna make it there too soon as Papa comes home again
She'd speak to me in broken French dressed like a painting of Lautrec
At night she'd clutch me to her breast and say, we'll make it outta here
And though Parisian ladies strut so fine down the Eiffel morning
It's a Southern one I sing my songs for

Well with the local bunch of do-good boys and an old man from the West
We crossed the land in the caravan we traveled with the best
We saw circus acts and vaudeville hacks and a Mississippi Delta Queen
She told me the news and sold me her blues in an alley in New Orleans
And though the Western plains are still stained
With the blood of great cowboys
It's a Southern sun that shines down 
On this Yankee boy


War Nurse

She was just another war nurse
She could strike a noble pose
Caring for our young boys 
When a bullet laid them low
She would hover over them and cry
And pull the covers over them when they died
She was just another lonesome lady
Lover, sister of the gun
And though France would call her darling
She was nurse 'neath the rising sun

She knew no hells or heavens
Or harbours or havens
She was every mother, sister, wife and lover
Whose love a soldier boy was saving
She believed in the birth of the broad sword
Though she was not a shielded one
And though France would call her darling
She was nurse 'neath the rising son

She was a soldier's shrapnel sweetheart
Direct from the combat zone
She was a reincarnation of the virgin Mary
She was the hooker down in San Antoine
And though her heart was somewhere in Iceland
Commanding the dawn patrol
Blessed in this blood and stitched into these bones
The war nurse left her soul
Blessed in this blood and stitched into these bones
The war nurse left her soul


Prodigal Son

In a place where outlaws are banned from the range
On a day that mountains have fallen to foes
In a land where boys are forbidden to grow
And metal is the only master

Where the highway ends and the desert breaks
And buildings are bent from great earthquakes
And statesmen crawl on their bellies like snakes
And feed off the public hunger

In a land where skyscrapers scratch the sky
And delinquent daughters to their mothers still lie
Papa stands on the corner, he wants to beat the drum
Welcome home, my prodigal son

When rivers run raging through city streets
And great eagles have fallen from their lofty peaks
And policemen moonlight as sideshow freaks
For the final crime is committed

When presidents ride in Ford Mustangs
And the black man releases his Cadillac fangs
And you're checked out in bed as the landlord bangs
A young girl next door for the rent

Where telegraph wires are attached to your mind
And delinquent daughters to their mother still lie
And papa stands on the corner, waiting to beat the drum
Welcome home, my prodigal son

When the telephone rings and falls off the hook
And your legs have been stolen by some defense department crook
And you're starting to think about writing a book
But now you won't pledge allegiance to anything

And the maid comes in with coffee and cake
In a low cut dress she wore just for your sake
You explain you're not dead, and she takes it as a compliment
Sticks out her tongue and asks for requests

In a land where skyscrapers scratch the sky
And delinquent daughters to their mothers still lie
Papa waits on the corner, waiting to beat the drum
Welcome home, my prodigal son

And the mercury men with hydraulic joints
They bribe with a smile and hold you up in the alley at pen point
And they ask you to bend over that they may anoint
You with the holy water of your profession

When the line between love and hate gets so thin
And your body takes over when your mind gives in
And your lady lover demands that you pin her to the floor
But it's too late, your reflexes are shot

And the man on the corner with the nervous twitch
Whispers 'hey, how'd you like to buy a nice bitch?
She's a thirty-eight, and I got her loaded in all six'
He keeps talking, and you just keep walking

And you reach for the sky, and get stuck on a steeple
You reach out for love but you get lost in the people
You run through the canyon, screaming like an eagle
And you fall face first in the mud

In a land where skyscrapers scratch the sky
And delinquent daughters have their own children do lie
And papa stands on the corner, watching the parade, he wants to beat the drum
Welcome home
Welcome home, my prodigal son
Welcome home, my prodigal son


Eloise

Well what power of God does a nun use 
To hold a parish priest 
And what makes a good cop 
Let go a beautiful thief 
Oh and how does a queen know 
She got hold that man with honey 
Oh and what makes an old woman 
Give a young man all her money 

Well, late in the night 
'neath that pale moon light 
That power comes over me 
And it`s old Eloise 


Evacuation of the West

It was on a day the cowboys were banned from the range
Metal touched the world as a master
They rode their ponies down into cities of gold 
To leave them forever after

Now the sun was swollen, red and old
The earth, it was windy, dark and cold
Where the highway ends, the desert takes its toll
So dusty, red and angry

It was a time when men died out on the prairie
From not having a decent friend
At night, the ghosts of them old Rough Riders 
Was a-howling on canyon winds
You can hear 'em crying
Good God, I think they're dying

And them rangers down in Dallas
Had all but given it up and left
And those that hung on hoping 
Were trying their best to... to forget 

The way those outlaws and desperados
right from the cheapest to the best
Rode in on ponies made of skin and bones
Gave up their rusty guns and went back home 

And the Governor was sent down from population control 
And martial law was passed 
Riverboat gamblers put their money on faith
For the time for hope had passed

In the cold blue light of the desert night 
There was a thousand starry ships 
And men came down from still I don't know where
With death on their fingertips

Now there's no more kings in Texas
I swear they rounded up each and every one
And oh, that line of Conestoga
reached from the Rocky Mountains into that old dead sun

Now Anna Maria walks the plains alone
Last of a struggling people 
She thinks of all those outlaws who once reached for the sky
And got stuck up on a steeple

Ooh, you can hear them crying
Good God, I think they're dying
Ooh, in the wind, George, you can hear them sigh


Jesse

Oh Jesse, you better start thinkin' about saving your neck
Oh Jesse, you put on that leather jacket like you put on respect
you got cleats on your boots and a woman who shoots everytime you shuffle
out the stage door
And darling Jesse, do you know what its all for?
Ah Jesse, your manager brought by them eight by ten glossies of your band
Oh Jesse, he says you wear cross around your neck and come on
with nails in your hands
With your insides showing and your New York band blowin' them
old Chicago blues
Ah Jesse, can't you see you're the one Jesse
Ah Sonny, this time its you
Well Jesse, your child is slobbering all over your pants
And Jesse, your wife has fallen into a trance
She's got eyes that tell no lies
She's seen so many wars
Ah be a good boy Jesse, tell her she don't have to look no more.
Well Jesse, he knows all the tricks to get the crowd reeling
Oh and Jesse, ya he rocks 'em with that old soul feeling
And he walks off the stage in a self-adoring haze
and gets shoved right out the door
Whoa Jesse, can't you see now boy that that's what its all about Jesse
Not even time to do that old played out encore
Whoa Jesse


Border Guard

Bless on the border guard so cold and alone
Bless on the child so far from his home
Pity the border guard who feels like a woman to cry
Pity the border guard whose life guards the line
A light is a funny thing
A border sometime
A light is a hurting thing
Use only to divine
I pity the refugee whose home lies behind
I pity the border guard and his border line
He keeps his machine gun nose pointed to the sky
The night time is his master
And you know the dawn light brings his captor

And I pity the border guard as he walks, well as he walks his own
The echo of his foot steps is all a friend would know
A home is a funny thing
You get tied to the earth
Like a love is a crazy thing
In the eye of a child

I Pity the border guard whose soul taken captive at birth
May the sweet brace of his grief and show him how to be so wild
Yes a light is a funny thing
A border sometimes
A light is a hurting thing
Used only to divine
He who made the open plains and the world one and all
Could not have conceived with a barbed wire brain
For the building of the wall and at night I keep my fire bright
So that I may be safe when I sleep

Till I wake on that wonderful morning with no more light well ooh


Camilla Horn

Camilla Horn, she was born a long, long time ago.
She Came From Germany to the U.S.A.
And was acclaimed as the next Garbo.
They came to her on their knees, to bless them, caress them and tell them what they need.

But oh, oh, she did not know.
And so she took her place at the bar.
Just another fallen star.


Family Song

Well, you know how when you're young, there's such a distance between you and
your family
You just can't see things from the same point of view
Papa wants a lawyer and mama, she wants an author
And all you want is for them to want you

Well I saw a lot of bad signs and we had some real bad times back on the east
coast
And I guess you could say it took California to bring us close
It was a lot of hard living and some stone cold women on the east coast
And I saw my papa turn away when I needed him most

Oh and California, she's an angel, oh so heavenly dressed
Oh and the Pacific, she's a woman, the lord must've loved her best
I got a California rainbow, come to give them thunderclouds a rest
Oh and the mountain is my friend now, she put me to her test

Well, you know every father has dreams and schemes for his own kid
And dreaming, it ain't been declared no capital crime
Well, I just hope that when I grow up and have my own kids
I'll love them all I can and let them make their own minds

Now, you know how a mother can hold the son through understanding
And my father, he once held me close by crying
Oh and my mama's love, it don't ever leave me standing
And papa's love just leaves me smiling

Oh and my mama, she's a rainbow, you ought to see her on Sundays when she's
dressed
Oh and my papa, he's a good man, ooh, he gives me and mama his best
My mama, she's a rainbow, come to give them thunderclouds a rest
And my family is my friend now, California put us to the test.




Disk 2


Marie

Marie, she comes to me in the twilight
When the wind blows down across the river
So cold, the fishermen cry
She rapes me in a rage of rainbow violence
Till my bare nerves, they sing
Like the strings of a violin
And the room seeps into a savage silence
Soaked in colours, red as blood, blue as night
And Marie she skins me alive
Carves her initials in my side
Lures me with her purrs and cuts me with her knife
And the horses pound like thunder
They bolt like lightning on her range
She feels she's going under and she zeros in the rein
She's so strange

Well, Marie, you know, she's the queen of all the stallions
And I'm her prince of mules
And one of her principal fools
Marie, she's got the claws of a falcon
And she's perched on my shoulder, and slowly digging in
But she, oh she can be so strange sometimes
Like at night ...
Or when the neighbors come to dine
Marie, she skins me alive
Burns her initials in my hide and then leaves me all alone
Branded to the bone

And my heart pounds like her horses
Oh, stampeding on the range
Marie knows all the sources
And she shoots me with her pain
And for her, I take it, Lord, down in my veins

And I watch her dance like some berserk fairy
All across the concrete prairies of Bleecker Street
Marie, she can be so strange
But she's the only lonely cowgirl on my range


Randolph Street (Master of Electricity)

I remember yesterday 
When I'd sit and watch the hound dogs play
Howling at the chinaman
Now yesterday's just a busted balloon

Life was young and things were easy
Days were short, nights were warm
Times were good, hate was shallow
Love was crazy and I had it in my marrow
I swear that I've seen your face 
somewhere back in that time and in that place
Do you remember?

The old house stood like World War II
With just two rooms and a hall to be used
The lady was lean, just slightly unclean
With a heart of cold silver and gold

The kitchen smelled of kerosene
Ceiling hung down unveiling rotted beams
And the man, they said his work, it could've hung in the Louvre
But now he sits around all day because his left arm won't move
He was a master of the art of electricity
He lectured on tubes and circuitry
He was self-employed but he could never see
his way into the light

He had a room full of switches, and dials and lights
And a head full of clouds and eyes full of sight
And when it got dark, I could hear his heart beat
Like a mother in the night
She stood like a guardian, ready to give everything up
If I asked for a sword and her blood in a cup
But there was just the time when I asked for too much
She sighed because she could not give it
We used to sit beneath the tree
Just the lady, the radio man and me
And I think it was the winter of '63
That the man went away and let us be

It was early on an August day
That the lady decided she too must go away
Her heart it seems could not pay
The price for what her body was buying

I come home from school and I found the note
I went into the kitchen and lit the old stove
With senses set on overload, I turned on the TV
I spent the rest of the afternoon
Watching all my old cartoons
And through the hall and across the porch
As the sun surrendered like a crying torch


Hollywood Kids

They're the Hollywood kids each and every one
With a high class smile and a little baby's tongue
Lonely hard head losers dressed in the tinsel of the times
And learn all the latest lines and the order in which they come
So perfumed sweet and so obscene
Like the fancy dancers of our dirty green
Oh they knew hello and good bye but not what goes in between
Yea and its such a scene on Saturday night

Fifth avenue freaks strait off the racks
They swear you can buy and sell your soul on a good dat outside

They're the Hollywood kids each and everyone
And on Sunday back into their holes they run
And on Monday here I stand alone on this littered stage like an animal who forgot he was in a cage
Just a restless soul
Just waiting for 'em to come
They're Hollywood kids each and everyone


If I Was the Priest

Well there's a light on yonder mountain
And it's calling me to shine
There's a girl over by the water fountain
And she's asking to be mine
And ain't that Jesus, he's standing in the doorway
With a buckskin jacket, boots and spurs, so really fine
He says "We need you up in Dodge City, son
'Cause there's oh so many bad boys (just too many outlaw)
Tryin' to work the same line"

Well now if Jesus was the sheriff and I were the priest
If my lady was an heiress and my mama was a thief
Oh and Papa rode shotgun for the Fargo line
There's still too many outlaws
Tryin' to work the same line

Now old sweet Virgin Mary
She runs the Holy Grail saloon
Where for a nickel they'll give you whisky
And the personally blessed balloon
And the Holy Ghost, he's the host with the most
He runs the burlesque show
Where they let you in for free
But oh hit you for your soul when you go
And Mary serves Mass on Sunday
And then she sells her body on Monday
To the bootlegger who will pay the highest price
But he don't know he got stuck with a loser
Mary's a stone junkie, what's more she's a boozer
And she's only been made once or twice
By some kind of magic

Well things ain't been the same in Heaven
Ever since big bad Bobby came to town
He's been known to down eleven
And then ask for another round
And me I got scabs on my knees
From kneeling way too long
I gotta take a stand, be the man, up where you belong
And forget about the old friends and the old times
Because there's just too many new boys
Tryin' to work the same line

Well now if Jesus was the sheriff and I were the priest
If my lady was an heiress and my mama was a thief
Oh and Papa rode shotgun for the Fargo line
There's still too many bad boys
Tryin' to work the same line

Now there's a light on yonder mountain
And it's calling me to shine
There's a girl by the water fountain
And she's asking to be mine
And Jesus, he's standing in the doorway
With his six-guns drawn, and ready to fan
He says "We need you son, up in Dodge City"
But I'm already overdue in Cheyenne


Cowboys of the Sea

They ride beneath the waves at 20,000 leagues
On stallions stitched to seaweed strands
So smiling, so smiling
They herd the fishes of the deep
They ride for you and me
They ranch the rich and the sunken soil
At the bottom of the sea

In the dead of night, alive in sleep
I hear them calling me
Them deep sea desperadoes
Them midnight maelstrom freaks
The cowboy of the sea

So on wings of sleep I pierce the deep
And ride like a hurricane
At midnight still I paid my bill
And turned my back on the land
With the help of Old Paint, that seaweed nag
It's just Jesse James and me
We ride the depths and rob the banks
At the bottom of the sea

With a seaman's grip on navigation
And some fired, hired hands
We set forth to confront the nation
And lend a cowboy's hand

We do the Dolphins' Dance duet
My mermaid babe and me
Then I ride off into the blue sunset
At the bottom of the sea

And with the seaman's grip on submarining
And some aqualung outlaws
Our guns are made of solid dreamin'
And bullets from a broken cause
And with hand held high to touch the sky
A good Texas Ranger I'll be
But sometimes I feel like a lone stranger
'Midst the cowboys of the sea

Oh and men above he cannot make love
He's got to rape his mother the sea
And because of his greed
We're a vanishing breed
We cowboys of the sea 


Baby Doll

Oh Baby Doll
They tried to tell me you were deaf and dumb
But I knew they were wrong
You're just a silent one

Oh Baby Doll
They tried to tell me you could not feel
But I found out they tried to conceal
From you, that you were a woman

Well they brought you into their laboratory
And tried to get you to show and tell
They wanted to hear you say that you were sorry
And then they told you that you were conceived in hell

But Baby Doll, you knew
you knew that wasn't true
you knew that it was them
it wasn't you

Oh baby doll
It was so hard to know you
I could not tell, I couldn't show you
But I didn't have to, 'cause you already knew

Oh baby doll
They had to see by touching hands
We had to dance to a silent band
and you surprised me, being so graceful

I know you can't hear these songs I sing
But then they're more for me than they are for you
Because you don't need these songs, babe, like I do
Yeah, you knew the first time that I held you babe
You didn't have to hear how I love

Oh baby doll
They tried to tell me you were deaf and dumb
But I knew that they were wrong
And you were just the lonely one


Two Hearts in True Waltz Time

Well the first frame finds her running
But the night pushes her deep within the tunnel
She camouflages herself in dayglo paint
And she sings her love songs through a funnel
And she clings to the walls like a cat who calls
The shots for life and for death
Wearing nothing but the make-up she uses
To try and cover up for herself
Well if she can't hide her sword
She gives no terms for surrender
'Cause she's living the Third World War

The Tunnel Police, they steadily increase
The search for where she hides her kid
She swings on a vine across the State Line
they measured the length of her skid
She never goes back to do something she didn't
Or undo something she did
Smoke streams from the street
And the night is complete
With a long and fiery belch
She's just another Orphan Annie cartoon and a Raquel Welch

She rides like Caesar, brandishing a whip
On the hood of his squad car
As the siren wails she silently sails
Leaving footprints in the tar
Oh she breaks with the dawn
And by morning she's gone
Leaving nothing but another night
She returns to her home
Like a dog returns to a bone
Another unsatisfied wife

And there's little Booth
Secure from the truth
He wants her more than he's got the guts to say
'Cause as she needs to be real
He needs to conceal
The realness of his place
So he sings a little song
And in a chiffon sarong
She performs a black ballet in space
But she's another flop with a fancy name
And he's just another cop with a pretty face
So together they commit the ultimate crime
Two hearts locked in true waltz time


Tokyo

The moon hung like a shadow on a rung over Shanghai
And the soldier boys were returning home screaming "Bonzai!"
And the kids are still playing their games,
Getting hustled and rustled out in the rain
As I sat inside listening to the broadcast.
Oh save my soul sweet rock and roll 'cuz I'm sinking fast.

And then the band played.
(Out of nowhere)
(Everybody)
(Everybody)

Well now the legendary chaplain of the fighting 51st
Was getting ready to go.
I said "Padre do you know a cheap virgin who likes to tango?"
He said "You can try Linda Lee;
Around the corner and across the sea.
Oh word is out, word is out she's fast."
Oh blow me down now Linda, 'cuz I'm sinking fast.

Yes and them cats are sure getting fat down in the trainyard.
And the sandman brings them dreams they ship out in boxcars.
The union says hold; break out the dice, break out the gold.
It's lunchtime at last.
And old big mama said George Raff's tonight on the late show.
She sits straddling the kitchen chair really gung-ho
She shivers with chills, wet with slotcar thrills
Hypnotically lost in the glass

And we all sighed...
With the sunrise
As we watched the credits pass.
And the little blue dot went away.

And then the morning cloak fell down like a hoax over sleepytown
And garbage truck Big Lenny's out drinking the last round
He hurriedly sipped his beer, and poking fun of the queer
And threatened to kick his ass.

And the bell rang
And the horn blows
And he's outside pumping gas
But things were moving so slow tonight
So the kid goes back inside the station
And turns on the radio to his local AM station

And the band played
Right on the radio
It's on the radio
And he listened to the bass line
And the boys in the band sang
Whoa, whoa whoa-wo
Whoa, whoa whoa-wo
(They're so excited about it)
Whoa, whoa whoa-wo
(Everybody alright)
Whoa, whoa whoa-wo
(And the band played)
Whoa, whoa whoa-wo
(and the band played)
Whoa, whoa whoa-wo
(Everybody)
Whoa, whoa whoa-wo 


Zero and Blind Terry (Version #1)

The Skulls met the Pythons
Down at the First Street station
Alliances have been made in alleyways
All across the nation
These boys live off the milk of a silver jet
And the love of sweet young women
Now the Pythons are down from old Englishtown
And they're lookin' to do some livin'
Well the leader of the Pythons 
Is a kid they just call Zero
Now Terry's pop says these kids are some kind of monsters
But Terry says "No, pop, they're just plain heroes"

Zero and Terry they found a love that burns like wildfire
Now Terry's daddy understood that this Zero was no good
A child, a thief and a liar
Well from out of the darkness that breaks the dawn 
Zero rode like twilight
He said "Tonight's the night, blind Terry, come on"
Terry come on, tonight is the night
Pack your bags, baby

And together they ran like reindeers through the street
Like tomorrow the earth was gonna catch on fire
Now Terry's dad hired some troopers to kill Zero and bring Terry back home
They crawled up in the night 
Like firelight

Now snow-white troopers from the council of crime
Rode silver foxes through Terry's field
Oh they met the Pythons down on Route 9 but they refused to yield
The Pythons fought with buzz guns
And the troopers with swords like light 
And Zero and Terry they ran away
As the gang fought all through the night

Well now some folks say Zero and Terry got away
Others said they were caught and brought back
But still them young pilgrims to this day 
Go to that spot way down by the railroad track 
Where the Troopers met the Pythons
Old timers cry on a hot August night 
If you look hard enough, if you try
You'll catch Zero and Terry and all the Pythons

Oh just hiking the streets of the sky
Just walkin', hiking the streets of the sky 
Just hiking the streets of the sky
Hey Zero


Bishop Danced

Bishop danced with a thumbscrew woman
Did a double-quick back flip and slid across the floor
The Catholic traffic flowed freely 'cross the river
And fiddlestick fiddled quick out the front door
Oh baby dumpling, mama's in the back tree
If the bow breaks, mama might fall
Little sad and only baby don't be lonely
Mama knows 'rithmatic, knows how to take a fall
Mama knows 'rithmatic, knows how to take a fall

CHORUS:
And the kids are crying "Flapjacks, make 'em fat, early in the morning"
Little Jack, grab your hat, hear the breakfast call
Muskrat, bat a cat, kick him in the fireplace
There's someone in the kitchen blowing "Dinah" on their horn
There's someone in the kitchen blowing "Dinah" like they're born

Well maverick daddy got a one-eyed bride 
She glides like a monkey-mule kicking on the back slide
Over hill, over hill, daddy don't you spill now
Papa got a switch stick, he's pumping little Bill
Papa got a switch stick, he's pumping little Bill
And Billy he's crying "Tomahawk, tomahawk, daddy better duck now"
The Mohawks, the Mohawks, they're still out there 
in the woods
Monatuk, Ocanuk, runnin' through my dreams now
With fire on their fingertips and indian screams 
With fire on their fingertips and feathers made of moonbeams


Well early in the morning the cannoneer cried
"I seen the sailor's warning in the western sky"
Well mountain man, if you can, cut me down a fir tree
Branches full of candlesticks for baby and me
And my darling cried, she said "Honey the weathervane lately it's been pointing the way to heaven"
Scatterbrains, scatterbrains, watch out where you fall
Champagne, champagne, a round for all the old choir boys
They're busting off the altar chasing Dinah through the hall
They're busting off the altar chasing Dinah through the hall 

(CHORUS)