BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - NEBRASKA (1982)
1. Nebraska
2. Atlantic City
3. Mansion on the Hill
4. Johnny 99
5. Highway Patrolman
6. State Trooper
7. Used Cars
8. Open All Night
9. My Father's House
10. Reason to Believe
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NEBRASKA
TUNING: Bruce's guitar is out of tune on this one. I suspect it's flat. That
means the song was possibly played in 'D'. So to transcribe =, = and =.
Live he plays it in 'F'. For an easy transcription just knock all the sharps off.
The choice is yours.
I saw her standin' on her front lawn just twirlin' her baton
Me and her went for a ride sir and ten innocent people died
From the town of Lincoln Nebraska with a sawed off .410 on my lap
Through to the badlands of Wyoming I killed everything in my path
I can't say that I'm sorry for the things that we done
At least for a little while sir me and her we had us some fun
Now the jury brought in a guilty verdict and the judge he sentenced me to death
Midnight in a prison storeroom with leather straps across my chest
Sheriff when the man pulls that switch sir and snaps my poor head back
You make sure my pretty baby is sittin' right there on my lap
HARMONICA:
They declared me unfit to live said into that great void my soul be hurled
They want to know why I did what I did
Well sir I guess there's just a meanness in this world
HARMONICA:
ATLANTIC CITY
(Live Capo 3rd Fret Chords: )
Well they blew up the chicken man in Philly last night
Now they blew up his house too
Down on the boardwalk they're gettin' ready for a fight
Gonna see what them racket boys can do
Now there's trouble busin' in from outta state
And the .. can't get no relief
Gonna be a rumble out on the promenade
And the gamblin' commission's hangin' on by the skin of its teeth
Well now everything dies baby that's a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back
Put your makeup on fix your hair up pretty
And meet me tonight in Atlantic City
BREAK 1:
Well I got a job and tried to put my money away
But I got debts that no honest man can pay
So I drew what I had from the Central Trust
And I bought us two tickets on that Coast City bus
Now baby, everything dies baby that's a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back
Put your makeup on fix your hair up pretty
And meet me tonight in Atlantic City
BREAK 2:
Now our luck may have died and our love may be cold but with you forever I'll stay
We're goin' out where the sand's turnin' to gold
So put on your stockin's baby 'cause the night's getting cold
And everything dies baby that's a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back
BREAK 3:
Now I been lookin' for a job but it's hard to find
Down here it's just winners and losers
And don't get caught on the wrong side of that line
A
Well I'm tired of comin' out on this losin' end
So honey last night I met this guy and I'm gonna do a little favour for him
Well I guess everything dies baby that's a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back
Put your hair up nice and set up pretty
And meet me tonight in Atlantic City
And meet me tonight in Atlantic City
And meet me tonight in Atlantic City
Will you meet me tonight in Atlantic City
MANSION ON THE HILL
There's a place out on the edge of town sir
Risin' above the factories and the fields
Now ever since I was a child I can remember that mansion on the hill
In the day you can see the children playing
On the road that leads to those gates of hardened steel
Steel gates that completely surround sir the mansion on the hill
At night my daddy'd take me and we'd ride
Through the streets of a town so silent and still
Park on a back road along the highway side
Look up at that mansion on the hill
HARMONICA:
In the summer all the lights would shine
There'd be music playin' people laughin' all the time
Me and my sister we'd hide out in the tall corn fields
Sit and listen to the mansion on the hill
Tonight down here in Linden Town
I watch the cars rushin' by home from the mill
There's a beautiful full moon rising above the mansion on the hill
HARMONICA:
JOHNNY 99
NOTES: I recommend slapping a capo on the second fret to make fretting easier.
Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late that month
Ralph went out lookin' for a job but he couldn't find none
He came home too drunk from mixin'Tanqueray and wine
He got a gun shot a night clerk now they call him Johnny 99
Down in the part of town where when you hit a red light you don't stop
Johnny's wavin' his gun around and threatenin' to blow his top
When an off duty cop snuck up on him from behind
Out in front of the Club Tip Top they slapped the cuffs on Johnny 99
Well the city supplied a public defender but the judge was Mean John Brown
He came into the courtroom and stared poor Johnny down
Well the evidence is clear gonna let the sentence son fit the crime
Prison for 98 and a year and we'll call it even Johnny 99
HARMONICA:
A fistfight broke out in the courtroom they had to drag Johnny's girl away
His mama stood up and shouted Judge don't take my boy this way
Well son you got any statement you'd like to make
Before the bailiff comes to forever take you away
Now judge judge I had debts no honest man could pay
The bank was holdin' my mortgage and they was takin' my house away
Now I ain't sayin' that makes me an innocent man
But it was more 'n all this that put that gun in my hand
Well your honour I do believe I'd be better off dead
And if you can take a man's life for the thoughts that's in his head
Then won't you sit back in that chair and think it over judge one more time
And let 'em shave off my hair and put me on that execution line
HIGHWAY PATROLMAN
My name is Joe Roberts I work for the state
I'm a sergeant out of Perrineville barracks number 8
I always done an honest job as honest as I could
I got a brother named Franky and Frank he ain't no good
Now ever since we was young kids it's been the same come down
I get a call on the shortwave Franky's in trouble downtown
Well if it was any other man, I'd put him straight away
But when it's your brother sometimes you look the other way
Yeah, me and Franky laughing and drinking nothing feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Marie as the band played Night of the Johnstown Flood
I catch him when he's straying like any brother would
Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good
Well Franky went in the army back in 1965
I got a farm deferment, settled down, took Maria for my wife
But them wheat prices kept on dropping 'till it was like we were getting robbed
Franky came home in '68, and me, I took this job
Yea we're laughing and drinking nothing feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Marie as the band played Night of the Johnstown Flood
I catch him when he's straying, teach him how to walk that line
Man turns his back on his family he ain't no friend of mine
Well the night was like any other, I got a call 'bout quarter to nine
There was trouble in a roadhouse out on the Michigan line
There was a kid lying on the floor lookin' bad bleedin' hard from his head
There was a girl crying at a table and it was Frank, they said
Well I went out and I jumped in my car and I hit the lights
But I must of done a hundred and ten through Michigan county that night
It was out at the crossroads, down round Willow bank
Seen a Buick with Ohio plates behind the wheel was Frank
Well I chased him through them county roads
'till a sign said Canadian border five miles from here
I pulled over to the side of the highway and watched his taillights disappear
Me and Franky laughing and drinking nothing feels better than blood on blood
Taking turns dancing with Marie as the band played Night of the Johnstown Flood
I catch him when he's straying like any brother would
Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good
STATE TROOPER
New Jersey Turnpike riding on a wet night
'neath the refinery's glow, out where the great black rivers flow
License, registration, I ain't got none but I got a clear conscience
About the things that I done
Mister state trooper, please don't stop me
Please don't stop me, please don't stop me
Maybe you got a kid, maybe you got a pretty wife
The only thing that I got's been bothering me my whole life
Mister state trooper, please don't stop me
Please don't you stop me, please don't you stop me
In the wee wee hours your mind gets hazy,
Radio relay towers gonna lead me to my baby
Radio's jammed up with talk show stations
It's just talk, talk, talk, talk, till you lose your patience
Mister state trooper, please don't stop me
Oh, Oooh oh
Aint somebody out there, listen to my last prayer
Hiho silver-o, deliver me from nowhere
Oh, Ooh
SHUFFLE:
USED CARS
My little sister's in the front seat with an ice cream cone
My Ma's in the black seat sitting all alone
As my Pa steers her slow out of the lot
For a test drive down Michigan Avenue
Now, my Ma, she fingers her wedding band
And watches the salesman stare at my old man's hands
He's telling us all about the break he'd give us
If he could, but he just can't
Well if I could, I swear I know just what I'd do
Now, mister, the day the lottery I win I ain't
Ever gonna ride in no used car again
Now, the neighbors come from near and far
As we pull up in our brand new used car
I wish he'd just hit the gas and let out a cry
And tell 'em all they can kiss our asses goodbye
HARMONICA:
My dad, he sweats the same job from mornin' to morn
Me, I walk home on the same dirty streets where I was born
Up the block I can hear my little sister in the
Front seat blowing that horn
The sounds echoing all down Michigan Avenue
Now, mister, the day my numbers comes in I ain't
Ever gonna ride in no used car again
HARMONICA OUTRO:
OPEN ALL NIGHT
Well, I had the carburettor, baby, cleaned and checked
With her line blown out she's humming like a turbojet
Propped her up in the backyard on concrete blocks
For a new clutch plate and a new set of shocks
Took her down to the carwash, check the plugs and points
Well, I'm going out tonight I'm gonna rock that joint
Early North Jersey industrial skyline
I'm a all-set cobra jet creeping through the nighttime
Gotta find a gas station, gotta find a payphone
This turnpike sure is spooky at night when you're all alone
Gotta hit the gas, baby, I'm running late
This New Jersey in the morning like a lunar landscape
BREAK:
Now, the boss don't dig me, so he put me on the nightshift
Takes me two hours to get back to where my baby lives
In the wee wee hours your mind gets hazy
Radio relay towers, won't you lead me to my baby?
Underneath the overpass, trooper hits his party light switch
Goodnight good luck one two power shift
I met Wanda when she was employed behind the counter at route 60
Bob's Big Boy Fried Chicken on the front seat, she's sitting in my lap
We're wiping our fingers on a Texaco roadmap
I remember Wanda up on scrap metal hill with them big brown eyes
That make your heart stand still
BREAK:
Well, at five AM oil pressure's sinking fast
I make a pit stop, wipe the windshield, check the gas
Gotta call my baby on the telephone
Let her know that her daddy's coming on home
Sit tight, little mama, I'm a coming round
I got three more hours, but I'm covering ground
Your eyes get itchy in the wee wee hours
Sun's just a red ball rising over them refinery towers
Radio's jammed up with gospel stations
Lost souls calling long distance salvation
Hey, mister DJ, wont ya hear my last prayer
Hey, ho, rock'n'roll, deliver me from nowhere
Hey a lay da di da lay da di da da yodle
Hey a lay da di da lay da di da da yodle
Hey a lay da di da lay da di da da yodle
MY FATHER'S HOUSE
Last night I dreamed that I was a child
Out where the pines grow wild and tall
I was trying to make it home through the forest
Before the d..arkness falls
I heard the wind rustling through the trees
And ghostly voices rose from the fields
I ran with my heart pounding down that broken path
With the devil snappin' at my heels
I broke through the trees and there in the night
My father's house stood shining hard and bright
The branches and brambles tore my clothes and scratched my arms
But I ran till I fell, shaking in his arms
HARMONICA:
I awoke and I imagined the hard things that pulled us apart
Will never again, sir, tear us from each other's hearts
I got dressed, and to that house I did ride
From out on the road, I could see its windows shining in light
I walked up the steps and stood on the porch
A woman I didn't recognize came and spoke to me through a chained door
I told her my story and who I'd come for
She said I'm sorry, son, but no one by that name lives here anymore
HARMONICA:
My father's house shines hard and bright
It stands like a beacon calling me in the night
Calling and calling so cold and alone
Shining across this dark highway where our sins lie unatoned
REASON TO BELIEVE
NOTES: I suggest turning this tune into a bluesy shuffle in the style that Bruce
now performs it with the Street Band.
HARMONICA INTRO:
Seen a man standing over a dead dog by the highway in a ditch
He's looking down kinda puzzled poking that dog with a stick
Got his car door flung open he's standin' out on highway 31
Like if he stood there long enough that dog'd get up and run
Struck me kinda funny seem kinda funny sir to me
Still at the end of every hard day people find some reason to believe
Now Mary Lou loved Johnny with a love mean and true
She said baby I'll work for you every day and bring my money home to you
One day he up and left her and ever since that
She waits down at the end of that dirt road for young Johnny to come back
Struck me kinda funny seemed kind of funny yeah indeed
How at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe
HARMONICA:
Take a baby to the river Kyle William they called him
Wash the baby in the water take away little Kyle's sin
In a whitewash shotgun shack an old man passes away
Take his body to the graveyard over him they pray
Lord won't you tell us, tell us what does it mean
At the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe
Congregation gathers down by the riverside
Preacher stands with his Bible groom stands waiting for his bride
Congregation gone the sun sets behind a weeping willow tree
Groom stands alone and watches the river rush on so effortlessly
Wondering where can his baby be
Still at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe
HARMONICA OUTRO:
TUNING: The tuning to play in the key above is slightly flat, not quite a whole
semitone. Live the song is played in 'G' which makes me think that this was
possibly played in 'G' but his guitar was maybe out of tune. To transpose =,
= and =...or tune down slightly.
https://lyrics.primoaccordo.net/bruce-springsteen/nebraska-album.htm