Backstreets

Backstreets first appeared on the BORN TO RUN album, and has had 3 live versions officially released (one from 1975, one from 1978, and one from 2000). It's a classic. The lyrics are rich with fabulous imagery, not all of which I understand, but all of which I relish. The song is in my top 10, and I bet it's up there for a lot of people as well. The lyrics have an interesting reference to "dancing in the dark," 9 years before a song by that name would appear on the BORN IN THE USA album. I wonder how it made Springsteen junkies feel in 1984 when they heard of a song called Dancing in the Dark and perhaps thought it would be another gut-wrenching epic like the song the phrase came from, only to find out that DITD is a bouncy, poppy 80s radio hit.

This song has been performed live 404 times. It was played frequently on every tour from BORN TO RUN to TUNNEL OF LOVE, and then except for one appearance at a bar in 1995 (when the E Street Band got together to record the Murder Incorporated music video), wasn't seen again until the Reunion tour in 1999, where it's been in regular rotation on every E Street Band tour since. I think I've seen this song live 3 times out of 11 shows. Glad I got it at my first concert, and that I didn't have to wait a few shows in to hear it. I'm not a big fan of a liberty he took with it on the Tunnel tour. On the chorus, he refrains from hitting the classic high notes on the "Hiding on the backstreets" lines, and takes a lower note while letting Patti hit the high melody notes. It seemed like a forced opportunity to give his mistress more to do on stage. I don't think female backup vocals should be on this song anyway - glad he skipped it on the HT/LT tour.

Here's one of the best bootleg versions I have, from a show in Boston in August 1999.



Here's a nice version with just him and a piano, from the DEVILS AND DUST tour:


And finally, here's me performing it, live from July 8, 2000: