Live 09 Mar 1974 (Liberty Hall, late show) version
[Spoken intro:] You know, we're, we're gonna do some more. Oh. I said, can I have a nice round of applause for my band? My band is so good. Oh, yeah. This is something, uh, this is something, uh, from the first album. Yeah, I want to thank everybody, uh, from Houston for giving us such a fine reception that we've been getting down here. You know? It really, it really feels like, it's better than home, you know? And it's, uh, uh... This is something I want to do, uh, for you, this is was on the first record, and, uh, it's sort of a little rearrangement of it. (coughs) This is something for you.
Princess cards she sends me with her regards
Her barroom eyes shine vacancy, to see her you have to look hard
And I was wounded deep in battle, but I stood stuffed like some soldier undaunted
To her Cheshire smile, I'd stand on file, she's all I ever wanted
But, babe, you let your blue walls get in the way of these facts
Ah, honey, get your carpetbaggers off my back
You wouldn't even give me time to cover my tracks
You said, "Here, boy, here's your mirror and your ball and your jacks"
But they ain't what I came for, and I'm sure you see that too
I came for you, but you did not need it, no you did not want the urgency
I came for you, baby, I came for you, and your life was one, your life was one long emergency
And your cloud line urges me, my electric surges free
Ah, crawl into my ambulance, your pulse is getting weak
Oh, reveal yourself all now to me girl while you got the strength to speak
They're waiting for you at Bellevue with their oxygen masks
But I could give it all to you here, if only you would ask
And don't call for your surgeon, even he says it's too late
You see, it ain't your lungs this time, baby, no, it's your heart that holds your fate
Don't give me my money, honey, I don't want it back
You and your pony face and your union jack
We'll take that local joker and teach him how to act
You know I was never that way even when I really cracked
Didn't you think I knew that you were born with the power of a locomotive
Like Superman, you could leap tall buildings in a single bound
And your Chelsea suicide with no apparent motive
You could laugh, you could cry in a single sound
And your strength is devastating in the face of all these odds
Remember when it was me that kept you waiting, and it was my turn to be the god
Ah, you were not quite half so proud when I found you broken on the beach
Ah, remember how I poured salt on your tongue and hung just out of reach
And, ah, the band, they played the homecoming theme as I caressed your cheek
And that ragged, jagged melody, it still clings to me like a leech
And you know that crate you wore on your chest and how it always got in the way
You were like a little girl with a trophy, real soft to buy her way
We were both hitchhiking, but you had your ears tuned to the roar
Of some metal-tempered engine on an alien distant shore
So you left to find a better reason than the one we were living for
And it ain't that nursery mouth I came back for
And it ain't the way you're stretched out on the floor
'Cause I've broken all your windows and rammed through all your doors
And who am I to ask you to lick my sores?
You should know it's true
Babe, I came for you, but you did not it, no, you said, "Walk on, babe, walk on"
I came for you, baby, I came for you, but your life was one, your life was one, your life was one long emergency
And your cloud line, babe, oh, your cloud line, oh, your cloud line, babe, how, how your cloud line, oh, and your jeans and your cloud line, it just urges me
Yeah, your cloud line, you know how it urges me
Oh, babe, you're urging
Oh, girl, it urges me
And my electric, do you feel it?
Ah, hey, the electric, ah, baby, do you feel it?
Oh, the electric, mama, do you feel it?
Oh, the electric surges, mama, do you feel it?
Oh, the electric surges, mama, do you feel it?
The electric su-, su-, su-, su-, finally surges free
Ooh, ooh, ooh, baby, I came for you
The above lyrics are for the live 09 Mar 1974 (late show) performance of FOR YOU at Liberty Hall in Houston, TX, during what is considered The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle Tour. The song was played in a solo piano arrangement.
Bruce Springsteen was booked for four nights from 07 to 10 Mar 1974 at the 300-seat capacity Liberty Hall in Houston, TX, during what is considered The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle Tour. He and his band were the headliners, and singer-songwriter Jimmy Spheeris was the opening act. As advertising for the Liberty Hall residency states, one show (8:00 PM) was scheduled on the first and fourth night and two shows (08:00 PM and 11:00 PM) on the second and third night. However due to strong demand a second (late) show was added on the fourth night at the very last moment.
According to Brucebase, the first night's show was broadcast by radio station KPFT-FM as part of its "Every Thursday Night" broadcast segment from Liberty Hall. Current evidence suggests that the third night's late show and the fourth night's late show were not simulcast live at the time. Instead, they were first broadcast in bits and pieces (rather than in one complete program segment) in November 1974 to promote Springsteen's tour's return to Texas.
There is no circulating audio from the first night's broadcast, making this the only verified Springsteen radio broadcast that has yet to surface. Almost complete (or possibly complete) recordings from the remaining two broadcasts are in circulation among collectors. No soundboard or audience tapes have are known to exist from the remaining shows.
Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake) for the lyrics help.
List of available versions of FOR YOU on this website:
FOR YOU [Album version]