Live 24 Apr 1970 version
[Spoken:] Freakout. ???. Yeah.
Soul freakout
Oh
Every town I go out
I go down the street
Put your hands together
The name of the street
Ah funky funky Broadway
Hey
Hey
Soul freakout
[Spoken:] "Judge Song", then "Goin' Back To Geo-". Oh yeah. Right on. Woah. Come on everybody have fun, you know. Freakout.
FUNKY BROADWAY is a 1966 song by Dyke And The Blazers. See the original Dyke And The Blazers version for more details.
The above lyrics are for the live 24 Apr 1970 performance of FUNKY BROADWAY at Monmouth College in West Long Branch, NJ, with Steel Mill. The parts above in bold correspond to Vini Lopez joining in on vocals. The parts in bold italic are by Vini Lopez alone.
This was a single show, with Steel Mill the sole act on the bill. According to Brucebase, this was a replacement concert for a cancellation of the musical "Hair".
A soundboard recording of very good to excellent quality is in circulation. The tape is very deceptive in that drummer Vini Lopez's voice microphone is abnormally dominant in the mix, so much so that it sounds like a co-lead singer (i.e., Robbin Thompson) is interacting with Springsteen throughout the show. However under an extremely close comparison it can be determined that the "co-lead" vocalist is actually drummer and background vocalist Lopez, with his microphone turned way up in the audio mix. Robbin Thompson's voice is definitely not present.
FUNKY BROADWAY is known to have been performed at least once in Bruce Springsteen's early years (pre-October 1972), on 24 Apr 1970 in West Long Branch, NJ. Very little is known about shows from this early period, and therefore, the song may have been played on some more dates.
FUNKY BROADWAY was sound-checked prior to the 12 Dec 1975 show in Greenvale, NY, (as far as it's known) but it was not performed on any of the Born To Run Tour's regular shows.
FUNKY BROADWAY was performed off-tour on 04 Sep 1977 at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ, during a guest appearance with The Shots.
FUNKY BROADWAY was performed off-tour on 16 Jul 1994 at The Stone Pony Tent in Asbury Park, NJ, with Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, during The Stone Pony's twentieth anniversary celebration.
Some of the above info about the live performances is taken from Brucebase.
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List of available versions of FUNKY BROADWAY on this website:
FUNKY BROADWAY [Live 24 Apr 1970 version]
