Unofficial studio version 3
One, two, three, four
Well she drew out all her money from the Southern Trust
And put her little boy, yeah, on a Greyhound bus
Leaving Memphis with a guitar in his hand
On a one-way ticket to the promised land
Hey little girl with the red dress on
There's a party tonight down in Memphis town
I'll be going down there if you need a ride
The man on the radio says Elvis Presley died
We drove down into Memphis, the sky was hard and black
Up over the hill came a white Cadillac
They drew out all his money and laid him in the back
A woman cried from the roadside, "Johnny, Johnny, please come back"
Well they found him slumped up against the drain
With a whole lot of troubles, yeah, running through his veins
Bye-bye Johnny, Johnny bye-bye
You didn't have to die, you didn't have to die
In the Nevada desert a young boy travels alone
Walking five thousand miles trying to get home
Stars rising in the black and endless sky burn on
He stares up into the darkness, he looks down then walks on
The above lyrics are for a studio version of JOHNNY BYE-BYE recorded in early 1983 at Thrill Hill West, Springsteen's home studio in Beverly Hills, CA. The song is played on guitar and synthesizer in a slow acoustic arrangement and feature a "crickets chirping" effect at the beginning and at the end of the song. Lyrically it's quite similar to the official studio version, but with the line "A woman cried from the roadside, 'Johnny, Johnny, please come back'" replacing "A woman cried from the roadside, 'Ah he's gone, he's gone'". But more importantly this version features an additional fifth verse not found in any other known studio or live version of the song.
This unofficial studio version of JOHNNY BYE-BYE appeared on The Lost Masters Vol. 17 (Labour Of Love) [track 13] and The Lost Masters Essential Collection Vol. 1 (Labour Of Love) [disc 2, track 07] bootlegs.
List of available versions of JOHNNY BYE-BYE on this website:
JOHNNY BYE-BYE [Official studio version]
