LOST IN THE FLOOD

Live 31 Jul 2005 version

---

The ragamuffin gunner is returnin' home like a hungry runaway
He walks through town all alone
"He must be from the fort," he hears the high school girls say
This countryside's burnin' with wolfmen fairies dressed in drag for homicide
They hit and run, plead sanctuary, 'neath the holy stone they hide
They're breakin' beams and crosses with a spastic's reelin' perfection
As nuns run bald through Vatican halls pregnant, pleadin' immaculate conception
Everybody's wrecked on Main Street from drinking unholy blood
Sticker smiles sweet as gunner breathes deep, his ankles caked in mud
I said, "Hey, gunner man, that's quicksand, that's quicksand that ain't mud
Have you thrown your senses to the war or did you lose them in the flood?"

That pure American brother, dull-eyed and empty-faced
He races Sundays in Jersey in a Chevy stock super eight
He rides her low on the hip, on the side he's got Bound For Glory in red, white and blue flash paint
He leans on the hood telling racin' stories, the kids call him Jimmy The Saint
Well that blaze and noise boy, he's gunnin' that bitch loaded to blastin' point
He rides headfirst into a hurricane, then disappears into a point
Till there's nothin' left but blood where the body fell
That is, nothin' left that you could sell
Just junk all across the horizon, a real highwayman's farewell
They said, "Hey kid, you think that's oil? Man, that ain't oil, that's blood"
I wonder what he was thinking when he hit that storm
Or was he just lost in the flood?

Eighth Avenue sailors in satin shirts whisper in the air
Some storefront incarnation of Maria, she's puttin' on me the stare
And Bronx's best apostle stands with his hand on his own hardware
Everything stops, you hear five quick shots, the cops come up for air
Now the whiz-bang gang from uptown, they're shootin' up the street
That cat from the Bronx starts lettin' loose, but gets blown right off his feet
Some kid comes blastin' round the corner, but a cop puts him right away
He lays on the street holding his leg screaming something in Spanish
Still breathing when I walked away
And somebody said, "Hey man, did you see that? His body hit the street with such a beautiful thud"
I wonder what that kid was saying, or was he just lost in the flood?
Hey man, did you see that? Those poor cats were sure fucked up
I wonder what they were gettin' into, were they just lost in the flood?

---

Info

The above lyrics are for the live 31 Jul 2005 performance of LOST IN THE FLOOD at Value City Arena in Columbus, OH, during the Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour. The song was played in a solo piano arrangement featuring an outro.

The 31 Jul 2005 Show

During the Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour, Bruce Springsteen performed a concert at Value City Arena in Columbus, OH, on 31 Jul 2005. The arena, which is part of the Jerome Schottenstein Center on the campus of Ohio State University, was curtained-off and temporary transformed into a theatre to maintain a level of intimacy for the Springsteen concert. The show featured several rarities, including three tour premieres, and is considered one of the best of the tour. Springsteen sang vocals and played acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, Wurlitzer electric piano, and acoustic piano, and was supported on some songs by Alan Fitzgerald who provided keyboard accompaniment from off the stage.

In September 2015 the complete 31 Jul 2005 concert was officially released on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net (see the "Official Live Downloads" section below for more details). The show was recorded by John Cooper. It was mixed from 24-bit/96-kHz 24-channel multitracks to DSD by Toby Scott in August 2015 at Stone Hill Studio (Springsteen's home studio) in Colts Neck, NJ. It was mastered by Adam Ayan in June 2015 at Bob Ludwig's Gateway Mastering Studios in Portland, ME.

Brad Serling, founder and CEO of Nugs.net, told Backstreets that, given its bounty of rarities, Columbus came up repeatedly as a worthy candidate when Toby Scott sought his the input to choose a show from the Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour. The entire tour was captured live to 24-bit/96-kHz digital multi-tracks. To create the Columbus release, Scott loaded the raw show recordings into ProTools and used an analog mixing board to create the release mix, which was then captured high-res via a two-track DSD recorder.

Official Live Downloads

Prior to the High Hopes Tour, Bruce Springsteen's management announced a new service allowing fans to download concert recordings approximately 48 hours after each show. The initial plan required fans to purchase a special USB wristband, which could then be used to download a single High Hopes Tour show of the purchaser's choice and also functions as a regular reusable USB flash drive. The wristband, which could be purchased online or at the concert venue, was priced at $40. Following some negative response from fans over the high cost for the wristband, Springsteen's management subsequently announced a separate cheaper option for purchasing shows directly, without the need for the wristband. The shows were available for purchase and download via Live Nation, Bruce Springsteen's concert promoter, priced at $9.99 for MP3 and $14.99 for FLAC. Audio recordings for 31 of the 34 High Hopes Tour dates (all except 16 Feb 2014, 06 Apr 2014, and 03 May 2014) were released as such and they were available until 30 Jun 2014.

On 17 Nov 2014, Live.BruceSpringsteen.net was launched. It's a new addition to the official website, serving as an online store offering high-quality live concert recordings as well as high-resolution digital releases of Springsteen's album catalog. The download store is powered by Nugs.net in cooperation with Columbia Records. Audio recordings for 30 of the 34 High Hopes Tour dates (all except 16 Feb 2014, 06 Apr 2014, 03 May 2014, and 18 May 2014) were re-released on the new download store in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless CD-quality FLAC or ALAC, and 24-bit HD FLAC or ALAC or MQA, as well as audio CD-R with custom artwork. Nugs.net adopted the MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) format on 24 May 2017. From then on, all Bruce Springsteen live concert recordings, including the previously released ones, became also available in MQA.

Audio recordings for all 75 The River Tour 2016 dates were also released on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless CD-quality FLAC or ALAC, and 24-bit HD FLAC or ALAC or MQA, as well as audio CD-R with custom artwork. Each show was generally released within a month after it took place.

Audio recordings for all 14 Summer '17 Tour dates were also released on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless CD-quality FLAC or ALAC, and 24-bit HD FLAC or ALAC or MQA, as well as audio CD-R with custom artwork. Each show was generally released within a month after it took place.

Archival releases were periodically released on the same site, as part of the Bruce Springsteen Archive Series. These shows were also made available in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless FLAC or ALAC, 24-bit FLAC or ALAC or MQA, DSD, and audio CD-R. So far 90 shows (or sets of shows) were released from the ongoing series.

Credits

Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake) for the lyrics help.

Available Versions

List of available versions of LOST IN THE FLOOD on this website:

LOST IN THE FLOOD [Album version]
LOST IN THE FLOOD [Live 02 Mar 1973 version]
LOST IN THE FLOOD [Live 31 Oct 1973 (late show) version]
LOST IN THE FLOOD [Live 19 Oct 1974 version]
LOST IN THE FLOOD [Live 18 Nov 1975 version]
LOST IN THE FLOOD [Live 12 Dec 1975 version]
LOST IN THE FLOOD [Live 01 Sep 1978 version]
LOST IN THE FLOOD [Live 01 Jul 2000 version]
LOST IN THE FLOOD [Live 07 Oct 2002 version]
LOST IN THE FLOOD [Live 08 Aug 2003 version]
LOST IN THE FLOOD [Live 01 Oct 2004 version]
LOST IN THE FLOOD [Live 31 Jul 2005 version]
LOST IN THE FLOOD [Live 23 Apr 2008 version]
LOST IN THE FLOOD [Live 05 Jun 2009 version]
LOST IN THE FLOOD [Live 22 Nov 2009 version]
LOST IN THE FLOOD [Live 08 Apr 2014 version]

---

Page last updated: 25 Sep 2015