REASON TO BELIEVE

Live 19 Aug 1984 version

Seen a man standin' over a dead dog lyin' by the highway in a ditch
He's lookin' down kinda puzzled pokin' that dog with a stick
Got his car door flung open he's standin' out on Highway 31
Like if he stood there long enough that dog'd get up and run
Man it struck me kinda funny, seemed kinda funny sir to me
How at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe

Now Mary Lou loved Johnny with a love mean and true
She said "Baby I'll work for you every day and bring my money home to you"
One day he up and left her and ever since that
She waits down at the end of that dirt road for young Johnny to come back
Man it struck me kinda funny, seemed kinda funny sir to me
How at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe

Take the baby to the river, Kyle William they called him
They wash the baby in the water and take away little Kyle's sins
In a whitewash shotgun shack an old man passes away
They take his body to the graveyard and over him they pray
Lord now won't you tell us tell us what does it mean
Still at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe

Congregation gathers down by the riverside
Preacher stands with a Bible, groom stands waitin' for his bride
Congregation gone and the sun sets behind a weepin' willow tree
Groom stands alone and watches the river rush on so effortlessly
Lord and he's wonderin' where can his baby be
Still at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe

Info

The above lyrics are for the live 19 Aug 1984 performance of REASON TO BELIEVE at Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, NJ, during the Born In The U.S.A. Tour. This live 19 Aug 1984 performance of REASON TO BELIEVE was included on the Live/1975-85 box set in 1986.

This was the ninth of a ten-night stand at Brendan Byrne Arena.

Ticket stub for the 19 Aug 1984 show at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ

Pass for the 19 Aug 1984 show at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ
(Taken from Brucebase)

The Live/1975-85 Box Set

With the Born In The U.S.A. album and tour, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band reached the highest level of rock stardom. Columbia Records was expecting a follow up studio album and tour that would, like it's predecessor, achieve a huge commercial success. Instead, Springsteen released Live/1975-85, an over-three-hours-and-a-half-long live compilation album consisting of 40 tracks recorded at various concerts between 1975 and 1985.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Live/1975-85

The set was produced by Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, and Bruce Springsteen, and hit the stores on 10 Nov 1986. It was released as a box set with either five vinyl records, three cassettes, or three CDs. Live/1975-85 is the first album to be credited to "Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band" instead of "Bruce Springsteen" only.

The highly-anticipated live album generated advance orders of more than 1.5 million copies, making it the largest dollar-volume pre-order in the history of the record business at the time. Record stores around the country found fans waiting in line on Monday morning before opening and one New York store reportedly sold the album right off the back of the delivery truck. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard album chart and also became the first five-record set to reach the top 10 and the first to sell over a million copies. Live/1975-85 is the second-best-selling live album in U.S. history based on RIAA certification. It has been certified by the RIAA for 13 times platinum, trailing only Garth Brooks' Double Live.

Available Versions

List of available versions of REASON TO BELIEVE on this website:

Page last updated: 31 Aug 2012