Live 22 Aug 1976 version
Well I'm riding down Kingsley figuring I'll get a drink
I turn the radio way up loud so I don't have to think
And then I ease down on the gas looking for a moment when the world seems right
And I go tearing into the heart of something in the night
And I picked this chick up hitch-hiking, she hung her head out the window and she screamed
Said she was looking for someplace to go, to die or be redeemed
So you can ride this road 'til dawn, without another human being in sight
Cause baby everybody's gone looking for something in the night
Sometimes you gotta stop running, sometimes I wanna stop my fooling around
Somehow I got stuff running 'round my head, I can't live with or live down
She wants me to push this charger until the whole world disappears out of sight
And me and her, we could surrender to the justice of something in the night
Because nothing is ever forgotten, and nothing is forgiven
You just walk out on the street, trying to take all the heat that they're giving
And now it's just winners and losers, mumbling about some vague wrong and right
I don't understand it, oh, and kids like us, rumbling, girl, over something in the night
And now all them people out on the island, that'll lock their doors and take their children by the hand
And put on your black dress baby, because tonight the devil will walk these streets like a man
And I'm gonna bring along my switchblade in case that fool wants to fight
And he can meet us running out on the highway, chasing something in the night
Woahhh that something in the night
Woahhh that something in the night
The above lyrics are for the live 22 Aug 1976 performance of SOMETHING IN THE NIGHT at Springfield Civic Center in Springfield, MA, during what is known as The Lawsuit Tour. This version is close to the live 01 Aug 1976 version that was used between 01 Aug 1976 and 25 Oct 1976. As it is the case with the live 01 Aug 1976 version, this version's lyrics are very different from those of the album version. This version varies from the live 01 Aug 1976 version mostly in the third and fourth verses.
Despite the marvelous reception received by both Born To Run and the tour which followed, the relationship between Bruce Springsteen and his now former manager and producer Mike Appel was deteriorating. In July 1976 the storm broke; Mike Appel wrote to Springsteen saying that he would not allow Jon Landau (Springsteen's friend and co-producer of Born To Run) to produce the next album, citing a particular paragraph from their original agreement. Springsteen replied on 27 Jul 1976 by firing manager Mike Appel and suing him and his management company Laurel Canyon Ltd. in Federal Court in Manhattan, claiming fraud, breach of trust, and undue influence. Appel counter-sued on 29 Jul 1976 in New York State Supreme Court, asking the court to prohibit Springsteen and Jon Landau from working together in studio. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band were slated to enter the studio that year for the recording of a new album, except that on 15 Sep 1976 the judge in the lawsuits case ruled that Springsteen was enjoined from any further recording with Columbia Records until Appel's suit was resolved. This would drag for about a year. Meanwhile, Springsteen continued gigging, and in the process broke his self-imposed rule of not playing the larger arenas. This was basically because he was not able to put a record out, and it was the only way his fans would be able to hear him at all. The tour became known as "The Lawsuit Tour" (62 know dates, August 1976 to March 1977).
Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake) for this version's lyrics.
List of available versions of SOMETHING IN THE NIGHT on this website:
SOMETHING IN THE NIGHT [Album version]