Live 09 Jan 1973 version
[Spoken intro:] Let's do uh... a slow song. I'll do this, I'll do one by myself. Huh.
The multitude assembled and tried to make a noise
Them black blind poet generals and restless loud white boys
But time's grew thin and the axis was left somehow incomplete
Where instead of child lions, they found agein' junkie sheep
And how many wasted have I seen signed "Hollywood or bust"
Oh left to ride them ever ghostly Arizona gusts
Cheerleader tramps and kids with big amps soundin' helpless in the void
Oh high society vamps and ex-heavyweight champs mistakin' soot for soil
Oh so break me now big Mama as Old Faithful breaks the day
Believe me my good Linda, help she's on the way
The confederacy's in my name now, them hounds are held at bay
The axis needs a stronger arm, do you feel your muscle play
Well the doorstep blanket weaver, Donna she pushes bells
From house to house to house I see her givin' last kisses and wishin' well
To every gypsy mystic and all-star that the kids might find a place
Who've been lost for ever true fathers on their time travels out in the space
Oh and the sons they search for fathers, but the fathers are all gone
The lost souls search for saviours, but saviours don't last long
Them aimless questless renegade brats who live their lives in songs
They run the length of a candle, and in a goodnight whisper and a puff they're gone
Oh so break me now big Mama as Old Faithful she breaks the day
Believe me my good Linda, yes help is on the way
The confederacy's in my name now, them hounds are held at bay
The axis needs a stronger arm, do you feel your muscles play
Well now the missions are filled with hermits and they're all lookin' for a friend
And the terraces are filled with cat-men lookin' for a way in
These orphans lost up on silver mountains, jumped, jumped in alleyways
They wait for that old tramp Dog Man Moses, he takes in all the strays
And he told me, "don't grow on empty legends or lonely cradle songs
Because Billy the Kid was just a bowery boy who made a living twirlin' his guns
And the night she's long, she's lanky, and she speaks in a mother tongue"
And he lullabied the refugees with an amplifier's hum
And we could break us now big Mama as Old Faithful she breaks the day
Oh and leave me now good Linda, the aurora will shine your way
The confederacy's in my name now, them hounds are held at bay
The axis needs a stronger arm, do you feel your muscle play
The confederacy's in my name now, them hounds are held at bay
The axis needs a stronger arm, do you feel your muscles play
Oh da da da dada
Da da da da da da
Hmmm
[spoken outro:] That's where the radio guy does the fade out (chuckles).
The above lyrics are for the live 09 Jan 1973 radio performance of SONG FOR ORPHANS as broadcast on Boston's WBCN-FM.
Bruce Springsteen's first ever radio station performance took place on 09 Jan 1973 and was broadcast live on Boston's WBCN-FM. The show took place at WBCN-FM radio station in Boston, MA, and was hosted by legendary DJ Maxanne Sartori who worked the afternoon shift at WBCN in the early seventies.
In addition to band members Clarence Clemons, Danny Federici, and Garry Tallent (Vini Lopez was not present), co-manager Jim Cretecos, roadie/soundman Albee Tellone, and CBS representative Ed Hynes were in the broadcast studio; the three provided party-like background vocals on BLINDED BY THE LIGHT.
The radio show was recorded off the airways and is available in very good quality on bootleg CDs. This is the earliest circulating "live" audio with what would become the E Street Band. Unfortunately, the recording is missing nearly all of the show's last track plus some concluding discussions about Springsteen's upcoming tour plans. According to Brucebase, a complete but poor quality tape of the show was allegedly circulating in the Boston area for a brief period during the mid-seventies but seems to have vanished from the tape trading pool.
The 09 Jan 1973 WBCN-FM radio broadcast was commercially released in Europe. Since 2005 some enterprising record labels in Europe (mostly in the UK) have been releasing Bruce Springsteen radio and TV broadcasts (and some soundboard recordings) from the seventies, eighties, and nineties. Though these releases are not authorized by Bruce Springsteen or his record company, they are lawful due to a legal loophole in Europe.
List of available versions of SONG FOR ORPHANS on this website:
SONG FOR ORPHANS [Album version]
