Live 29 Jun 2000 version
[Spoken intro:] For my friends from overseas. Fellas, I know there's a lot of folks that came from Italy and from Spain, Italia, España, como esta ??? You... right on, brother. Let's go, this is for you.
Well hey there mister, can you tell me what happened to the seeds I've sown
Can you give me a reason, sir, as to why they've never grown
Well they just blown around from town to town till they back out on to these fields
Yeah where they fall from my hand back into the dirt of this hard land
Come on!
Well me and my sister, from Germantown yeah we did ride
And we made our beds, sir, from the rock on the mountain side
We've been blowing around from town to town looking for a place to land
Where the sun bursts through the clouds to fall like a circle, like a circle of fire down on this hard land
Now even the rain it don't come around, don't come around here no more
And the only sound at night's the wind slamming that back porch door
Well it stirs you up like it wants to blow you down, twisting and churning up the sand
Leaving all them scarecrows lying face down, face down in the dirt of this hard land
Whoa! Come on Roy!
Come on Nils!
Yeah, from a building up on the hill I can hear a tape deck blasting "Home On The Range"
I can see them bar rim choppers sweeping low across the plains
And it's me and you Frank, we're looking for lost cattle, our hooves twisting and churning up the sand
Yeah we're riding in the whirlwind, searching for a lost treasure way down south of the Rio Grande
Yeah we're riding cross that river in the moonlight up onto the banks of this hard land
Hey Frank won't you pack your bags and meet me tonight down at Liberty Hall
I just want a kiss from you my brother and we'll ride 'till we fall
We'll sleep out in the fields, we'll sleep by the rivers, and in the morning we'll make a plan
Well if you can't make it, stay hard, stay hungry, stay alive if you can and meet me in a dream of this hard land
Come on Professor!
Whoa! Whoa!
The above lyrics are for the live 29 Jun 2000 performance of THIS HARD LAND at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY, during The Reunion Tour. The song was played in a full-band arrangement. It was officially released (without the spoken intro) on the Live 2-track promo single. See the "Official Releases" section below for more details.
The 29 Jun 2000 show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY, was the ninth of ten consecutive shows at the arena that concluded The Reunion Tour. Some of this show aired as part of HBO's Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band: Live In New York City TV special and was subsequently included on the Live In New York City album and home video in 2001.
The live 29 Jun 2000 version of THIS HARD LAND was released on Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Live, a 2-track promo CD single given away exclusively with copies of the Live In New York City DVD and containing two otherwise unavailable live recordings from the 29 Jun 2000 show at Madison Square Garden. The track was also included on a very rare Columbia Records "in-house" promo CD-R.
List of available versions of THIS HARD LAND on this website:
THIS HARD LAND [Official 1982 studio version]
