Bruce Springsteen

Released: June 4, 1984

Songwriter: Bruce Springsteen

Producer: Little Steven Bruce Springsteen Chuck Plotkin Jon Landau

[Verse 1]
Friday night's pay night, guys fresh out of work
Talking about the weekend, scrubbing off the dirt
Some heading home to their families, some looking to get hurt
Some going down to Stovall wearing trouble on their shirts
I work for the county out on 95
All day I hold a red flag and watch the traffic pass me by
In my head I keep a picture of a pretty little miss
Someday, mister, I'm gonna lead a better life than this

[Chorus]
Working on the highway, laying down the blacktop
Working on the highway, all day long I don't stop
Working on the highway, blasting through the bedrock
Working on the highway, working on the highway

[Verse 2]
I met her at a dance down at the union hall
She was standing with her brothers, back up against the wall
Sometimes we'd go walking down the union tracks
One day I looked straight at her and she looked straight back
So I'm

[Chorus]
Working on the highway, laying down the blacktop
Working on the highway, all day long I don't stop
Working on the highway, blasting through the bedrock
Working on the highway, working on the highway

[Verse 3]
I saved up my money and I put it all away
I went to see her daddy but we didn't have much to say
"Son, can't you see that she's just a little girl?
She don't know nothing about this cruel, cruel world."
We lit out down to Florida, we got along all right
One day her brothers came and got her and they took me in a black-and-white
The prosecutor kept the promise that he made on that day
And the judge got mad, and he put me straight away
I wake up every morning to the work bell clang
Me and the warden go swinging on the Charlotte County road gang
I'm...

[Chorus]
Working on the highway, laying down the blacktop
Working on the highway, all day long I don't stop
Working on the highway, blasting through the bedrock
Working on the highway, working on the highway

Working on the highway, laying down the blacktop
Working on the highway, all day long I don't stop
Working on the highway, blasting through the bedrock
Working on the highway, working on the highway

Bruce Springsteen is a rock ‘n’ roll icon from the great state of New Jersey. Nicknamed “The Boss,” he’s known for spirited sax-powered anthems about working-class people making their way in the world. Backed by the trusty E Street Band, he’s sold more than 120 million records, won numerous awards (including 20 Grammys and an Oscar), sold out stadiums around the globe, and earned a place alongside his teenage heroes in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Although he’s a living legend who ranks among the most important artists in rock history, Springsteen wasn’t an overnight success. Around the time of his first album, 1973’s Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., he was dismissed as just another “new Dylan"—some scruffy folk singer with a decent vocabulary looking to follow in Bob’s footsteps. In the decade that followed, Springsteen proved himself to be much more.

His breakthrough came with his third album, 1975’s Born to Run. The record hit No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and landed the singer-songwriter on the cover of both Time and Newsweek. Bruce nabbed his first chart-topping album five years later with The River, and in 1984, he went global with Born in the U.S.A., a critical and commercial smash that produced seven Top 10 singles.

more tracks from the album

Born in the U.S.A.

From the album

Born in the U.S.A. (1984)

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Working on the HighwayBruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen

Born in the U.S.A.