Bruce Springsteen

Released: January 14, 2014

Songwriter: Bruce Springsteen

Producer: Bruce Springsteen Ron Aniello

[Verse 1]
Cigarettes and a bottle of beer
This poem that I wrote for you
This black stone and these hard tears
Are all I got left now of you
I remember you in your Marine uniform laughing
Laughing at your ship out party
I read Robert McNamara says he's sorry

[Verse 2]
Your high boots and striped T-shirt
Ah Billy you looked so bad
Yeah, you and your rock-n-roll band
You were best thing this shit town ever had
Now the men who put you here eat with their families In rich dining halls
And apology and forgiveness got no place here at all
At the wall

[Verse 3]
I'm sorry I missed you last year
I couldn't find no one to drive me
If your eyes could cut through that black stone
Tell me would they recognize me?
For the living time it must be served, the day goes on
Cigarettes and a bottle of beer
Skin on black stone

[Verse 4]
On the ground dog tags and wreaths of flowers
With ribbons red as the blood
Red as the blood you spilled in the Central Highlands mud
Limousines rush down Pennsylvania Avenue
Rustling the leaves as they fall
And apology and forgiveness got no place here at all
Here at the wall

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.

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