Bruce Springsteen

Released: March 31, 1992

Songwriter: Bruce Springsteen

Producer: Bruce Springsteen Jon Landau Chuck Plotkin

[Verse]
I was driving through my hometown
I was just kinda killin' time
When I seen a face staring out of a black velvet painting
From the window of the five-and-dime
I couldn't quite recall the name
But the pose looked familiar to me
So I asked the salesgirl, "Who was that man
Between the doberman and Bruce Lee?"

[Chorus]
She said "Just a local hero"
"Local hero" she said with a smile
"Yeah, a local hero
He used to live here for a while"

[Verse]
I met a stranger dressed in black at the train station
He said, "Son, your soul can be saved"
There's beautiful women, nights of low livin'
And some dangerous money to be made
There's a big town 'cross the whiskey line
And if we turn the right cards up
They make us boss, the devil pays off
And them folks that are real hard up

[Chorus]
They get their local hero
Somebody with the right style
They get their local hero
Somebody with just the right smile

[Verse]
Well, I learned my job, I learned it well
Fit myself with religion and a story to tell
First they made me the king, then they made me pope
Well, then they brought the rope

[Verse]
I woke to a gypsy girl sayin' "Drink this"
Well my hands had lost all sensation
These days I'm feeling all right
'Cept I can't tell my courage from my desperation
From the tainted chalice
Well, I drunk some heady wine
Tonight I'm layin' here, but there's something in my ear
Sayin' there's a little town just beneath the flood line

[Chorus]
Needs a local hero
Somebody with the right style
Lookin' for a local hero
Someone with the right smile

[Outro]
Lookin' for a local hero
Someone with the right smile
Lookin' for a local hero
Somebody with just the right smile
Local hero, local hero, she said with a smile
Local hero, he used to live here for a while
Local hero
Local hero

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

Lucky Town

From the album

Lucky Town (1992)

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Bruce Springsteen

Lucky Town