Bruce Springsteen

Released: November 21, 1995

Songwriter: Bruce Springsteen

Producer: Chuck Plotkin Bruce Springsteen

[Verse 1]
Here in northeast Ohio, back in 1803
James and Dan Heaton found the ore that was lining Yellow Creek
They built a blast furnace here along the shore
And they made the cannonballs that helped the Union win the war

[Chorus]
Here in Youngstown
Here in Youngstown
My sweet Jenny, I'm sinking down
Here, darling, in Youngstown

[Verse 2]
Well, my daddy worked the furnaces, kept 'em hotter than hell
I come home from 'Nam, worked my way to scarfer
A job that would suit the devil as well
Taconite coke and limestone fed my children and made my pay
Them smokestacks reaching like the arms of God
Into a beautiful sky of soot and clay

[Chorus]
Here in Youngstown
Here in Youngstown
Sweet Jenny, I'm sinking down
Here, darling, in Youngstown

[Verse 3]
Well, my daddy come on the Ohio works
When he come home from World War II
Now the yard's just scrap and rubble
He said "Them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do"
These mills, they built the tanks and bombs
That won this country's wars
We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam
Now we're wondering what they were dying for

[Chorus]
Here in Youngstown
Here in Youngstown
My sweet Jenny, I'm sinking down
Here, darling, in Youngstown

[Verse 4]
From the Monongahela Valley to the Mesabi iron range
To the coal mines of Appalachia, the story's always the same
Seven-hundred tons of metal a day
Now sir, you tell me the world's changed
Once I made you rich enough
Rich enough to forget my name

[Chorus]
In Youngstown
In Youngstown
My sweet Jenny, I'm sinking down
Here, darling, in Youngstown

[Outro]
When I die, I don't want no part of heaven
I would not do heaven's work well
I pray the devil comes and takes me
To stand in the fiery furnaces of hell

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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