Bruce Springsteen

Released: November 11, 2003

Songwriter: Bruce Springsteen

Producer: Bruce Springsteen Jon Landau Little Steven

At sixteen she quit high school to
Make her fortune in the promised land
She got a job behind the counter in an
All night hamburger stand
She wrote faithfully home to mama
"Now mama don't you worry none"
From small things, mama
Big things one day come

It was late one Friday he pulled in
Out of the dark
He was tall and handsome; first she
Took his order, then she took his heart
They bought a house up on the hillside
Where little feet soon would run
From small things, mama
Big things one day come

Oh but love is fleeting
It's sad but true
But when your heart is beating
You don't wanna hear the news
She packed her bags
And with a Wyomie County real estate man
She ran down to Tampa
In and "El Dorado Grande"
She wrote back home, "Dear Mama
Life is just heaven in the sun
From small things, mama
Big things one day come"

Well she shot him dead
On a sunny Florida road
When they caught her all she said
Was she couldn't stand the way he drove

Back home lonesome Johnny
Prays for his baby's parole
He waits on the hillside
Where the Wyomie waters roll
At his feet and almost grown now
A blue-eyed daughter and a handsome son
Well from small things, mama
Big things one day come
Well from small things, mama

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

The Ties That Bind: The River Collection

From the albums

The Essential Bruce Springsteen (2003)
The Ties That Bind: The River Collection (2015)

Bruce Springsteen popular songs

From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen

The Ties That Bind: The River Collection