Released: November 10, 1998
Songwriter: Bruce Springsteen
Producer: Bruce Springsteen Jon Landau Chuck Plotkin Roy Bittan
Well, he'd been hearing too many voices and feelin' a little off-track
Like there was something big pressing down on his back
And so he called up his friends and they said, 'come on out west
It's a place where a man can really feel his success'
So he pulled his heart and soul down off the shelf
And packed them next to the faith that he'd lost in himself
Said his good-byes and when the dirty work was done
He turned his wheels into the fading sun
For seven days and nights like a black-top bird he sped
Maintained radio silence 'cept for in his head
And just like his folks did back in '69
He crossed the border at Needles and heard the promised land on the line
Now where the Transcontinental dumps into the sea
There's a bar made up to look like 1963
Girl in the corner eyed him like a hungry dog a bone
As he brushed the desert dust off that Mercedes chrome
Bartender said, "Hey, how's it hangin', tiger?"
He had a shot of tequila, smiled, and whispered "lighter"
He went down to the desert city where the rattlesnakes play
And left his dead skin by the roadside in the noon of day
Sun got so hot, it almost felt like a friend
It could burn out every trace of where you been
There was a woman he'd met in a desert song
And a little while later a son come along
Looked at that boy's smile and called it home
And that night, as he lay in bed, the only voice he heard was his own
Goin' Cali
Goin' Cali
Goin' Cali
Like there was something big pressing down on his back
And so he called up his friends and they said, 'come on out west
It's a place where a man can really feel his success'
So he pulled his heart and soul down off the shelf
And packed them next to the faith that he'd lost in himself
Said his good-byes and when the dirty work was done
He turned his wheels into the fading sun
For seven days and nights like a black-top bird he sped
Maintained radio silence 'cept for in his head
And just like his folks did back in '69
He crossed the border at Needles and heard the promised land on the line
Now where the Transcontinental dumps into the sea
There's a bar made up to look like 1963
Girl in the corner eyed him like a hungry dog a bone
As he brushed the desert dust off that Mercedes chrome
Bartender said, "Hey, how's it hangin', tiger?"
He had a shot of tequila, smiled, and whispered "lighter"
He went down to the desert city where the rattlesnakes play
And left his dead skin by the roadside in the noon of day
Sun got so hot, it almost felt like a friend
It could burn out every trace of where you been
There was a woman he'd met in a desert song
And a little while later a son come along
Looked at that boy's smile and called it home
And that night, as he lay in bed, the only voice he heard was his own
Goin' Cali
Goin' Cali
Goin' Cali
Tracks
- Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street? (Demo)
- Santa Ana
- Lucky Man
- Happy
- Man at the Top
- Johnny Bye-Bye
- I Wanna Be with You
- Goin’ Cali
- Living on the Edge of the World
- TV Movie
- Be True
- Frankie
- Seven Angels
- Janey Don’t You Lose Heart
- Linda Let Me Be the One
- Brothers Under the Bridge
- Where the Bands Are
- The Honeymooners
- Growin’ Up (Demo)
- It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City (Demo)
- Mary Queen of Arkansas (Demo)
- Born in the U.S.A. (Demo)
- Stolen Car (Tracks Version)
- Roulette
- Cynthia
- Part Man, Part Monkey
- When You Need Me
- Hearts of Stone
- Ricky Wants a Man of Her Own
- Don’t Look Back
- Mary Lou
- Brothers Under the Bridges (’83)
- Loose Ends
- Restless Nights
- When the Lights Go Out
- Over the Rise
- Give the Girl a Kiss
- Bring on the Night
- Rockaway the Days
- Dollhouse
- My Lover Man
- Iceman
- Zero and Blind Terry
- Seaside Bar Song
- Sad Eyes
- Rendezvous (live)
- Lion’s Den
- Thundercrack
- Shut Out the Light
- A Good Man Is Hard to Find (Pittsburgh)
- Stand on It
- Bishop Danced
- Take ’Em as They Come
- The Wish
- This Hard Land
- Leavin’ Train
- Wages of Sin
- Car Wash
- Loose Change
- Gave It A Name
- Trouble in Paradise
- My Love Will Not Let You Down
- So Young and in Love
- Two for the Road
- Back in Your Arms
- Pink Cadillac
- Tracks (1998)
- Born in the U.S.A.
- Born to Run
- Dancing in the Dark
- I’m On Fire
- Thunder Road
- Blinded by the Light
- The River
- Atlantic City
- Hungry Heart
- Jungleland
- Glory Days
- Badlands
- My Hometown
- Streets of Philadelphia
- Backstreets
- The Ghost of Tom Joad
- Tenth Avenue Freeze Out
- Secret Garden
- Racing in the Street
- Nebraska
- I’m Goin’ Down
- Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
- Growin’ Up
- The Rising