Released: November 10, 1998

Songwriter: Bruce Springsteen

Producer: Bruce Springsteen Jon Landau Chuck Plotkin Little Steven

[Verse]
Here comes a fireman, here comes a cop
Here comes a wrench, here comes a car hop
Been going on forever, it ain't ever gonna stop
Everybody wants to be the man at the top

[Chorus]
Everybody wants to be the man at the top
Everybody wants to be the man at the top
Now, aim your gun, son, and shoot your shot
Everybody wants to be the man at the top

[Verse]
Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief
Doctor, lawyer, Indian chief
One thing in common they all got
Everybody wants to be the man at the top, hey

[Chorus]
Everybody wants to be the man at the top
Everybody wants to be the man at the top
Now, aim your gun, son, and shoot your shot
Everybody wants to be the man at the top, yeah

[Verse]
Man at the top says it's lonely up there
If it is, man, I don't care
From the big White House to the parking lot
Everybody wants to be the man at the top

[Verse]
Here comes a banker, here comes a businessman
Here comes a kid with a guitar in his hand
Dreaming of his record in the number-one spot
Everybody wants to be the man at the top

[Chorus]
Everybody wants to be the man at the top
Everybody wants to be the man at the top
Now, aim your gun, son, and shoot your shot
Everybody wants to be the man at the top, yeah

[Outro]
Alright, now
Who's the man at the top?
Who's the man at the top?
Oh, yeah

Bruce Springsteen

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.

From the album