Song title: Living proof
Living proof
Well now on a summer night in a dusky room
Come a little piece of the Lord’s undying light
Crying like he swallowed the fiery moon
In his mother’s arms it was all the beauty I could take
Like the missing words to some prayer that I could never make
In a world so hard and dirty so fouled and confused
Searching for a little bit of God’s mercy
I found living proof
I put my heart and soul I put ‘em high upon a shelf
Right next to the faith the faith that I’d lost in myself
I went down into the desert city
Just tryin’ so hard to shed my skin
I crawled deep into some kind of darkness
Lookin’ to burn out every trace of who I’d been
You do some sad sad things baby
When it’s your you ‘re tryin’ to lose
You do some sad and hurtfull things
I’ve seen living proof
You shot through my anger and rage
To show me my prison was just an open cage
There were no keys no guards
Just one frightened man and some old shadows for bars
Well now all that’s sure on the boulevard
Is that life is just a house of cards
As fragile as each and every breath
Of this boy sleepin’ in our bed
Tonight let’s lie beneath the eaves
Just a close band of happy thieves
And when that train comes we’ll get on board
And steal what we can from the treasures of the Lord
It’s been along long drought baby
Tonight the rain’s pourin’ down on our roof
Looking for a little bit of God’s mercy
I found living proof
Published on the following official releases:
- LUCKY TOWN (Album,1992)
- IN CONCERT (UN)PLUGGED (Album,1993)
- THE ESSENTIAL BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (Album,2003)
First known live performance: 06/05/1992 Bottom Line, New York,NY ,USA
Last known live performance: 30/08/2016 MetLife Stadium, E.Rutherford,NJ ,USA
Song 'history':
Published on LUCKY TOWN, in 1992.
Largely (82 times) played during the Human Touch tour
Included in the (UN)PLUGGED official release, in mid 1993
In the Reunion tour, the song was only practiced (15/09/1999 First Union Center, Philadelphia,PA ,USA, during the soundcheck. and 28/10/1999 Oakland Arena, Oakland,CA ,USA, during the soundcheck.)
but never played in the regular set.
Two only performances during the Rising tour (14/09/2003 Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill,NC ,USA and 18/09/2003 Rentschler Field, Hartford,CT ,USA)
The song was then included in the ESSENTIAL compilation, released in 2003.
During the Devils and Dust tour, the song was played less than a dozen times
Played once in the whole Working on a Dream tour (15/11/2009 Bradley Center, Milwaukee,WI ,USA)
Bruce gave this song one only shot through the 2016 The River tour (30/08/2016 MetLife Stadium, E.Rutherford,NJ ,USA)
The song was also played in informal happenings or off-tour appearances
Data from the www.brucespringsteen.it database