Song title: New York City serenade
New York City serenade
Billy, he’s down by the railroad tracks,
sittin’ low in the back seat of his Cadillac,
Diamond Jackie, she’s so intact,
she falls so softly beneath him,
Jackie’s heels are stacked,
Billy’s got cleats on his boots,
Together they’re gonna boogaloo down Broadway
and come back home with the loot,
It’s midnight in Manhattan, this is no time to get cute,
it’s a mad dog’s promenade,
So walk tall, or baby don’t walk at all.
Fish lady, fish lady, fish lady
she baits them tenement walls,
She won’t take corner boys,
they ain’t got no money, and they’re so easy,
I said, “Hey baby won’t you take my hand,
walk me down Broadway,
I’m a young man and I talk real loud, yeah,
baby walk real proud for you.
So shake it away, so shake away your street life,
shake away your city life,
And hook up to the train, hook up to the night train,
hook it up hook up to the, hook up to the train,
But I know that she won’t take the train, no she won’t take the train,
No she won’t take the train, no she won’t take the train
She’s afraid them tracks are gonna slow her down,
And when she turns this boy’ll be gone
So long, sometimes you just gotta walk on.
Hey vibes man, hey jazz man play me your serenade
Any deeper blue and you’re playin’ in your grave
Save your notes, don’t spend ‘em on the blues boy,
Save your notes, don’t spend ‘em
on the darlin’ yearlin’ sharp boy,
Straight for the church note ringin’,
vibes man sting a trash can
Listen to your junk man, listen to your junk man,
Listen to your junk man, listen to your junk man,
He’s singin’, singin’, singin’, singin’.
All dressed up in satin, walkin’ past the alley.
Watch out for you junk man, watch out for your junk man,
Watch out for your junk man. Notes:
Placed on "The Wild..." and played often until 10-Aug-1975. Then silence until 11-Aug-1999 Continental Arena, E.Rutherford,NJ where it reappeared. Early versions are New York song and Vibes man
Published on the following official releases:
- THE WILD, THE INNOCENT & THE E STREET SHUFFLE (Album,1973)
- LAST AMERICAN HERO FROM ASBURY PARK, NJ (LP,1978)
First known live performance: 31/05/1973 Radio Station WGOE-FM, Richmond,VA ,USA
Last known live performance: 16/02/2017 Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane ,Australia
Song 'history':
Played live 4 time(s) during the so-called 'Greetings Tour'
and 45 time(s) during the gigs preceeding the official Born To Run Tour.
Keep in mind that only a small amount of the setlists of these years has surfaced, so it may have been played a lot more.
Apart from the above live performances, the song was recorded during the Greetings / Wild sessions in 1972-73 (and released on THE WILD....)
14 perfomances were given during the Born to Run tour
One only performance during the Darkness tour (01/10/1978 Fox Theatre, Atlanta,GA ,USA)
Just 5 shots during the Reunion tour
Played once in the whole Rising tour (03/10/2003 Shea Stadium, New York,NY ,USA)
Bruce gave this song one only shot through the Working on a Dream tour (07/11/2009 Madison Square Garden, New York,NY ,USA)
Bruce gave this song one only shot through the Wrecking Ball tour (11/07/2013 Ippodromo delle Capannelle, Rome ,Italy)
Played once in the whole High Hopes tour (26/02/2014 Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane ,Australia)
It only saw the light less than a dozen times in the whole 2016 The River tour
Performed 10 times during the 2017 Summer tour
The song was also played in informal happenings or off-tour appearances
Data from the www.brucespringsteen.it database