Song title: The price you pay
The price you pay - Album version
You make up your mind, you choose the chance you take
You ride to where the highway ends and the desert breaks[1]
Out on to an open road you ride until the day
You learn to sleep at night with the price you pay
Now with their hands held high,
They reached out for the open skies
And in one last breath they built the roads
they’d ride to their death
Driving on through the night, unable to break away
From the restless pull of the price you pay
Chorus:
Oh, the price you pay, oh, the price you pay
Now you can’t walk away from the price you pay
Now they’d come so far and they’d waited so long
Just to end up caught in a dream where everything goes wrong
Where the dark of night holds back the light of day
And you’ve gotta stand and fight for the price you pay
Little girl down on the strand
With that pretty little baby in your hands
Do you remember the story of the promised land
How he crossed the desert sands
And could not enter the chosen land
On the banks of the river he stayed
To face the price you pay
So let the games start, you better run you little wild heart
You can run through all the nights and all the days
But just across the county line, a stranger
passing through put up a sign
That counts the men fallen away to the price you pay,
And girl before the end of the day,
I’m gonna tear it down and throw it away Notes:
As published on the river.
[1] See Prodigal son, ten years before…
The price you pay - Live version
You make up your mind, you choose the chance you take
You ride to where the highway ends and the desert breaks[1]
Out on to an open road you ride until the day
You learn to sleep at night with the price you pay
Now with their hands held high,
They reached out for the open skies
And in one last breath they built the roads
they’d ride to their death
Driving on through the night, unable to break away
From the restless pull of the price you pay
Chorus:
Oh, the price you pay, oh, the price you pay
Now you can’t walk away from the price you pay
Well some says forget the past,
and someone say they don’t look back,
But for every step you take, buddy you leave a track,
And though it don’t seems fair, for every smile in a place,
a tear must fall somewhere, oh the price you pay
Little girl down on the strand
With that pretty little baby in your hands
Do you remember the story of the promised land
How he crossed the desert sands
And could not enter the chosen land
On the banks of the river he stayed
To face the price you pay
So let the games start, you better run you little wild heart
You can run through all the nights and all the days
But just across the county line, a stranger
passing through put up a sign
That counts the men fallen away to the price you pay,
And girl before the end of the day,
I’m gonna tear it down and throw it away Notes:
This is the different - middle verse version that was played live. The "live" central verse can also be found in the outtake versions, otherwise identical to the original.
[1] See Prodigal son, ten years before…
Published on the following official releases:
- THE RIVER (Album,1980)
- THE TIES THAT BIND : RIVER SINGLE ALBUM (Album,2015)
First known live performance: 31/10/1980 Sports Arena, Los Angeles,CA ,USA
Last known live performance: 28/07/2016 Frogner Park, Oslo ,Norway
Song 'history':
Published on the double album THE RIVER, in 1980
Played during the River tour (30 times)
Two only renderings for this song in the Working on a Dream tour (20/10/2009 The Spectrum, Philadelphia,PA ,USA and 08/11/2009 Madison Square Garden, New York,NY ,USA)
Played once in the whole Wrecking Ball tour (18/07/2013 Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork ,Ireland)
One only rendering for this song in the High Hopes tour (17/05/2014 Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville,CT ,USA)
This song was due to be included, in 1980, in the THE RIVER single album projects, and has been later released on the THE TIES THAT BIND Anniversary Box
A frequent number (43 apparitions) of renderings during the 2016 The River tour
Data from the www.brucespringsteen.it database