Bruce Springsteen lyrics -- Bruce Springsteen shows -- Bruce Springsteen records

Song title: Spirit in the night


Spirit in the night

Crazy Janey and her mission man were back in the alley tradin’ hands
`Long came Wild Billy with his friend G-man all duded up for Saturday night
Billy slammed on his coaster brakes and said anybody wanna go on up to Greasy Lake
It’s about a mile down on the dark side of Route 88
I got a bottle of rose so let’s try it
We’ll pick up Hazy Davy and Killer Joe
And I’ll take you all out to where the gypsy angels go
They’re built like light
And they dance like spirits in the night (all night) in the night (all night)
Oh you don’t know what they can do to you
Spirits in the night, in the night
Stand up now and let it shoot through you

Well now Wild Billy was a crazy cat
And he shook some dust out of his coonskin cap
He said “Trust some of this it’ll show you where you’re at
Or at least it’ll help you really feel it”
By the time we made it up to Greasy Lake
I had my head out the window and Janey’s fingers in the cake
I think I really dug her `cause I was too loose to fake
I said “I’m hurt” she said “Honey let me heal it”
And we danced all night to a soul fairy band
And she kissed me just right like only a lonely angel can
She felt just right just like as sweet as a spirit in the night
In the night baby don’t know what she do to you
Spirits in the night, in the night
Stand up now and let her shoot right through you

Now the night grew bright and the stars threw light in Billy and Davy
Dancin’ in the moonlight
We were down near the water in a stone mud fight
Killer Joe’d passed out on the lawn
Well Hazy Davy got really hurt
He crawled into the lake in just his socks and a shirt
Me and Crazy Janey were makin’ love in the dirt singin’ our birthday songs
Janey said “Hey little brother don’t you think it’s time now we go”
So we closed our eyes and said goodbye to gypsy angel row felt just right
Together we moved like spirits in the night, all night
Baby don’t know what it do to you
Spirits in the night, all night
Stand up now and let it shoot right through you

Statistics from the KILLING FLOOR (www.brucespringsteen.it) database

Published on the following official releases:

First known live performance: 31/01/1973 Max's Kansas City, New York,NY ,USA
Last known live performance: 21/02/2017 AMI Stadium, Christchurch ,New Zealand

Song 'history':

Played live 13 time(s) during the so-called 'Greetings Tour' and 51 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 GREETINGS....)
Perfomed in a large number of shows (132) of the Born to Run tour
Perfomed in a large number of shows (102) of the Darkness tour
Scarcely used during the River tour, with 3 inclusions
Bruce inserted it 14 times in the setlists of the Born in the U.S.A. tour
The song (in live version) was then included in the 'LIVE 1975-85' box set
Not much used during the Human Touch tour, deserving only less than a dozen renderings
Played only a couple of times in the whole Ghost of Tom Joad tour (25/11/1996 Paramount Theatre, Asbury Park,NJ ,USA and 26/11/1996 Paramount Theatre, Asbury Park,NJ ,USA)
Bruce inserted it 14 times in the setlists of the Reunion tour
It only saw the light less than a dozen times in the whole Rising tour
The Barcelona show of the Rising tour was broadcast and released on DVD 'LIVE IN BARCELONA', which included also this song
The song was then included in the ESSENTIAL compilation, released in 2003.
One only rendering for this song in the Devils and Dust tour (22/06/2005 The Forum, Copenhagen ,Denmark)
Bruce inserted it 27 times in the setlists of the Magic tour
Bruce inserted it 20 times in the setlists of the Working on a Dream tour
Published in live version in the 3rd DVD: House Cut 'Houston '78 of 'The Promise'
Often played during the Wrecking Ball tour (82 times)
Scarcely used during the High Hopes tour, with less than a dozen inclusions
Bruce inserted it 24 times in the setlists of the 2016 The River tour
Performed 5 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