'NEW YORK CITY SERENADE', PROSTITUTION & HEROINE

Today, The Grandma is relaxing at hotel, eating an Easter Catalan Mona with The Grangers, and listening to one of the hardest and most beautiful songs ever written about New York City, New York City Serenade, a masterpiece written by Bruce Springsteen, that talks about prostitution and heroine in the city that never sleeps and was included in his album The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle in 1973.

The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle is the second studio album by American rock singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen.

It was recorded by Springsteen with the E Street Band at 914 Sound Studios, Blauvelt, New York, and released on November 5, 1973, by Columbia Records.

 

It includes the song Rosalita (Come Out Tonight), the band's most-used set-closing song through 1985.

As with Springsteen's first album released earlier in the year, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle was well-received critically but had little commercial success at the time, nationally.

Locally, though, the album sold well, was played regularly on Northeast AOR stations, and did make Springsteen a local phenomenon. Once Springsteen achieved nationwide popularity with Born to Run, several selections from this album became popular FM radio airplay and concert favorites.

On November 7, 2009, Springsteen and the E Street Band played the album in its entirety for the first time during a concert at Madison Square Garden.

In the 2020, updated version of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, the album was ranked at number 345.

 

More information: Bruce Springsteen

 

Recording began on May 14, 1973, with the day spent on Circus Song, which would be finished on June 28, and re-titled Wild Billy's Circus Story. Two days later, The Fever was recorded in one take, then discarded and not included on the album.

Sessions did not resume until June 22, but all backing tracks and most of the album would be recorded by the end of the week. September 23, 1973, was the final day of sessions, with final touches applied to Kitty's Back, the last verse of 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) overdubbed with new lyrics, Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) and a brand new song, Incident on 57th Street, both recorded from scratch and completed.

Along with these tracks, the album would be composed of New York City Serenade, completed August 7, and The E Street Shuffle, recorded on June 28 in one session.

 

Billy, he's down by the railroad tracks
Sittin' low in the back seat of his Cadillac
Diamond Jackie, she's so intact
And 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, ain't got no money and they're so easy
I said, "Hey baby, won't you take my hand, walk with me down Broadway
Oh mama take my hand, and walk with me down Broadway, yeah
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
And hook up to the train
Oh, 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
No, 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, walk on

Hey vibes man, hey jazz man, oh 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
Ah, listen to your junk man
Listen to your junk man
Oh, listen to your junk man
He's singin', singin', he's singin', singin'
He's singin', singin'
All dressed up in satin, walkin' past the alley
Singin', singin', singin', singin'
Singin', singin', singin' yeah, singin' yeah
(Singin', singin', singin', singin') (Oh yeah)
Uh uh uh uh uh, uh, oh yeah

Watch out for your junk man
Watch out for your junk man
Watch out for your junk man

Oh oh ah
Oh oh ah
Oh oh ah
Oh ah, oh ah

Watch out for your junk man

 

More information: Yakima Herald

 A good song takes on more meaning 

as the years pass by.

Bruce Springsteen