Chimes of Freedom
Bruce Springsteen - Chimes of Freedom (1988)

Chimes of Freedom

This four-track, live EP was released to benefit the Amnesty International Human Rights Now! Tour. Springsteen announced his involvement in the tour during a show in Stockholm, just prior to the band’s performance of Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom,” as featured on the EP. Other tracks were selected from earlier tour stops in Detroit and Los Angeles.

  • Released:
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Producers: Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau and Chuck Plotkin
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  • 1 Tougher Than the Rest

    Lyrics

    Well It's Saturday night
    you're all dressed up in blue
    I been watching you awhile
    maybe you been watching me too
    So somebody ran out
    left somebody's heart in a mess
    Well if you're looking for love
    honey I'm tougher than the rest

    Some girls they want a handsome Dan
    or some good-lookin' Joe on their arm
    Some girls like a sweet-talkin' Romeo
    Well 'round here baby
    I learned you get what you can get
    So if you're rough enough for love
    honey I'm tougher than the rest

    The road is dark
    and it's a thin thin line
    But I want you to know I'll walk it for you any time
    Maybe your other boyfriends
    couldn't pass the test
    Well if you're rough and ready for love
    honey I'm tougher than the rest

    Well it ain't no secret
    I've been around a time or two
    Well I don't know baby maybe you've been around too
    Well there's another dance
    all you gotta do is say yes
    And if you're rough and ready for love
    honey I'm tougher than the rest
    If you're rough enough for love
    baby I'm tougher than the rest

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  • 2 Be True

    Lyrics

    Your scrapbook's filled with pictures of all your leading men
    Well baby don't put my picture in there with them
    Don't make us some little girl's dream that can't ever come true
    That only serves to hurt and make you cry like you do
    Well baby don't do it to me and I won't do it to you

    You see all the romantic movies, you dream and take the boys home
    But when the action fades you're left all alone
    You deserve better than this, little girl, can't you see that you do
    Do you need somebody to prove it to you?
    Well you prove it to me and I'll prove it to you

    Now every night you go out looking for true love's satisfaction
    But in the morning you end up settling for just lights, camera, action

    And another cameo role with some bit player you're befriending
    You're gonna go broken-hearted looking for that happy ending
    Well girl you're gonna end up just another lonely ticket sold
    Cryin' alone in the theater as the credits roll
    You say I'll be like those other guys
    Who filled your head with pretty lies
    And dreams that can never come true
    Well baby you be true to me
    And I'll be true to you

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  • 3 Chimes of Freedom

    Lyrics

    Far between sundown's finish an' midnight's broken toll
    We ducked inside the doorway as thunder went crashing
    As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
    Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
    Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
    Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
    An' for each an' ev'ry underdog soldier in the night
    An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

    In the city's melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
    With faces hidden as the walls were tightening
    As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin' rain
    Dissolved into the bells of the lightning
    Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
    Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an' forsaked
    Tolling for the outcast, burnin' constantly at stake
    An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

    Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail
    The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder
    That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze
    Leaving only bells of lightning and its thunder
    Striking for the gentle, striking for the kind
    Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind
    An' the poet an’ the painter far behind his rightful time
    An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

    In the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled tales
    For the disrobed faceless forms of no position
    Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts
    All down in taken-for granted situations
    Tolling for the deaf an' blind, tolling for the mute
    For the mistreated, mateless mother, the mistitled prostitute
    For the misdemeanor outlaw, chased an' cheated by pursuit
    An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

    Even though a cloud’s white curtain in a far-off corner flared
    An' the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting
    Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones
    Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting
    Tolling for the searching ones on their speechless, seeking trail
    For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale
    An' for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail
    An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

    Starry-eyed an' laughing as I recall when we were caught
    Trapped by no track of hours for they hang suspended
    As we listened one last time an' we watched with one last look
    Spellbound an' swallowed 'til the tolling ended
    Tolling for the aching whose wounds cannot be nursed
    For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an' worse
    An' for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
    An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

  • 4 Born to Run

    Lyrics

    In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream
    At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
    Sprung from cages on Highway 9
    Chrome-wheeled, fuel-injected
    And steppin' out over the line
    Baby this town rips the bones from your back
    It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
    We gotta get out while we're young
    'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

    Wendy let me in, I wanna be your friend
    I want to guard your dreams and visions
    Just wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims
    and strap your hands across my engines
    Together we could break this trap
    We'll run till we drop, baby we'll never go back
    Will you walk with me out on the wire
    'Cause baby I'm just a scared and lonely rider
    But I gotta find out how it feels
    I want to know if love is wild
    girl I want to know if love is real

    Beyond the Palace hemi powered drones scream down the boulevard
    The girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
    And the boys try to look so hard
    The amusement park rises bold and stark
    Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
    I wanna die with you out on the streets tonight
    In an everlasting kiss

    The highway's jammed with broken heroes
    On a last chance power drive
    Everybody's out on the run tonight
    but there's no place left to hide
    Together, Wendy, we can live with the sadness
    I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
    Someday girl, I don't know when,
    we're gonna get to that place
    Where we really want to go
    and we'll walk in the sun
    But till then tramps like us
    baby we were born to run

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