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Bruce Springsteen The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story front cover
Track

Badlands

Label
Columbia Records
Release Date
2 June 1978
Lyrics

Lights out tonight
trouble in the heartland
Got a head-on collision
smashin’ in my guts, man
I’m caught in a crossfire
that I don’t understand
But there’s one thing I know for sure, girl
I don’t give a damn
For the same old played out scenes
I don’t give a damn
For just the in-betweens
Honey, I want the heart, I want the soul
I want control right now
You better listen to me baby
Talk about a dream
Try to make it real
you wake up in the night
With a fear so real
Spend your life waiting
for a moment that just won’t come
Well don’t waste your time waiting

CHORUS
Badlands, you gotta live it everyday
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price you’ve gotta pay
We’ll keep pushin’ till it’s understood
and these badlands start treating us good

Workin’ in the fields
Till you get your back burned
Workin’ ‘neath the wheel
Till you get your facts learned
Baby, I got my facts
Learned real good right now,
You better get it straight, darling,
Poor man wanna be rich
Rich man wanna be king
And a king ain’t satisfied
Till he rules everything
I wanna go out tonight,
I wanna find out what I got

I believe in the love that you gave me
I believe in the faith that can save me
I believe in the hope and I pray
That some day it may raise me
Above these badlands

(CHORUS)

For the ones who had a notion
A notion deep inside
That it ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive
I wanna find one face that ain’t looking through me
I wanna find one place
I wanna spit in the face of these badlands

(CHORUS)