Album: Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. (1973)

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• Princess cards she sends me with her regards
  Oh, barroom eyes shine vacancy, to see her you gotta look hard
  Wounded deep in battle, I stand stuffed like some soldier undaunted
  To her Cheshire smile, I'll stand on file, she's all I ever wanted
  Oh, but you let your blue walls get in the way of these facts
  Honey, get your carpetbaggers off my back
  You wouldn't even give me time to cover my tracks
  You said, here's your mirror and your ball and jacks
  But they're not what I came for, and I'm sure you see that too
  
  I came for you, for you, I came for you
  But you did not need my urgency
  I came for you, for you, I came for you
  But your life was one long emergency
  And your cloud line urges me
  And my electric surges free
  
  Oh, crawl into my ambulance, your pulse is getting weak
  Oh, reveal yourself all now to me, girl
  While you've got the strength to speak
  'Cause they're waiting for you at Bellevue with their oxygen masks
  But I could give it all to you now, if only you could ask
  Oh, and don't call for your surgeon, even he says it's too late
  It's not your lungs this time, it's your heart that holds your fate
  Don't give me my money, honey, I don't want it back
  You and your pony face and your Union Jack
  Well, take your local joker and teach him how to act
  I swear I was never that way, even when I really cracked
  Didn't you think I knew
  That you were born with the power of a locomotive
  Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound?
  And your Chelsea suicide with no apparent motive
  You could laugh and cry in a single sound
  Oh, right
  
  And your strength is devastating in the face of all these odds
  Remember how I kept you waiting when it was my turn to be the God?
  
  You were not quite half so proud when I found you broken on the beach
  Remember how I poured salt on your tongue and hung just out of reach
  And the band, they played the homecoming theme as I caressed your cheek
  Yeah, that ragged, jagged melody, she still clings to me like a leech
  But that medal you wore on your chest always got in the way
  Like a little girl with a trophy so soft to buy her way
  We were both hitchhikers but you had your ears tuned to the roar
  Of some metal-tempered engine on an alien, distant shore
  So you left to find a better reason than the one we were living for
  And it's not that nursery mouth that I came back for
  It's not the way you're stretched out on the floor
  'Cause I've broken all your windows and I've rammed through all your doors
  And who am I to ask you to lick my sores?
  And you should know that's true
  
  I came for you, for you, I came for you
  But you did not need my urgency
  I came for you, for you, I came for you
  But your life was one long emergency
  And your cloud line urges me
  And my electric surges free
  Ooh
  Ooh Writer/s: Bruce Springsteen
  Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 21

• Johan Van Der Schans from The NetherlandsI feel the sentence 'remember how I get you waiting, when it was my turn to be the god', goes back to the phrase 'I swear I was never that way'. What way? The way the joker lets a loved one tell him how to jump through life's hoops, and thereby denies his own autonomy. This danger certainly lurks with someone with such strength that he or she is able to leap tall buildings in a single bound or would even dare to take the leap to the other side without a motive. But not he, for he knew from the beginning of her devastating power and had not (not yet) delivered up his soul to her. (the proof?? Well, at one point it was he who had the trump card, but instead of eagerly taking advantage of his opportunities he left her for what she was. All by all this song seems to be about a bipolar girl with manipulative traits.
• Robert Hodes from MississippiFor what it is worth, Bellevue Hospital is about 2 miles from Chelsea in Manhattan. Emergency patients are sent there a lot. And if they are expecting you, they are waiting with their oxygen masks.
• Joe Kastel from NorwatThis song breaks my heart , deep and so sad , deep lyric. heard a rumor it was about hes first girlfriend she had some problems. very underated song. heard it live with only acoustic guitar song was so sad and good
• Carmen G from Burlington, NcI always thought the line re: “kept you waiting-my turn to be the god” was hos reference to putting his career before their relationship as he was trying to make it in the music world. She bolted to the UK, got caught up in heroin and od’d. He wanted her forgiveness before she died-went to UK for absolution. Too late. My take pieced together from Bruce’s piecemeal comments over my half-century :)
• Barry from Sauquoit, Ny'I stand stuffed like some soldier undaunted'...
  In 1977 Greg Kihn released his covered version of "For You", the single didn't make Billboard's Top 100 chart, "For You" was track two on side two from his 1977 album 'Greg Kihn Again'...
  And on this day in 1981 {March 15th} the Manfred Mann Earth Band's covered version peaked at #106 on Billboard's Bubbling Under the Top 100 chart...
  Bruce: And who am I to ask you to lick my sores?
  While Manfred: And who am I to ask you to fight my wars.
  Greg Kihn: ???
  Personal Note: "For You" was the track from Asbury Park that made me sit up & take notice, and I've been a big Bruuuuuce fan ever since...
• Barry from Sauquoit, Ny'I stand stuffed like some soldier undaunted'
  Manfred Mann's Earth Band released their covered version of the song in 1981; it didn't do as well as their "Blinded By the Light" {#1 in 1976}, "For You" reached #106 on Billboard's Bubbling Under the Top 100 chart.
  
• Joannajoy from BathI'm pretty sure I heard it's a song about a girl he fell in love with in NJ but she moved to the UK & killed herself. I assume he's kicking himself thinking maybe he could have done something the one or few times she came to him but most of the times he came for her but she couldn't believe he really loved her.
• Rachael from New Orleans, LaI saw the line "Remember how I kept you waiting when it was my turn to be the god?" questioned. My interpretation come from him saying, " I'll stand on file, she's all I ever wanted..." and that he's saying he is waiting for her...apparently at one point he got to be "the god," the decider of their relationship. She's sent him away with his mirror and jacks and he's asked her to tell him how she really feels, "But I could give it all to you now, if only you could ask," and it seems like she's been the one in charge. But there was one point in time where he got to be in charge of Them, despite her pride, strength and medal she always wore on her chest. And he screwed it up. "You were not quite half so proud when I found you broken on the beach" (this was his chance) "Remember how I poured salt on your tongue and hung just out of reach?" So she was broken, he poured salt on her wounds, and hung back. He should have taken his chance. :-/
• Mike from Lafayette, InOne of the greatest lines in any I've heard in any kind of writing: "bar room eyes shine vacancy, to see her you gotta look hard."
• Sammy from Annapolis, MdI once plagiarised this song (with a few changes) in a letter trying to get back an ex-girlfriend in high school. It didn't work. She knew more about Bruce than I gave her credit for and I was busted.
• Angela from Collinsville, Il"I don't understand fully what the line "Remember how I kept you waiting when it was my turn to be the god?" is about."
  
  I don't exactly, either, but I THINK that it MIGHT mean something like...okay, he's being snarky and sarcastic because he's frustrated, and he's saying something like, "Oh, remember that ONE time where *I* got to have MY meltdown/have attention on me and it wasn't just all about YOU?!" I could be wrong, though. I'd love to know definitively what it means...
• Emily from Temecula, Ca"Remember how i kept you waiting when it was my turn to be the god?"
  that line is very powerful again it touches on the sucide note of the song
• Emily from Temecula, Cathis song is actually about a girl who has attempted suicide and is thinking about trying again...it's all in the song "
  crawl into my ambulance, your pulse is getting weak
  Oh, reveal yourself all now to me girl while you've got the strength to speak"
• Shayna from Richmond, VaThis song sounds like its about a bipolar girl.
• Shayna from Richmond, VaThis song gives me chills. The first time I heard it was in concert. Whewww.
• Jim from Long Beach, CaI think this song is about a British girl he fell for with reference with Cheshire and Union Jack. Great song definately one of my faves...
• Lee from Llandudno, Walesi have many, many, many favourite Bruce songs.
  still this is one of the most amazin love songs of all time, and i still get lost in the song every single time i watch the video where Bruce plays it live on the piano, or even just reading the lyrics, it is something else
  
  one of many reasons why he is one of the(if not the) greatest of all time
• Laser from Montreal, CanadaFor You. One of Bruce Springsteen's original great songs. And now the title has inspired a brand new book. We are editing a new book on Bruce Springsteen are calling out to all of his fans to contribute a word or two on what you think of him as a person and or performer.
  Filled with amazing stories we are looking
  for written contributions documenting your experience
  with Bruce Springsteen and his music.
  We invite you to visit: www.foryoubruce.com
  
• Patrick from Statesville, NcI dont understand fully what the line "Remember how i kept you waiting when it was my turn to be the god?" is about.
• Chad from Reading, PaSome lines in this song really jump out at me as being Dylan-esque
  
  "You were not quite half so proud when I found you broken on the beach
  Remember how I poured salt on your tongue and hung just out of reach
  And the band, they played the homecoming theme as I caressed your cheek"
  
  Those lines sound straight out of Blonde on Blonde along with some other lines in the song like "And who am I to ask you to lick my sores?"
  
  Bruce played an amazing slowed down version accompanied only by the piano during the 2-5-75 show at the Main Point in Bryn Mawr, PA. It is extremely powerful and puts across the emotion better than the studio version IMO.
• Steve from Torrance, CaThe version recorded by Manfred Mann's Earth Band appeared on their 1980 album, "Chance". Chris Thompson sings lead vocals, and future Yes member Trevor Rabin co-produces and plays guitar.

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