Roulette

Album: Tracks (1988)
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  • We left the toys out in the yard
    I took my wife and kids and left my home unguarded
    We packed what we could into the car
    No one here knows how it started
    Suddenly everything was just so out of control
    Now I want some answers, mister, I need to know
    I hear all the talk but I don't know what you're sayin'
    But I think I got a good idea of the game that you're playin'

    Roulette, that's the name
    Roulette, that's the game now
    Roulette, I don't know what they're sayin'
    Roulette, everybody's playin'

    I grew up here on this street
    Where nothin' moves, just a strange breeze
    In a town full of worthless memories
    There's a shadow in my backyard
    I've got a house full of things that I can't touch
    Well all those things won't do me much good now
    I was a fireman out at Riker's, I did my job
    Mister, I've been cheated, I feel like I've been robbed
    I'm the big expendable, my life's just canceled null and void
    Well what you gonna do about your new boy

    Roulette, you're playin' with my life
    Roulette, with my kids and my wife
    Roulette, every day the stakes get bigger
    Roulette, a different finger on the trigger

    Down by the river that talks
    The night speaks in searchlights
    And shortwave radios squawk
    The police patrol the streets
    But I've left behind the man I used to be
    Everything he believed and all that belonged to me
    I tried to find my way out to somewhere where I thought it'd be safe
    They stopped me at the roadblock they put up on the interstate
    They put me in detention but I broke loose and then I ran
    They said they want to ask me a few questions but I think they had other plans
    Now I don't know who to trust and I don't know what I can believe
    They say they want to help me but with the stuff they keep on sayin'
    I think those guys just want to keep on playin'

    Roulette, with my life
    Roulette, with my kids and my wife
    Roulette, the bullet's in the chamber
    Roulette, who's the unlucky stranger
    Roulette, surprise, you're dead
    Roulette, the gun's to your head
    Roulette, the bullet's spinning in the chamber
    Roulette, pull the trigger, feel the click
    No further danger Writer/s: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 2

  • Andy Caulton from New HampshireSays everything you need to know about the quality of Springsteen's songs, that a song as dynamic as this DID NOT make The River. Driven, passionate new wavesque lyrics...[the Costello comparison is excellent], all framed by Max Weinberg's incomparable drumming.
  • Steve from Fenton, MoI always thought this song was written and sung in the style of Elvis Costello with the breakneck pace and the cramming of lyrics into the song so that Bruce can barely get them out and keep up with the tempo. A great song and great performance of the song in my opinion.
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