My Top 20 albums from 1978 No 1

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN
Year Of Release: 1978 Record rating = 10
Overall rating = 13
Lower the rating if you think this is not "the real" Springsteen. For me, it is.
Best song: ADAM RAISED A CAIN
Darkness on the Edge of Town is the fourth studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released on June 2, 1978. The album marked the end of a three-year gap between albums brought on by contractual obligations and legal battling with former manager Mike Appel.[
Reviews for Darkness on the Edge of Town were overwhelmingly positive. Critics notably praised the maturity of the album's themes and lyrics.[3][4] It remains one of Springsteen's most highly regarded records by both fans and critics and several of its songs have become staples of Springsteen's live performances.[5][6] In 2003, it ranked at No. 151 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Recording and production

Recovering from legal troubles and the stress of the breakthrough success of Born to Run, Springsteen recorded a somewhat less commercial album in Darkness on the Edge of Town.[7] As with the original LP's sequencing, Springsteen continued his "four corners" approach from Born to Run, as the songs beginning each side ("Badlands" and "The Promised Land") were martial rallying cries to overcome circumstances, while the songs ending each side ("Racing in the Street", "Darkness on the Edge of Town") were sad dirges of circumstances overcoming all hope.[7] Unlike Born to Run, the songs were recorded by the full band at once, frequently soon after Springsteen had written them.[7] Steven Van Zandt received a credit for production assistance for helping Springsteen tighten the arrangements.
During the Darkness sessions, Springsteen wrote or recorded many songs that he ended up not using on the album. Keeping the album's thematic feel was very important to him, and the songs piled up because the sessions continued for almost a year. An album concept named "Badlands" was prepared in October 1977, complete with album covers, but was rejected at the last minute by Springsteen, because he was not comfortable with the release, and wanted to continue recording. Sessions finally concluded in January, but mixing continued three additional months. According to Jimmy Iovine, Springsteen wrote at least 70 songs during this period, and 52 of those songs recorded were complete, with 18 not fully completed.[8] Some of the unused material became hits for other artists such as "Because the Night" for Patti Smith; "Fire" for Robert Gordon and The Pointer Sisters; "Rendezvous" for Greg Kihn; and two tracks for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, "Hearts Of Stone" and "Talk To Me". Other songs such as "Independence Day", "Drive All Night", "Ramrod", and "Sherry Darling" would turn up on Springsteen's next album, The River, while still others became bootleg classics until surfacing on Springsteen's compilations titled Tracks and The Promise.[9]
Packaging
The cover shot and inner sleeve photo were taken by photographer Frank Stefanko inside Stefanko's Haddonfield, New Jersey, home.[10] Springsteen says, "When I saw the picture I said, 'That's the guy in the songs.' I wanted the part of me that's still that guy to be on the cover. Frank stripped away all your celebrity and left you with your essence. That's what that record was about."[11]
Release and reception
Darkness on the Edge of Town was released on June 2, 1978. According to pop culture scholar Gillian G. Gaar, the album "wasn't quite the smash that Born to Run had been, but it fared well enough on the charts, reaching No. 5 [on the Billboard 200] and selling more than three million copies. The album's singles were only modest hits ('Prove It All Night' reached the Top 40, peaking at No. 33, and 'Badlands' climbed to No. 42)."[12] The album remained on the charts for 97 weeks[2] and was certified triple Platinum by the RIAA.[13]

Reviewing in 1978 for Rolling Stone, Dave Marsh viewed Darkness on the Edge of Town as a landmark record in rock and roll because of the clarity of its production, Springsteen's unique guitar playing, and the programming, which he said connected the characters and themes in a subtle yet cohesive manner. Marsh remarked that the subject matter of the songs fulfilled the hype that previously surrounded Springsteen: "What they've always said was that someday Bruce Springsteen would make rock & roll that would shake men's souls and make them question the direction of their lives. That would do, in short, all the marvelous things rock had always promised to do."[14] Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic in The Village Voice. He found Springsteen's narratives versatile and the characters remarkable on "Badlands", "Adam Raised a Cain", and "Promised Land", writing that they showcased "how a limited genre can illuminate a mature, full-bodied philosophical insight". He deemed other songs, particularly "Streets of Fire" and "Something in the Night", more impressionistic and overblown, revealing Springsteen to be either "an important minor artist or a very flawed and inconsistent major one".[15] In the UK, the album was ranked at No. 1 among the "Albums of the Year" for 1978 by NME.[16]
Reappraisal and legacy
Retrospective professional reviewsReview scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4.5/5 stars[17]
Chicago Tribune 4/4 stars[18]
Christgau's Record Guide B+[19]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music 4/5 stars[20]
The Great Rock Discography 8/10[21]
MusicHound Rock 4.5/5[22]
Pitchfork 9.5/10[23]
Q 4/5 stars[24]
Rolling Stone 5/5 stars[25]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 5/5 stars[26]

In retrospective appraisals, Darkness on the Edge of Town has been noted for exploring "hard truths in hard rock settings". According to an essay by Springsteen scholars Kenneth Womack and Eileen Chapman revisiting the album, "Springsteen drives away from the beach and boardwalk and into the ethos of the American heartland" while influenced by punk rock and country music.[27] AllMusic's William Ruhlmann said that Springsteen began to fully realize his characters as working class on Darkness on the Edge of Town, whose "hard truths in hard rock settings" made for a less accessible work than Born to Run.[17] According to music journalist Joe Marchese, "Darkness showed that one could marry hard rock with piano and saxophone",[28] while writer Rob Kirkpatrick regarded it as "the album in which Springsteen leaves R&B behind and plants himself firmly in the world of hard rock, seventies style."[29] For Steven Hyden, it is "the first, best example of Springsteen juxtaposing rousing rock music with miniaturist, miserablist, Middle American storytelling".[30]

According to Trevor J. Levin and Edward M. Litwin of The Harvard Crimson, Darkness on the Edge of Town "perfected the heartland rock genre" that Born to Run had created-"a genre meant to embrace working class American life through its depiction of such a life as joyless and cursed."[31] In regards to "Candy's Room", Michael Hann from The Quietus said, "in the subject of the narrator's affections - a prostitute - there's punk's dalliance with transgression brought into heartland rock, but with a tenderness and adoration that punk would have struggled with".[32]

Darkness on the Edge of Town has frequently appeared on rankings of the greatest albums of all-time. According to Acclaimed Music, it is the 114th most frequently ranked record on critics' all-time lists.[21] In the opinion of Pitchfork's Mark Richardson, it "ranks with rock's classic albums".[23] In 1987, a panel of rock critics and music broadcasters were polled for Paul Gambaccini's The Top 100 Rock 'n' Roll Albums of All Time, voting Darkness the 59th best rock album.[33] In 2003, it was ranked at number 151 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list.[34] An accompanying essay said it is the E Street Band's best performance, "colored by the raw sound happening at the time".[35] Ten years later, the album was ranked 109th on a similar list by NME.[36]
Reissue box set

A reissue box set was released in November 2010.[37][38][39] This had initially been planned for 2008 to mark the 30th anniversary of the original album's release but was delayed presumably due to Springsteen's numerous other 2008 projects.[40] By January 2009, Springsteen's manager, Jon Landau, was saying the project was still in the works: "When we can find six weeks to sit down and finish it I'm sure we will."[41] A documentary entitled "The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town" was produced for the box set. The documentary premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in the fall of 2010 and aired on HBO on October 7, 2010.[42] In the film's anticipation, and quoting Springsteen as saying "More than rich, more than famous, more than happy - I wanted to be great," reviewer Stephen Whitty of the Newark Star-Ledger commented: "For many fans, that long journey pulled onto the Turnpike here."[43]
Track listing

All tracks are written by Bruce Springsteen.
Side oneNo. Title Length
1. "Badlands" 4:03
2. "Adam Raised a Cain" 4:32
3. "Something in the Night" 5:11
4. "Candy's Room" 2:51
5. "Racing in the Street" 6:53
Side twoNo. Title Length
1. "The Promised Land" 4:33
2. "Factory" 2:17
3. "Streets of Fire" 4:09
4. "Prove It All Night" 3:56
5. "Darkness on the Edge of Town"Track listing

All tracks are written by Bruce Springsteen.
Side one
1. "Badlands" 4:03
2. "Adam Raised a Cain" 4:32
3. "Something in the Night" 5:11
4. "Candy's Room" 2:51
5. "Racing in the Street" 6:53
Side two
1. "The Promised Land" 4:33
2. "Factory" 2:17
3. "Streets of Fire" 4:09
4. "Prove It All Night" 3:56
5. "Darkness on the Edge of Town"

Personnel
Bruce Springsteen - lead vocals, lead guitar, harmonica, producer

The E Street Band
Roy Bittan - piano, backing vocals
Clarence Clemons - saxophone, backing vocals
Danny Federici - Hammond organ, glockenspiel
Garry Tallent - bass guitar
Steven Van Zandt - rhythm guitar, backing vocals, production assistance
Max Weinberg - drums

Technical
Jon Landau - producer
Jimmy Iovine - engineer, mixing
Thom Panunzio - assistant engineer
Chuck Plotkin - mixing
Mike Reese - mastering
Frank Stefanko - photography

Now see, this is what I meant when I acknowledged Bruce's talents in the introduction - the man's ability to switch from a shitty, mock-but-not-quite-mock-jingoistic image to something really, really different has fascinated me from the very moment that I started digging behind the glitzy, but smelly surface of the Born albums. For instance, if all Springsteen records were like this one, I suppose I wouldn't ever feel the need to put the Boss down so viciously in that venomous introduction.
No, I do not want to say that Darkness represents a totally unpredictable and radical twist in the guy's lyrical/musical/performing philosophy - if it were so, no way he could have come out six years later with an album as blatantly commercial and "American-dreamy-for-McDonalds-goers" as Born In The USA. Essentially, Bruce is Bruce, and Bruce doesn't change all that much, because for Chrissake he ain't no David Bowie! He doesn't build up on that kind of thing! BUT, for the almost entire duration of this album he manages to tone down those sides of his 'creative personality' that irk me the most, and extol those sides that make me recognize him as a serious artist after all and not just a phoney by-product of the advanced capitalist society. Yeah, you heard right.
Between Born To Run and this, Bruce had fought a long legal battle with his ex-manager for creative freedom, which explains his not recording for so long. (Who's the Boss? MONEY's the boss, baby!). Apparently, the fight had worn him out so much that he decided to concentrate on the angry side of himself, and the resulting album is a far more rough, stern and even hard-rocking affair than any of the previous ones. Another explanation, very nice from an evolutionary point of view, is that Darkness shows us a mature Bruce, out of his youthful innocent 'romantic' period - the romance is over now, and all of these songs emphasize the 'arder aspects of life, all the terrors and calamities and inescapability of work and uselessness of life and suchlike. Very little (well, relatively little, compared to Born To Run) bombast on here, no unnecessary fake romanticizing, and unpretentious themes that would be much more accessible to audiences outside of America, those that are aware of the record's existence, at least.
Take a song like 'Racing In The Street', for instance - one of those rare cases within Bruce's catalog where he's actually allowing himself to glance with irony at the 'blue collar hero' image. The song actually starts out in the usual way: the protagonist comes home from work and takes out his bike, because 'some guys they just give up living, and start dying little by little, piece by piece, some guys come home from work and wash up, and go racin' in the street'. The message of 'Thunder Road'? Yuck! But then Bruce suddenly switches on to the guy's wife - when the guy goes off racin' in the street, she just sits there in despair and loneliness and 'hates for just being born, for all the shut down strangers and hot rod angels rumbling through this promised land'. THIS is by no means the message of 'Thunder Road'! How many blue collar workers would be able to identify with this? Only the right kind of blue collar workers, that's for sure! The song is really moving and gets my thumbs up, for once.
Not that it's all oh so very consistent - Bruce is willing to undermine his image a little, but he is still aware of his main audience, which is why he opens the album with the usual kind of hope-raising pomp ('Badlands', simply 'Thunder Road Vol. 2' - 'we'll keep pushin' 'til it's understood and these badlands start treating us good'), sort of "enticing" the listener by promising him the next installment in the beloved series. And then wham! 'Adam Raised A Cain' comes along, a song quite unlike anything Bruce ever did before. A smashing, furious lead guitar part, played by Bruce himself as my commentators have kindly explained to me - how many smashing lead guitar parts had there actually been on previous Springsteen albums? Two? Three? None? Lyrics that delve far beyond the basic "Springsteenization(message = "we gotta get out of this place") formula, dealing with the hardships of family relations and your own legacy. A non-standard vocal melody and a vocal delivery that threatens to rip the heart out of 'Backstreets', and even a meaningful "angry mob" pause between the second and third verse. It's Bruce's hardest-rocking song and my absolute favourite in his entire catalog.
Some of the other better songs are often ambiguous - for instance, does the guy in 'Promised Land' actually believe in the promised land or doesn't he? Hard to tell... Is it one more bait for the working class or not? Probably is, but even so, in this context, with an arrangement heavy on mild Dylan-ish organ, it's pretty far removed from the true pomp of 'Born To Run'. Of course, the four-note piano riff would later be recycled for 'Bobby Jean', but as much as I like 'Bobby Jean' (running a little ahead), this song is infinitely better, not to mention infinitely more complex. Which brings me to a further point - my high rating is due not only to a change in Bruce's image but also to a change in some of the arrangements. 'Streets Of Fire' is sort of like a minor, less anthemic and pretentious, brother to 'Backstreets', with a quiet, relaxed organ carrying most of the melody - and another excellent guitar break to boot (the third classy solo on this record will be found in 'Candy's Room', by the way). And 'Prove It All Night', basically the same old romantic bullshit lyrically (very skillful bullshit, too! don't kill me over it), greatly aided by Roy Bittan's poppy keyboards, is the catchiest ditty written by the Boss so far. An album where Springsteen gets to really rock hard and be catchy - what's not to like? Oh sure, it would be great if he were to return to the jazzy stylistics of his second album once in a while, but I guess let bygones be bygones.
Basically, if I were to summarize in one brief sentence what makes this album so different from Born To Run, it would be this: very few songs on here can serve as arena-rock crowd pleasers. 'Badlands', maybe, or 'Prove It All Night' which is sort of inoffensive anyway, certainly not anything else. It's not a record to sing along to. Isn't it sort of underrepresented in the Boss' live show anyway? I mean, you can't go to a Springsteen concert and not hear 'Thunder Road' or 'Born To Run', but how often are you gonna hear 'Adam Raised A Cain' or the title track? It's sort of a "private" album, if you know what I mean, and a risky one at that. But that's sort of becoming Springsteen's hobby - alternating "commercial" product with "risky" statements. It would certainly prove true during the next decade.

"Badlands"
[Verse 1] Lights out tonight, trouble in the heartland
Got a head-on collision smashin' in my guts, man
I'm caught in a cross fire 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
Baby 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
[Pre-Chorus 1] Talk about a dream, try to make it real
You wake up in the night with a fear so real
You spend your life waiting for a moment that just don'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
[Verse 2] 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
[Pre-Chorus 2] Well I believe in the love that you gave me
I believe in the faith that could save me
I believe in the hope and I pray that some day It may raise me above these
[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
[Guitar & Saxophone Solos]
[Verse 3] 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
[Chorus] Badlands, you gotta live it everyday
Let the broken hearts stand as the price you've gotta pay
Keep movin' till it's understood And these badlands start treating us good
[Outro] Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
Badlands, whoa whoa whoa whoa x5

Adam Raised a Cain"
[Verse 1] In the summer that I was baptized
My father held me to his side As they put me to the water
He said how on that day I cried
[Pre-Chorus 1] We were prisoners of love, a love in chains
He was standin' in the door I was standin' in the rain
With the same hot blood burning in our veins
[Chorus] Adam raised a Cain x4
[Verse 2] All of the old faces Ask you why you're back
They fit you with position And the keys to your daddy's Cadillac
[Pre-Chorus 2] In the darkness of your room
Your mother calls you by your true name
You remember the faces, the places, the names
You know it's never over it's relentless as the rain
[Chorus] Adam raised a Cain x4
[Verse 3] In the Bible brother Cain slew Abel
And East of Eden mama he was cast You're born into this life paying
For the sins of somebody else's past
[Pre-Chorus 3] Daddy worked his whole life for nothing but the pain
Now he walks these empty rooms looking for something to blame
But you inherit the sins, you inherit the flames
[Chorus] Adam raised a Cain x4
Lost but not forgotten, from the dark heart of a dream
Adam raised a Cain x7

Something in the Night"
[Verse 1]
Well I'm riding down Kingsley
Figuring I'll get a drink
Well I turn the radio up loud
So I don't have to think
And I take her to the floor
Looking for a moment
When the world seems right
And I tear into the guts
Mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm
Of something in the night

[Verse 2]
Well you're born with nothing
And better off that way
Soon as you've got something they send
Someone to try and take it away
Well you can ride this road till dawn
Without another human being in sight
Yeah just kids wasted on
Mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm
Something in the night

[Bridge]
Well nothing is forgotten or forgiven
When it's your last time around
And I got stuff running 'round my head
That I just can't live down

[Verse 3]
Well we found the things we loved
They were crushed and dying in the dirt
We tried to pick up the pieces
And get away without getting hurt
But they caught us at the state line
Burned our cars in one last fight
And left us running burned and blind
Mmm mmm mmm mmm
Chasing something in the night

Candy’s Room"
[Verse 1]
In Candy's room there are pictures of her heroes on the wall
But to get to Candy's room you gotta walk the darkness of Candy's hall
Strangers from the city call my baby's number and they bring her toys
When I come knocking she smiles pretty she knows I wanna be Candy's boy
There's a sadness hidden in that pretty face
A sadness all her own from which no man can keep Candy safe

[Verse 2]
We kiss, my heart rushes through my brain
And the blood rushes in my veins
The fire rushes towards the sky
And we go driving, driving deep into the night
I go driving deep into the light in Candy's eyes
She says baby if you wanna be wild
You got a lot to learn, close your eyes
Let them melt, let them fire, let them burn
'Cause in the darkness there'll be hidden worlds that shine
When I hold Candy close she makes those hidden worlds mine

[Guitar Solo]

[Bridge]
She has fancy clothes and diamond rings
She has men who give her anything she wants
But they don't see
That what she wants is me

[Outro]
Oh and I want her so
I'll never let her go, no no no
She knows that I'd give
All that I've got to give
All that I want, all that I live
To make Candy mine
Tonight

Racing in the Street"
[Verse 1]
I got a sixty-nine Chevy with a 396
Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor
She’s waiting tonight down in the parking lot
Outside the Seven-Eleven store
Me and my partner Sonny built her straight out of scratch
And he rides with me from town to town
We only run for the money got no strings attached
We shut ’em up and then we shut ’em down

[Chorus]
Tonight, tonight the strip’s just right
I wanna blow 'em off in my first heat
Summer’s here and the time is right
For racin’ in the street

[Verse 2]
We take all the action we can meet
And we cover all the northeast states
When the strip shuts down we run ’em in the street
From the fire roads to the interstate
Now some guys they just give up living
And start dying little by little, piece by piece
Some guys come home from work and wash up
Then go racin’ in the street

[Chorus]
Tonight, tonight the strip’s just right
I wanna blow ’em all out of their seats
We're calling out around the world
We’re going racin’ in the street

[Verse 3]
I met her on the strip three years ago
In a Camaro with this dude from L.A
I blew that Camaro off my back and drove that little girl away
But now there’s wrinkles around my baby’s eyes
And she cries herself to sleep at night
When I come home the house is dark
She sighs “Baby did you make it all right”
She sits on the porch of her daddy’s house
But all her pretty dreams are torn
She stares off alone into the night
With the eyes of one who hates for just being born

For all the shut-down strangers and hot rod angels
Rumbling through this promised land
Tonight my baby and me we’re gonna ride to the sea
And wash these sins off our hands

[Chorus]
Tonight tonight the highway’s bright
Out of our way mister you best keep
'Cause summer’s here and the time is right
For racin’ in the street

The Promised Land"
[Verse 1]
On a rattlesnake speedway in the Utah desert
I pick up my money and head back into town
Driving 'cross the Waynesboro county line
I got the radio on and I'm just killing time
Working all day in my daddy's garage
Driving all night chasing some mirage
Pretty soon little girl I'm gonna take charge

[Chorus]
The dogs on Main Street howl 'cause they understand
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister I ain't a boy, no I'm a man
And I believe in a promised land

[Verse 2]
I've done my best to live the right way
I get up every morning and go to work each day
But your eyes go blind and your blood runs cold
Sometimes I feel so weak I just want to explode
Explode and tear this whole town apart
Take a knife and cut this pain from my heart
Find somebody itching for something to start

[Chorus]
The dogs on Main Street howl 'cause they understand
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister I ain't a boy, no I'm a man
And I believe in a promised land

[Guitar, Saxophone, and Harmonica Solos]

[Verse 3]
Well there's a dark cloud rising from the desert floor
I packed my bags and I'm heading straight into the storm
Gonna be a twister to blow everything down
That ain't got the faith to stand its ground
Blow away the dreams that tear you apart
Blow away the dreams that break your heart
Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted

[Chorus]
The dogs on Main Street howl 'cause they understand
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister I ain't a boy, no I'm a man
And I believe in a promised land

Factory"
[Verse 1]
Early in the morning factory whistle blows
Man rises from bed and puts on his clothes
Man takes his lunch, walks out in the morning light
It's the working, the working, just the working life

[Verse 2]
Through the mansions of fear, through the mansions of pain
I see my daddy walking through them factory gates in the rain
Factory takes his hearing, factory gives him life
The working, the working, just the working life

[Piano and Organ Solos]

[Verse 3]
End of the day, factory whistle cries
Men walk through these gates with death in their eyes
And you just better believe, boy
Somebody's gonna get hurt tonight
It's the working, the working, just the working life
'Cause it's the working, the working, just the working life

Streets of Fire"
[Verse 1]
When the night's quiet and you don't care anymore
And your eyes are tired and there's someone at your door
And you realize you wanna let go
And the weak lies and the cold walls you embrace
Eat at your insides and baby I ain’t no liar, I walk

[Chorus]
Streets of fire
Streets of fire
Streets of fire
Streets of fire

[Verse 2]
Now I'm wandering, the loser down the track
And I'm lyin', but babe I can't go back
'Cause in the darkness I hear somebody call my name
And when you realize how they tricked you this time
And it's all lies but I'm strung out on the wire
In these

[Chorus]
Streets of fire
Streets of fire
Streets of fire
Streets of fire

[Guitar Solo]

[Verse 3]
I live now, only with strangers
I talk to only strangers
I walk with angels that have no place
And so don't look at my face
Don't, don't come around my place
'Cause I'm strung out on the wire 'cross

[Chorus]
Streets of fire
Streets of fire
Streets of fire
Streets of fire

Prove It All Night"
[Verse 1]
I've been working real hard, trying to get my hands clean
We'll drive that dusty road from Monroe to Angeline
To buy you a gold and a pretty dress of blue
Baby just one kiss will get these things for you
A kiss to seal our fate tonight
A kiss to

[Chorus]
Prove it all night, prove it all night
Girl there's nothing else that we can do
Said prove it all night, prove it all night
And girl I'll prove it all night for you

[Verse 2]
Everybody's got a hunger, a hunger they can't resist
There's so much that you want, you deserve much more than this
But if dreams came true, oh, wouldn't that be nice
But this ain't no dream we're living out through the night
And girl, you want it, you take it, you pay the price to

[Chorus]
Prove it all night, prove it all night
Prove it all night girl and call the bluff
We prove it all night, prove it all night
Girl, I prove it all night for your love

[Saxophone and Guitar Solos]

[Verse 3]
Baby, tie your hair back in a long white bow
Meet me in the fields behind the dynamo
You hear their voices telling you not to go
They made their choices and they'll never know
What it means to steal, to cheat, to lie
What it's like to live and die to

[Chorus]
Prove it all night, prove it all night
There is nothing else that we can do
Say prove it all night, prove it all night
And girl I prove it all night for you

[Outro]
I prove it all night, I prove it all night
I prove it all night, I prove it all night
I prove it all night, I prove it all night
I prove it all night, I prove it all night

Darkness on the Edge of Town"
[Verse 1]
Well they're still racing out at the Trestles
But that blood it never burned in her veins
Now I hear she's got a house up in Fairview
And a style she's trying to maintain

[Chorus]
Well, if she wants to see me
You can tell her that I'm easily found
Tell her there's a spot out 'neath Abram's Bridge
And tell her
There's a darkness on the edge of town
There's a darkness on the edge of town

[Verse 2]
Well everybody's got a secret, son
Something that they just can't face
Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep it
They carry it with them every step that they take

[Chorus]
Till some day they just cut it loose
Cut it loose or let it drag 'em down
Where no one asks any questions
Or looks too long in your face
In the darkness on the edge of town
In the darkness on the edge of town

[Verse 3]
Some folks are born into a good life
And other folks get it anyway, anyhow
Well then I lost my money and I lost my wife
Them things don't seem to matter much to me now

[Chorus]
Tonight I'll be on that hill 'cause I can't stop
I'll be on that hill with everything I got
Lives on the line where dreams are found and lost
I'll be there on time and I'll pay the cost
For wanting things that can only be found
In the darkness on the edge of town
In the darkness on the edge of town