E Street Shuffle

8/15/75 Bottom Line NYC

It was, uh, about three, four years ago - four years ago now, about this time of year, it was around August on a night like this. I was working in this bar down on the shore. I worked there for three or four months, this place called the Student Prince. [A girl shouts] Yes! Where you going? So it was me and it was Steve here and... and Garry, Garry was in the band then. And Southside Johnny. Do you folks get down to the shore much? [cheers] Well, you gotta go see Southside Johnny's band, he’s got a band there; yeah, the Jukes [giggle]

Anyway, this is about three, four years ago, me and Steve and Garry are working in this bar down there. And we was feeling like, like real discouraged at the time, because no one would give us a gig or nothing. We went into this bar - the only way we got this job was this guy had just bought the bar and we went into this bar about midnight on a Saturday night. You know, there should be a few folks in there, right? Went into this place, the darkest, dampest, dingiest  place you’ve ever seen and there was nobody in there, right?

So we walk up to this guy and say we'll play for the door. You know, we'll charge a dollar at the door and we'll play for that. So we had a seven-piece band at the time, we got a big band.  And we brought the band in the first week and we played and we made about, hell, we must have made... [Steve: “Thirteen seventy-five”] Yeah, we split $13.75 between the seven of us. And a few guys quit, you know. The next week I was there with a six-piece band. I threw some cat out: next week a five-piece band. This went on for a few weeks until we got it down to like... you get down to your boys when you're starving.

We was playing this joint and we was always figuring, like, these people was always trying to set us up, like “Man, I got the manager from the Byrds coming down here tonight to check you guys out. So you dudes better be good.” Right? So we would play like mad dogs all night. And about three in the morning we'd all be sitting at this damn little table, saying “Where is the cat, you know? What happened to the joker? Where is the dude?”

And Steve, Steve was known then for practicing his guitar, day in and day out, night and day, all the time. Every time I'd see him, he would practice, practice, practice. He always had his guitar with him, everywhere he went, you know. See him on the boardwalk, he's got his guitar with him. Practice, practice, practice.

So one night after the gig, we was all feeling down in the dumps and all pissed off, and you know, you're sitting there saying “Man, we're better than them cats and they got two records out. How come we ain't got no record out?” You do all that kind of stuff, you know. Me and Steve was feeling really, really drugged out, and we figured we were gonna go home, figured we'd walk north along the boardwalk.

So we got out there and it was a damn nasty night. It was raining and the club was flooded because some like bikers came along and ripped off the front door. Really, they just took the sucker off and brought it home with them or something. I don't know what they did with it. They ate that thing, right?

So we was walking down the boardwalk this time of night. It was late, must have been four in the morning. Steve had his guitar with him, he was practicing. And we was just walking down the boardwalk, figuring we wanted to get home. All of a sudden, way down the other end of the boardwalk, we see something coming. I said “Steve, you see something down there?” He says yeah. I said “I don't know what that is.” But we don't want to take no chances, like, we just wanted to get home, we don't wanna fool around. So we ducked in this doorway, you know, and he told me to peek out. And I peeked out.

Whatever it was, it was coming in the rain, the wind was blowing, it was in this big mist. And it was all dressed in white, with a walking stick. [Clarence appears on the stage] Walking like there ain't no rain, no wind. I said “Steven! Are you ... am I crazy or is that dude carrying a saxophone?” [crowd roars]

So we figured that any cat at 4 A.M., dressed all in white, walking like there's no rain, with a saxophone, was not to be messed with! Let him walk on by, right? So we huddled in the doorway, and we were sort of scared [Steve hides behind Bruce] We were a little scared. We were thinking we didn't want to get messed around or nothing, that's all I need - go home with $3.50 and a messed up face tonight.

We heard his footsteps coming closer. [Steve imitates the steps, banging on his guitar strings] And they came closer and closer [banging]. They came even a lot closer than that [final bang]. And we figured this is no time to look like you’re scared, this guy is gonna come along, so we better act like we're bad. So here the cat's coming and we're starting to get ready.  [Steve pushes Bruce toward Clarence]. And this cat came up and he turned and faced off right in front of us in the doorway and I just jumped back like this [falls into Steve's arms]

The first thing we did was, we threw all our money down [laughs]. Threw all the damn money down. Then I still didn't know what the cat was at, he didn't move, he didn't do nothing. He just stood there. And he held out the saxophone. So I took out my sneakers, I wasn't going to take no chances,  and I threw them down. I figured he might want me to do that. But all he did was to put out his hand. [Clarence holds his hand to Bruce]. So me and Steve leaned back and we got just... a little closer. And when we touched it was like:

Sparks fly on E Street...


So we walk up to this guy and say we'll play for the door. You know, we'll charge a
dollar at the door and we'll play for that. So we had a seven-piece band at the time, we
got a big band.  And we brought the band in the first week and we played and we made
about, hell, we must have made... [Steve: "Thirteen seventy-five"] Yeah, we split
$13.75 between the seven of us. And a few guys quit, you know. The next week I was
there with a six-piece band. I threw some cat out: next week a five-piece band. This
went on for a few weeks until we got it down to like... you get down to your boys
when you're starving.

We was playing this joint and we was always figuring, like, these people was always
trying to set us up, like "Man, I got the manager from the Byrds coming down here
tonight to check you guys out. So you dudes better be good." Right? So we would play
like mad dogs all night. And about three in the morning we'd all be sitting at this damn
little table, saying "Where is the cat, you know? What happened to the joker? Where is
the dude?"

And Steve, Steve was known then for practicing his guitar, day in and day out, night
and day, all the time. Every time I'd see him, he would practice, practice, practice. He
always had his guitar with him, everywhere he went, you know. See him on the
boardwalk, he's got his guitar with him. Practice, practice, practice.

So one night after the gig, we was all feeling down in the dumps and all pissed off, and