Bruce Springsteen Songs - Jungleland Lyrics

Bruce Springsteen - Jungleland

Bruce Springsteen - Jungleland Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Born To Run
Released: 1975

Jungleland Lyrics

The Rangers had a homecoming
In Harlem late last night
And the Magic Rat drove his sleek machine
Over the Jersey state line
Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge
Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain
The Rat pulls into town, rolls up his pants
Together they take a stab at romance
And disappear down Flamingo Lane

Well, the Maximum Lawmen run down Flamingo
Chasing the Rat and the barefoot girl
And the kids 'round there live just like shadows
Always quiet, holding hands
From the churches to the jails
Tonight all is silence in the world
As we take our stand
Down in Jungleland

The midnight gang's assembled
And picked a rendezvous for the night
They'll meet 'neath that giant Exxon sign
That brings this fair city light
Man, there's an opera out on the Turnpike
There's a ballet being fought out in the alley
Until the local cops, Cherry-Tops, rips this holy night
The street's alive as secret debts are paid
Contacts made, they flash unseen
Kids flash guitars just like switchblades
Hustling for the record machine
The hungry and the hunted
Explode into rock 'n' roll bands
That face off against each other out in the street
Down in Jungleland

In the parking lot the visionaries dress in the latest rage
Inside the backstreet girls are dancing
To the records that the DJ plays
Lonely-hearted lovers struggle in dark corners
Desperate as the night moves on
Just one look and a whisper, and they're gone

Beneath the city, two hearts beat
Soul engines running through a night so tender
In a bedroom locked in whispers
Of soft refusal and then surrender
In the tunnels uptown, the Rat's own dream guns him down
As shots echo down them hallways in the night
No one watches when the ambulance pulls away
Or as the girl shuts out the bedroom light

Outside the street's on fire in a real death waltz
Between what's flesh and what's fantasy
And the poets down here don't write nothing at all
They just stand back and let it all be
And in the quick of a knife, they reach for their moment
And try to make an honest stand
But they wind up wounded, not even dead
Tonight in Jungleland

Writer/s: Bruce Springsteen
Publisher: DOWNTOWN DLJ SONGS
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Jungleland Song Chart

This is a poetic tale of life on the streets of New Jersey. Beginning with a simple piano intro, Springsteen goes through a series of abstract images and introduces a series of characters in the song, including Magic Rat and Barefoot Girl. It's a song that led to comparisons with Bob Dylan, notably Dylan's "Desolation Row."

Born To Run came with lyrics to the songs, so listeners could follow along. Reflecting on the album years later, Springsteen singled out the last verse of "Jungleland" as an example of his work that had "a lot of overblown romance, but still contained the seeds of realism."

Springsteen and the E Street Band performed this live for over a year before they recorded it. It developed into a longer song with a grand sax solo when it was finally released.

This features the piano of Roy Bittan. He joined The E Street Band for Born To Run after playing in orchestra pits on Broadway.

This was a highlight of Springsteen's 1999 reunion tour with The E Street Band. The tour went very well, and the band continued to play and record together.

Suki Lahav played the violin. She was the first female to play in Springsteen's band, and was with him from September 1974 - March 1975.

This is the last song on Born To Run, the breakthrough album for Springsteen. He tested the patience of Columbia Records by taking over a year to record it, refusing to release it until it was just right.

Clarence Clemons played a long sax solo on this. With his bright suits and large stature, he was the most notable and popular member of The E Street Band, and when it came to this song, he wasn't demure. "That’s one of the classic saxophone solos in the history of the world, if I may say so myself," he said. Clemons was disappointed when the song was not included on the 1995 Greatest Hits album.

As seen in the documentary Wings For Wheels on the 30th anniversary package of the album, one take of the song had a dramatic flamenco-style intro. (thanks, Marshall - Sacramento, CA)

Melissa Etheridge said in Rolling Stone magazines 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time issue: "When Bruce Springsteen does those wordless wails, like at the end of 'Jungleland,' that's the definition of rock & roll to me. He uses his whole body when he sings, and he puts out this enormous amount of force and emotion and passion." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)