Album: The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle (1973)It's My Life (4 Versions)'Cause I remember in the summertime, me and this friend of mine used to get... used to get his old man's car and we used to, at night, take off down toward the shore, because I lived about twenty miles inland off a beach, and ah... We'd take off down this... this highway, route 33, heading down towards the beach and they... At the time, they wouldn't let us in the bars because we wasn't old enough, we used to... used to park outside on the street, sit on the hood of the car, get the cats to leave the doors open so we could hear the bands blasting out from inside, coming down from the city to play along the shore in the summertime.
And we'd stay there all night until around four o'clock and I'd head home. And I'd get out of the car, and my old man used to lock up the front door so I couldn't come in the front. He used to be sitting in kitchen all night long with the lights out, smoke a cigarette, drinking beer, waiting for me and my sister to come home.
So, I'd make it up on the porch. At first, I'd stand there in the driveway for a while and I'd... didn't have the guts to go in and I could look through the screen door and see the light of his cigarette butt at the table. Finally, I'd slick my hair back real tight and I'd try to make it up to my room. He'd always be calling me to come back and sit down with him in the dark in the kitchen, he'd always be sitting there telling me... asking me what I was doing with myself. And I remember this went on... He used to sit in that kitchen at night as long as I can remember, ever since I was a little kid, with my mom sitting in the front room just... with the TV on, watching TV 'til she fell asleep, got up to go to work the next morning. We'd sit there in the dark talking, and I could always hear his voice. I'd be squinting real hard and I could... I could never make out his face. We'd start talking, just about how things was going in general at first. And then... Pretty soon, he'd get around to asking me where I was getting my money from, what I thought I was doing with myself and how my whole life was turning into a waste. And we'd always end up screaming at each other at around four in the morning. My mother'd end up run... waking up, running in from the front room and try to keep us from fighting with each other. And I'd always end up running out the back door, back out in the street, telling him, screaming at him, telling him how he was going to have to learn to live with it pretty soon, because it was my life and I was going to do what I wanted to do...
It's a hard world to get a break in
Seems like the good things have all been taken
But now I know there's ways to make certain these days
Though I come dressed in rags, I will wear sable someday
Hear what I say
Now I'm gonna ride the serpent
Gonna be no more time spent sweating rent
Hear my command, I'm breaking loose
Though it ain't no use
we're holding me down
For just hanging around
Cause baby (baby)
Remember (remember)
It's my life and I'll do what I want
I know... Know I will someday
Now there were women and their fortunes
And they just want to mother orphans
Are you going to cry when I'm bleeding them dry
taking all I can get with no regrets
When I openly lie and live only money
'Cause you can believe me honey, that there's money out there
And you can believe, you can't be no saint and complain
I'm going to go on out now, and I'm going to take what's mine
Cause baby (baby)
Remember (remember)
It's my life and I'll do what I want
It's my mind and I'll think what I want
Show me I'm wrong
Hurt me sometime
But someday I'll treat you real fine
(It's my life and I'll do what I want)
It's my life
(It's my mind and I'll think what I want)
It's my life
(It's my life and I'll do what I want)
It's my life
(It's my life and I'll think what I want)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's My Life (April 7, 1976, Runners in the Night)
I used to live in a small town -- it was about ten thousand people, and uh... I used to live in this two-family house and at night, my father used to lock up the front door. So me and my sister, we used to come in around through the kitchen. And uh, he'd sit in the kitchen all night with all of the lights out, smoke a cigarette, drink some beer. My mother'd sit in the front room, watch the TV, you know.. If you came in, if you came in around ten or eleven, or even by midnight, it wasn't too bad. But if you came in around.. around two or three, he'd always stop me, want me to sit in the kitchen with him and talk to him about something. He'd start talking to me about what I was doing in school... or if I was looking for a job or something. Pretty soon we'd be arguing and screaming at each other, my mother'd be running in from the front room, try to keep us from fighting with each other and I'd be... I'd end up running back outside the house, running out the door telling him how it was my life, I could do what I want...
It's a hard world to get a break in
All the good things have been taken
But I know there's ways to make certain these days
Though I'm dressed in these rags, I will wear sable someday
Hear what I say I'm going to make for certain
That's there's no more time spent sweatin' rent
Hear my command, I'm breaking loose
There ain't no use in holding me down
Or sticking around
Now, baby (baby)
Remember (remember)
It's my life and I'll do what I want
It's my mind and I'll think what I want
Show me I'm wrong
Hurt me sometime
Someday I'll treat you real fine
I know, I know, I know...
I just know...
There'll be women with their fortunes
Who just want to mother orphans
Are you going to cry when I'm bleeding them dry?
Taking all I can get with no regrets
When I openly lie and live only money
'Cause you can believe me honey, there's money out there
And you can believe that I ain't no saint to complain
So go on out now, go on now, and take what's mine
'Cause baby (baby)
remember (remember)
It's my life and I'll do what I want
It's my mind and I'll think what I want
Show me I'm wrong
Hurt me sometime
Someday I'll treat you real fine
Don't push me!
It's my life and I'll do what I want
I'll do what I want!
It's my mind and I'll think what I want
It's my life!
It's my life and I'll do what I want
I know!
It's my mind and I'll think what I want
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's My Life (August 1, 1976, First Rendezvous in Red Bank)
I used to live in this two family house, on this main road used to go through town. Yeah, I know. My mom used to work downtown at some office building as a secretary. And my pop, he was a... he was a guard down at the jail sometimes. A lot of times, he'd just stay home. And when he'd be home, I remember, (???), he used to shut off all the lights in the house and just sit in the kitchen, drink his beer, smoke a cigarette. In the wintertime sometimes, he'd leave the gas stove on so that it got real hot in there and shut all the doors. My mom used to sit in the front room, watch TV all night. And I'd go out.
And if you came... If me and my sister if we came in... if we came in around ten or eleven, it was never too bad. But if we came in late, I knew my pop was sitting there waiting for me, sitting there in the dark for hours. And it put me and I tried to... tried to make it through the kitchen and run to make it up to my room. And just as I was, just as I was about through, he'd end up calling my name, tell me to sit down and talk to him for a little while. And we'd sit there in the dark. And meanwhile I could always hear his voice, but I could never see his face though...
We'd talk about mostly nothing, what I was doing in school, and how I could join the army. Start asking what I thought I was doing with myself and where I was getting my money from, and all of a sudden, you're no good. And pretty soon, we'd start screaming at each other. And my mom would be coming in from the front room keeping us from fighting each other. And I'd be running out the back door, telling him that it was my life, I could do what I wanted to do...
It's a hard world to get a break in
All the good things have been taken
But I know there's ways to make certain these days
Though I come dressed in rags, I will wear sable someday
Hear what I say I'm going to make for certain
That's there's no more time spent sweatin' rent
Hear my command, I'm breaking loose
There ain't no use in holding me down
Or sticking 'round
Cause, baby (baby)
Remember (remember)
It's my life and I'll do what I want
It's my mind and I'll think what I want
Show me I'm wrong
Hurt me sometime
Someday I'll treat you real fine
I know, I know, I know...
I just know...
There'll be women with their fortunes
Who just want to mother orphans
Are you going to cry when I'm bleeding them dry?
Taking all I can get with no regrets
When I openly lie and live only money
'Cause you can believe me honey, that there's money out there
And you can believe that I ain't no saint to complain
And I'm going to go on out now, and get what's mine
Baby (baby)
remember (remember)
It's my life and I'll do what I want
It's my mind and I'll think what I want
Show me I'm wrong
Hurt me sometime
Someday I'll treat you real fine
Don't push me!
It's my life and I'll do what I want
Do what I want!
It's my mind and I'll think what I want
It's my life!
It's my life and I'll do what I want
Do what I want, girl!
It's my mind and I'll think what I want
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's my Life (November 4, 1976, We Gotta Get Out of this Place)
I grew up in this small town about twenty miles... twenty miles in.. inland. I remember I was in this dumpy two-story, two-family house next door to this gas station. And... And my mom, she... she was a secretary, and she worked downtown. And my pop... I remember she, she married my pop as soon as he got out of the army. They got married, and she took that job. And my father, he worked a lot of different places. He worked in a rug mill for a while, he drove a cab for a while and... worked... he was a guard down at the jail for a while. I can remember when he worked down there, he used to always come home real pissed off, drunk, sit in the kitchen. At night, nine o'clock, he used to shut off all the lights, every light in the house, and he used to get real pissed off if me or my sister turned any of them on. And he'd sit in the kitchen with a six-pack, a cigarette. And mom, she'd set her hair and she... she would come downstairs and just turn on the TV, and sit in the chair, watch TV 'til she fell asleep. And she'd get up the next morning and go to work again. And my pop, sometimes he went to bed, sometimes he didn't. Sometimes he got up, sometimes he didn't get up. And... And I used to sleep upstairs. And I used to pull, in the summertime, when the weather got hot, I used to drag my mattress out the window and sleep on the roof next door to the gas station. And I'd watch these different guys... The station closed up at one, and these guys, they'd be pulling in and pulling out all night long. They'd be meeting people there, they'd be ripping off down the highway. And as soon as I hit sixteen, me and my buddy, we got this car and we started taking off. We used to take off down to the beach sleep under the... sleep on top of the beach houses. We used to spin up to the city, and just walk around the streets all night long 'til the cops catch us at Port Authority, call our pops. My pop, he'd never come and get me, I remember, he always sent my mother. Everytime I got in trouble, my mother'd come down, she'd always say 'your father, he don't even want to come.' And... And I used to always have to go back home and when I... And I'd stand there in that driveway, afraid to go in the house and I could see through the screen door, could see the light on my pop's cigarette, and I can remember I just couldn't wait until I was old enough to take him out once. But... I used to slick my hair back real tight, so he couldn't tell how long it was getting, and try to sneak through the kitchen. But the old man, he'd catch every night and he'd drag me back into that kitchen, he'd make me sit down at that table in the dark, and he would sit there telling me, and in the wintertime, he used to... he used to turn on the gas stove so, and close all the doors, so it got real hot in there. And I remember just sitting in the dark, him telling me... and telling me, telling me, telling me. And I could always hear that voice. No matter how long I sat there, I could never ever see his face.
We'd start talking about nothing much, how I was doing... Pretty soon, he asked me what I thought I was doing with myself. And we'd always end up screaming at each other. My mother, she'd always end up running in from the front room crying, and trying to pull him off me, try to keep us from fighting with each other. And I'd always end up... I'd always end up running out the back door and pulling away from him. Pulling away from him, running down the driveway screaming at him, telling him, telling him, telling him, how it was my life and I was going to do what I wanted to do...
It's a hard world to get a break in
All the good things have been taken
But I know there's ways to make certain these days
Though I come dressed in rags, I will wear sable, Sable!, someday
Someday...
Hear what I say
Man, I'm going to make for certain
Ain't gonna be no more of my time spent sweatin' rent
Hear my command, I'm cutting loose
It ain't no use in trying to hold me down
Or sticking 'round
Cause, baby (baby)
Remember (remember)
It's my life and I'll do what I want
It's my mind and I'll think what I want
Show me I'm wrong
Hurt me sometime
Someday I'll treat you real fine
I will!
Girl, I will... I will, god I know it... I will...
Yeah...
There's women, who likes a-paying the rent, and their fortunes
And they'll just want to mother orphans
Are you going to cry when I'm bleeding them dry?
Taking all I can get with no regrets
When I, When I openly lie and live only money
'Cause you can believe me, that there's money out there
And you can believe you can't be no saint and complain
And I'm going to go on out, now!, and take what's mine
And baby (baby)
remember (remember)
It's my life and I'll do what I want
It's my mind and I'll think what I want
Show me I'm wrong
Hurt me sometime
Someday I'll treat you real fine
(It's my life and I'll do what I want)
It's my life!
(It's my mind and I'll think what I want)
Think what I want!
(It's my life and I'll do what I want)
Don't you push me!
(It's my mind) my life! (and I'll think what I want)
All right!
It's my life!
