Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack
I went out for a ride and I never went back
Like a river that don't know where it's flowing
I took a wrong turn and I just kept going

Everybody's got a hungry heart
Everybody's got a hungry heart
Lay down your money and you play your part
Everybody's got a h-h-hungry heart

Oh

I met her in a Kingstown bar
We fell in love, I knew it had to end
We took what we had and we ripped it apart
Now here I am down in Kingstown again

Everybody's got a hungry heart
Everybody's got a hungry heart
Lay down your money and you play your part
Everybody's got a h-h-hungry heart

La-la-la-la-la-la, oh yeah
La-la-la-la-la-la

Everybody needs a place to rest
Everybody wants to have a home
Don't make no difference what nobody says
Ain't nobody like to be alone

Everybody's got a hungry heart
Everybody's got a hungry heart
Lay down your money and you play your part
Everybody's got a h-h-hungry heart

(Everybody's got a hungry heart)
Oh yeah
(Everybody's got a hungry heart)
(Lay down your money and you play your part)
Oh yeah
(Everybody's got a hungry heart)
La-la-la-la-la-la
Ooh yeah
La-la-la-la-la-la


Lyrics submitted by oofus

Hungry Heart Lyrics as written by Bruce Springsteen

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Hungry Heart song meanings
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27 Comments

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  • +4
    General Comment

    My grandfather once told me that this was his favorite song, and for that reason it has always meant a lot to me, because it helped me to truly understand him. There is such a sense of longing, and it seems to mourn for things that have passed us by, and our urge to recapture them.

    sassymorg333on December 08, 2006   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    Great Song. Not a big fan of BS but love this song. Reminds me of myself. I'm just never satisfied and I always end up thinking there's something better for me, even when I already have the best

    convinceon August 12, 2009   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    great pop song. bruce can write a pop song, a ballad a moody song that only his die hard fans will probably like, etc. he can write for just about any genre. His versatility is what makes him so brilliant.

    LolaBaton November 28, 2004   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    One of the songs that made me the Bruce freak that I am today. This song was a big hit when released in 1980, but was still something of a regional hit. The rock stations in Denver where I grew up hardly ever played this. Albiet, the song was a hit in every region of the country, but the Mountain West, but still, I wish I heard it more back then.

    Great sing a long song with the Danny Federici keyboard playing at its best.

    I've always wondered where Kingstown is in relationship to Baltimore. I heard somewhere that it's on Maryland's Eastern Shore, near Ocean City. Not sure if it's a spot with a lot of bars where one goes to drive and never turn back to their wife and kids in Baltimore though.

    Pirtyfool22on May 17, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Atypical Springsteen song, I heard he wrote it for the Ramones.

    suckmykisson March 17, 2003   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I always thought this song was about just wanting to be loved. There's a hint of irony though in how he says he does love her but then outright leaves her. He's using the phrase 'hungry' and the general message of the song is that he'll never be full. I think it's that 'doo-wop' sound that probably made this song stick out in the first place.

    briguy27on November 02, 2006   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation

    I love Sexton Blake's version of this song.

    I think this song means what is says: "Everybody's got a hungry heart." Everybody's heart continues to long for something -- to fill something. Another notable underlying "theme" of the song is that our desires may never be completely fulfilled -- our hearts will never cease to be hungry.

    salamandooron May 30, 2017   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I think this song is about blindly following your most basic emotions without giving any thought to it in the moment. You give up all control of your life to your most basic urges like you were aimlessly drifting down a river with the current. Like a gambler who just throws money down and is left to the mercy of randomly dealt cards. It doesn't work out for the narrator, and he is left lonely to reflect on his life choices.

    robnaton September 18, 2021   Link
  • +1
    My Opinion

    This is not a selfish song. Bruce is saying that we all have points when we allow our pleasure that blocks out our pain- and I don't get that in live until I make an amazing sea-change first so I'm the other side where you are left focusing on the pain and I need to swim in the river over and over and over again until I can find it- to make us want more and more. He is telling us this is a recipe for disaster if we follow these short-term feelings. So the solution is you stay where you are at and play the part until the feelings subside and you can appreciate you already have as a great life. You love the one you have tamed because you have invested your energy in that person and know them and haev all the experiences of giving to them- all that philosophy from the Little Prince.

    Donny1on April 13, 2014   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song is about fulfilling your desires and explaining why. It really is a selfish song, but damn good.

    Good OL MCon March 04, 2003   Link

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