Spirit in the Night

A bottle of Rose most likely refers to Richard's Wild Irish Rose which is strong cheap wine. Sort of like MD 20-20.

What a great song. I'm not that crazy about a lot of the Boss's stuff, but this is just excellent.

I think it's about how intense and beautiful moments can be when you're young or feeling young. It's about a weekend night in a small town and finding something to do/ try.

Also being with other people, makin' love, dancing, playing with mud/rocks by the water, just being in the moment, just having fun and feeling good..maybe about the drugs/drink that make things feel fun and alive and beautiful at the time

just my 2 cents... peace : )

The first Springsteen song I ever heard. I was 9 or so when it came out and my older brother played the Greetings LP constantly. I loved this song.

The story of these friends, the classic storytelling of their day out, you practically know everything about these characters, you can SEE all of them in your minds eye so clearly. Billy and Davy cavorting in the moonlight and Joe passed out on the lawn. You can almost see every line on their faces the way Bruce tells their story. His master storytelling almost makes you wanna break down in tears (as in birthday songs - wow!).

You can see why the comparrisons to Dylan came so early in his career. Some heady stuff. Fun and sing-songy and yet sad and beautiful at the same time.

It's amazing what listening to a different live version can do to an interpretation to a song. After listening to the Winterland '78 version, I could only think of Van Morrison as having written it, or at the very least, singing it. Never got this from any version I have heard, but this jumped out at me

you're right, it is very van morrison-esque. i am a HUGE van morrison fan, and this is my favorite bruce song, not only because it reminds me of my teenage years in new jersey, but also because it's the sort of nostalgic, sexy thing that van might write.

Actually it's duded up at least according to the lp jacket. As in:

"dude up, Informal. to dress in one's fanciest, best, or most stylish clothes; dress up: He got all duded up to go to the dance.";

For some reason, this always brings Wampum Lake (also known simply as Da Woods) just south of Chicago to mind.\nBack when I was a kid, it was the big drinking and druggie spot although by the late 70s, it had become way too rough.\nThe powers that be eventually cleaned it up and now Wampum Lake is highly regarded for ice fishing.

One of my favorite Boss numbers. I lived in Philly in the 70s. Here's my take on some of the slang phrases.

--"trading hands" = some kind of transaction, probably a drug deal. --"duded up for Saturday night" = dressed up for a party --"slammed on his coaster brake" = old school pedal brake on a stingray-style bike. It was cool to slam on it and crank the handlebars and put the bike into a controlled sideways slide. "Trust some of this. It'll show you where it's it." = Billie offering drugs --"Janey's fingers were in the cake." = Janey was doing drugs in the car. Probably snorting coke or meth off a long fingernail. --"I think I really dug her but I was too loose to fake it" = He was into her, but too high to play it cool. --"Singing our birthday songs" = making sex noises

Very cool number with a strange chord progression. Is it in Em? G? C? Am? D? a little bit of all of them?

The lyric is really tough to learn. Even Springsteen screws it up from time to time. But it's a great tune.

Someone go listen to the version of the in '75-85' its absolutly amazing

I love this song and am surprised that more people haven't commented on it...its beautiful, painful, fun and exciting all at once.