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Border Guard

Bruce Springsteen
Language: English


Bruce Springsteen

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BORDER GUARD is a song written by Bruce Springsteen who recorded it in mid-1972. The song has not yet been officially released. The above lyrics are transcribed from the only known studio version of BORDER GUARD.

There is no indication to when BORDER GUARD was written. One studio version of the song is in circulation among collectors. It's a studio take likely recorded around May-Jun 1972 at Jim Cretecos' apartment in New York City, NY. It features Springsteen solo on vocals and acoustic guitar. The May-Jun 1972 sessions at Jim Cretecos' apartment were produced by Cretecos who also took the role of recording engineer. The above lyrics transcribed from that circulating studio version of BORDER GUARD.

The studio version of BORDER GUARD was released on the briefly-legal albums Unearthed (Masquerade Music, second issue only) and Before The Fame (Pony Express Records, second and third issues only).


BORDER GUARD is known to have been performed at least once in Bruce Springsteen's early years (pre-October 1972). Very little is known about shows from this early period, and therefore, the song may have been played on some more dates.

An early Bruce Springsteen handwritten setlist (scan below) is recalled with some degree of confidence by one of the Bruce Springsteen Band members as emanating from one of the band's July 1971 bookings at D'Scene in South Amboy, NJ. The Bruce Springsteen Band made two consecutive Thursday evening appearances at the club, on 22 and 29 July 1971. They headlined two gigs each night, 9:00 PM and 11:30 PM, with Sunny Jim opening. No audio from any of the four shows is known to exist. The handwritten setlist for the Jul 1971 show at D' Scene was auctioned on the It's Only Rock 'N Roll online auction website in June 2006. The bid on this item started at $500.00 and reached $2221.44. The handwritten document contains setlists for two shows and BORDER GUARD is listed in the first, which most probably means that the song was performed during the early show on 22 or on 29 Jul 1971 at D'Scene.


springsteenlyrics.com
Bless on the border guard so cold and alone
Bless on the child so far from his home
Pity the border guard who feels like a woman to cry
Pity the border guard whose life guards the line
A light is a funny thing
A border sometime
A light is a hurting thing
Use only to divine
I pity the refugee whose home lies behind
I pity the border guard and his border line
He keeps his machine gun nose pointed to the sky
The night time is his master
And you know the dawn light brings his captor

And I pity the border guard as he walks, well as he walks his own
The echo of his foot steps is all a friend would know
A home is a funny thing
You get tied to the earth
Like a love is a crazy thing
In the eye of a child

I Pity the border guard whose soul taken captive at birth
May the sweet brace of his grief and show him how to be so wild
Yes a light is a funny thing
A border sometimes
A light is a hurting thing
Used only to divine
He who made the open plains and the world one and all
Could not have conceived with a barbed wire brain
For the building of the wall and at night I keep my fire bright
So that I may be safe when I sleep

Till I wake on that wonderful morning with no more light well ooh

Contributed by DoNQuijote82 - 2011/11/16 - 11:21



Language: Italian

Versione italiana da http://www.loose-ends.it
GUARDIA DI CONFINE

Gloria alla guardia di confine così infreddolita e solitaria
Gloria al ragazzo, così lontano da casa sua
Pietà per la guardia di confine che sembra una donna in lacrime
Pietà per la guardia di confine la cui vita protegge il confine
Una luce è una cosa divertente
Un confine qualche volta
Una luce è una cosa che fa male
Usata solo per divinizzare
Ho pietà per il rifugiato la cui casa si trova dietro
Ho pietà per la guardia di confine e per la sua linea di confine
Tiene la punta della sua mitraglietta rivolta al cielo
Il tempo della notte è il suo capo
E voi sapete che la luce dell'alba porta il suo aguzzino

E ho pietà per la guardia di confine quando cammina, si quando cammina da solo
L'eco dei suoi passi è quello che un amico riconoscerebbe
Una casa è una cosa divertente
Ti unisce alla terra
Come un amore è una cosa pazza
Agli occhi di un bambino

Ho pietà per la guardia di confine la cui anima porta il prigioniero dov'è nato
Possa essere il dolce sostegno del suo dolore e mostrargli come essere così violento
Sì, una luce è una cosa divertente
Un confine qualche volta
Una luce è una cosa che fa male
Usata solo per divinizzare
Egli, che ha fatto le pianure sconfinanti ed il mondo nel suo intero
Non avrebbe potuto concepire, con una mente contorta
La costruzione del muro e di notte tengo il mio fuoco acceso
In modo di essere al riparo quando dormo

Finché mi sveglio in quella meravigliosa mattina senza alcuna luce ooh

Contributed by DoNQuijote82 - 2011/11/16 - 11:21




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