Bruce Springsteen - Johnny 99 Lyrics
Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late that month
Ralph went out lookin' for a job but he couldn't find none
He came home too drunk from mixin'
Tanqueray and wine
He got a gun shot a night clerk now they call 'm Johnny 99
Down in the part of town where when you hit a red light you don't stop
Johnny's wavin' his gun around and threatenin' to blow his top
When an off duty cop snuck up on him from behind
Out in front of the Club Tip Top they slapped the cuffs on Johnny 99
Well the city supplied a public defender but the judge was Mean John Brown
He came into the courtroom and stared poor Johnny down
Well the evidence is clear gonna let the sentence son fit the crime
Prison for 98 and a year and we'll call it even Johnny 99
His mama stood up and shouted "judge don't take my boy this way"
Well son you got a statement you'd like to make
Before the bailiff comes to forever take you away
Now judge I got debts no honest man could pay
The bank was holdin' my mortgage and they was takin' my house away
Now I ain't sayin' that makes me an innocent man
But it was more 'n all this that put that gun in my hand
Well your honor I do believe I'd be better off dead
And if you can take a man's life for the thoughts that's in his head
Then won't you sit back in that chair and think it over judge one more time
And let 'em shave off my hair and put me on that execution line
Other Lyrics by Artist
- Bruce Springsteen - We Are Alive
- Bruce Springsteen - The Ghost Of Tom Joad
- Bruce Springsteen - The Wall
- Bruce Springsteen - Dream Baby Dream
- Bruce Springsteen - American Beauty
- Bruce Springsteen - Mary Mary
- Bruce Springsteen - Hurry Up Sundown
- Bruce Springsteen - Hey Blue Eyes
- Bruce Springsteen - Baby I
- Bruce Springsteen - You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover
- Bruce Springsteen - Hunter Of Invisible Game
- Bruce Springsteen - This Is Your Sword
- Bruce Springsteen - Swallowed Up (In The Belly Of The Whale)
- Bruce Springsteen - American Land
- Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes
- Bruce Springsteen - Harry's Place
- Bruce Springsteen - American Skin (41 Shots)
- Bruce Springsteen - Just Like Fire Would
Rand Lyrics
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Bruce Springsteen Johnny 99 Comments
Che bella questa versione!! Fantastica la grinta di Bruce!!!😀😀😀🤩🤩😍😍😍😘😘😘🎸🎷🌟🌟🌟🎶🎶💎💎💫💫♥️♥️♥️🌹🌹
Bruce fazendo o que de melhor ele sabe fazer.
im the thousand like on this, it deserves more imo.. ;-)
Thumbs up if Mike Vallely's "Scenic Drive" part brought you here
Eu amo você Bruce linda música amo
The B side to Born to run live single,still have it (somewhere!!)
This is 1 song I will Never Get Tired of Listening To .. GREAT JOB BOSS !
I think we've all probably been Johnny 99 at least 1 time in are lives
So true my Friend , and if you haven't YOU HAVEN'T LIVED YET .
Recorded just before Rocky 4. Man he took that big Russian down! Balboa rocks!
Long time of dirt roads , family,, trust, luck... love, and loss . ( this live album still plays with my family and friends today) 🤙
I’m a 100% heterosexual male but .... I would!!!
Best version
Mitica!!!
This is the REAL Bruce era
Bruuuuuuce!
Judge John Brown sounds like Chenango County NY judge Frank Revoir
Niiiice...
Heavy Cash influence
Please check out Live in Laos, my live version of this song, with local Asian musicians who never heard Bruce before. I'm serious, live at U-Bar in Luang Prabang, Laos. We're doing 'Tougher than the Rest' next time! I teach English to survive, but I play Bruce's songs to stay sane. Please subscribe to my channel. It's free :-). I have original material on there too. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN IS THE GREATEST!!!!!
Great song
Love it
MAGA. bring star wars back !!! SPACE FORCE ! fuck liberals.
Possibly top ten live videoes !?
Chuck Zito?
I don't remember anybody in my family who got a gun to make ends meet (and hurt somebody). My parents grew up in the depression. There are a lot of sad stories out there, not all end in violence.
Bruce should have stuck to singing about cars and girls !
Pink Cadilliac
um what lol
August 19, 1985, Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey
Johnny cash is better
Bruce s best & Dave Hause and the loved ones punk version is great too
Not bad but i'll take Cash's version over this anytime.
Kween Reigns, you should listen to Bruce's original version off the Nebraska album. Johnny is great, but his cover doesn't compare to the original.
Love the way the Boss tells the story in this song. Brilliant lyrics and some hella powerful vocals. Would love to jam this one with Bruce.
Not to sell this short, but I liked Cash's version better. The lyrics on this are clearer, though.
His presence unlike any other. Chills
One of my favorites Hes Such a BADASS! Love NILS
Anyone know who is playing guitar? Looks like a younger, healthier Keith Richards.
Nils Lofgren.
Awesome...thank you Dave! :))
This performance is exceptionally good.
Does anyone know where this performance is from? Would love to see the rest of the concert. any links to videos appreciated.
Springsteen seems so upset. Why? Maybe because the murderer in his song did not get off easy? I advocate life without parole for all murderers.
One of Bruce's very best songs, which by definition makes it one the very best songs ever.
Does anyone get what Bruce says before playing the harp bridge?
'The man ain't gonna like that ' .......rock on Bruce
He says, "Man, how y'all like that?"
+Jonathan Stovall I don't think so.. a friend of mine (from Chicago) said he got "The Man, how they gonna like that" and it seems to fit.
Blusão pra nego nenhum por defeito
This is fkin unreal WOW
Any one know who the git player is and what he is doing?? . ALSO Im sure I saw an article or interview where Bruce said that The Nebraska album was just him and a git but I've never seen him play it?
The guitarist is for shure Nils Lofgren (http://brucespringsteen.net/band/nils-lofgren), but in Nebraska album it was Bruce himself, no other players.
Recorded in his bedroom.
this is my favorite performance of this song by Bruce or anyone else.
Big Dickhead
"The President was mentioning my name the other day, and I kinda got to wondering what his favorite album musta been. I don't think it was the Nebraska album. I don't think he's been listening to this one." -Bruce in response to Reagan playing "Born in the USA" during his campaign
Didn't he make a similar comment but Reagan wanting to use Born in the USA? Like he must not have listened to it closely enough-before he said no.
fitness Bruce, thus might be his best era
I hope one day to posses such voice and biceps
what a great song and performance...my goodness. the boss is simply the best.
His live work is so much better than his studio recordings. He has so much passion it can't be captured in the studio.
The opposite is true for Justin Beiber
+Mick Funny I believe you.
Mick Funny Justin who
nah his studio work is good aswel i got a dvd with one of his albums (seager sessions) and he's just as entertaining
God such good story telling
Loved young Bruce.. Wish he would have stayed out of political shit.....
+KrazyKatPosse why'd he call Reagan out? Because he misinterpreted Born in the USA?
+Evan Connors Trump plays Bruce songs at his rallies. Has Bruce objected?
+Mick Funny no he hasn't surprisingly, I think he hasn't because Bruce and Trump both stand together on some political issues unlike with Reagan
Bruce has always been political , it's you who have changed.
The issue with Springsteen is that he was at his best when he was writing about topics and people he directly knew and experienced, that gave it the honest authenticity needed for great art. When he strayed away from that and did the neoliberal aspect he was talking from up on the hill about things he was not directly apart of, or from a removed position where he could speak about them without seeing reality. Young Bruce was in touch with his writing material, older Bruce was not. This album specifically is my favorite of all time, the most honest album I’m aware of and it’s because these are topics sung about in a way where real life emotionality and actions are expressed; remorse, violence, theft, abuse, sadness, etc. Not some neoliberal take on the correct way to use language or pandering to a Clinton type base.
no doubt...his the boss...goose bumps
Always, ALWAYS get goosebumps when I hear this...
Is this song about a Jackson White?
The greatest american singer/song writer ever! #Patriot #Boss
love this version
such a wannebe johnny cash its ridicules
You do know johnny 99 is a bruce song that johnny cash coverd right???
@Louie Duke indeed, listening to his Devils and dust, wich is a nice album as is the cover btw, i cant help but noticing it
+Louie Duke don't bother
Simply electrifying.
What a great version of a great song...LOVE IT!
This is SO much better than Johnny Cash's version it's ridiculous.
Cash shouldn't have even bothered.
+Flashpoint Designs And Cash should've realized before he recorded it that his version wasn't very good. Bruce has recently been performing a new version of this song that isn't nearly as good as this one. I wish he would've stuck with the original.
Alan Kehle Johnny cash is still a god among men
Gross!
But, lol I'd only known Cash's version til now... :p
How can you not like the BOSS!
@matt man That is the WHOLE point - YOU CARE ABOUT NOTHING - LIKE BRUCE - THAT'S WRONG, HE CARES ABOUT MONEY.
Your life must suck. Don't worry though, I'm sure they're people out there who accept your stupidity.
@Edward M Tirone Who does not care about money LMAO
@Edward M Tirone Not only has he shyed away from Obama ever since Obama hasn't fulfilled any of his promises, but Bruce has been a lefty and sang about it since he started. In the words of Russel Brand..."When I was poor and complained about inequality they said I was bitter; now that I'm rich and I complain about inequality they say I'm a hypocrite. I'm beginning to think they just don't want to talk about inequality." I think it applies when you thing Bruce is just a money grabber...he's given away more than you've made in your lifetime.
you live in america - a totally capitalist society - solely fixated on money. so shutup
Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce
Just came back from concert in Melbourne disappointed he didn't play this had to believe he is 40 years older than me
That, gentlemen, is why he is the boss.
blistering
I am just a young boy my daddy loves this artist and i like this song so much , its like a story
Bruce is the best
YOU TELL THEM ""RUNNING BLIND"", BOSS KICKS ASS, , paul ireland!!
Thank you
welcome to youtube
I just got a youtube account!!
Cool. This is the same version that's on the Live 1975-1985 box set. I wonder if they were planning on releasing a video back then. That would have been killer.
It was indeed mate best version ever
played in D
8000 viewer wtf?!
Virtuoso!!!!
Used to have this performance on VCR. Had it and played it for years. Ex wife taped over it.... hence the reason she is my ex!...
think it's in E,
I thought it was in A
anybody know what harmonica key he's playing?
chevelle327 B
tnx for posting, they deleted exacly this alike before.