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Racing in the Street Lyrics

Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Album: Darkness on the Edge of Town

I got a sixty-nine Chevy with a 396
Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor
She's waiting tonight down in the parking lot
Outside the Seven-Eleven store
Me and my partner Sonny built her straight out of scratch
And he rides with me from town to town
We only run for the money, got no strings attached
We shut 'em up and then we shut 'em down

Tonight, tonight the strip's just right
I wanna blow 'em off in my first heat
Summer's here and the time is right
For racin' in the street

We take all the action we can meet
And we cover all the northeast state
When the strip shuts down we run 'em in the street
From the fire roads to the interstate
Some guys they just give up living
And start dying little by little, piece by piece,
Some guys come home from work and wash up,
And go racin' in the street.

Tonight, tonight the strip's just right
I wanna blow 'em all out of their seats
Calling out around the world, we're going racin' in the street.

I met her on the strip three years ago
In a Camaro with this dude from L.A.
I blew that Camaro off my back,
and drove that little girl away,
But now there's wrinkles around my baby's eyes
And she cries herself to sleep at night
When I come home the house is dark
She sighs, "Baby did you make it all right,"
She sits on the porch of her Daddy's house
But all her pretty dreams are torn,
She stares off alone into the night
With the eyes of one who hates for just being born
For all the shut down strangers and hot rod angels,
Rumbling through this promised land
Tonight my baby and me, we're gonna ride to the sea
And wash these sins off our hands.

Tonight, tonight the highway's bright
Out of our way, mister, you best keep
'Cause summer's here and the time is right
For racin' in the street.

Comments/Interpretations

by Reto on 9/8/2008 7:28am
Maybe Bruce's greatest song...

by Neven on 11/16/2008 2:46pm
Live version is out of this world.

by Greg on 1/24/2009 1:43am
it is his best song. the live version is the only way to listen to it

by Gerardo on 1/30/2009 3:08pm
His best song !!!

by Carla on 7/23/2009 5:56pm
Sono una "nuova" del Boss....Ma penso che sia la migliore!

by Joel on 9/11/2009 10:40am
Super song

by max on 11/11/2009 4:40pm
my boss favourite... try listen the live version with Jackson Browne

by kathleen on 2/8/2010 6:51pm
not his best song, Backstreets & Thunder Road win that hands down, but one of his really great ones.

by Joe on 2/11/2010 8:10pm
Just...supurb. Simple yet heartbreaking.

by "Radio cafe" on 4/21/2010 8:09pm
is song # 1 4 sweek in my country
costa Rica

by Joey on 5/18/2010 9:12am
Gold, no other way to put it, just pure gold

by Guillem on 10/2/2010 2:59am
definitely, the live performace made this song one of the bests

by Chuck on 10/21/2010 10:59am
Townes Van Zandt was a songwriters' songwriter, and he didn't do a lot of covers, but he did a version of this that will break your heart.

by Nino on 11/30/2010 12:01pm
Like this one very much, but the other version, from "The Promise" could be better...could be. Beautiful.

by Gretzky99 on 12/10/2010 7:04am
Get tears in my eyes every time I hear this song. Just amazing.

by Matt on 12/15/2010 2:56pm
I cry when I hear it

by Denisa on 1/26/2011 5:48pm
I love it

by andreas ( netherlands ) on 2/15/2011 4:35pm
therse also an cover made by roger taylor from Queen on an old album named strange frontier
from 1985.....still a great song!!!!

by Johan on 5/6/2011 7:23am
Fantastic. It wont get better than this! Love Bruce

by Jerry Garcia on 6/26/2011 10:51pm
the fuelie heads and 396 thing kind of blows it for me. fuelie is a small block and 396 is a big block. anyone who ever had a hot wheels track would know this. great song but not factual.

by Al. Mason on 6/30/2011 10:42am
one of the greatest songs!!

by Emil on 9/11/2011 4:03pm
Fuelie heads Are Solid lift cams often used on fuel injected chevy engines.
And also be used on a 396.
Fits Nice in an chevelle SS.
And by the way. Greatest song from the boss.

by Emil on 9/12/2011 1:30am
Can not be used on big block engines. A 396 engine is the smallest big block engine of Cheverolet.

by jumo on 12/13/2011 12:31pm
lovely song lovely music and the director make it better and better thanks all

by Cosmic Kid on 5/13/2012 9:43pm
One of the most beautiful songs ever written. And those worrying about the "fuelie heads and 396 thing" are missing the point entirely. Who gives a shit?!?

by JN on 5/24/2012 3:31pm
Saw him perform this in LA and it is ana mazing song-probably one of his most underrated ever. Fantastic piano solo by the Professor.

by Steve on 8/20/2012 10:28am
INSANE. Love to have a ride in my vintage vette while listening to that. Most beautiful stuff!

by billyboy on 8/26/2012 7:33pm
Awesome song...what happens when one "rides to the sea to wash the sins from ones hands??"

by Corkwriter on 9/19/2012 11:13am
The live Paramount version is one of the greatest blends of perfect musicianship with the art and craft of filmmaking I've ever seen. The instrumental coda ranks up there with Layla for emotional please-don't-end impact. It re-asserts the E Streeters as not just a great rock n' roll band, but one of the greatest collections of musical chops and smarts ever heard in one place.

by meatboy on 12/2/2012 6:12am
it is not as good as factory, but top 10 bruce song

by C-MAN on 7/19/2013 3:10pm
the '69 Chevy with a 396, Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor... is it a Nova or a Camaro... he references a Camaro owned by the dude from L.A. which makes me think it's a nova... but the Camaro could also fit the description of the car in this story.

by Gearhead427 on 9/20/2013 1:48pm
Nope, There just 'aint no "Fuelie Heads" that would fit on a 396. The Boss never has his hot rod terminology straight. But the mournful sounding soul of the vocal is right on the money.
The Beach Boys, and Jan and Dean, fact checked their lyrics much closer. But Bruce makes you feel like you're really on that lonely dark highway in the middle of the night, better than anyone.
For what it's worth, I see the Boss driving a black primer '69 Chevelle. No bling, just badass.

by 18000HP on 11/16/2013 11:23am
This song and also others from the Born To Run album represent for me the nostalgia of the late 60's and early 70's if you were into muscle cars.
Back then ,the freedom on the highways / streets was almost unlimited.The cost in tragedies was high taking us to where we are at now.But for most,the memories are the greatest and are well worth the songs/poetry.

by Beirut27 on 8/18/2014 11:44am
The building up then down of the instruments is breath-taking. I believe this album is his best with a unity that one can't find in others, maybe because it's a small one.

by Eduardo on 1/3/2015 6:55pm
Some many miles and some many years down the road, still stirring up your soul. No matter if you ended up (back) in far away Per�, this song takes you all the way up to those nights in Nebraska, a.k.a. the middle of nowhere. Alselmo, population 180 and counting down. The boss knows better

by Emanuele on 3/6/2015 11:14am
Listening to the Agora Ballroom,Cleveland,oh,August 9,1978 version.Shivers down my back

by Steinar Pettersen on 8/8/2015 1:32pm
This was a poor lyric

by Graybeard ZR-1 on 10/24/2019 6:43am
The mournful song is a beauty. But the guys are right, all of his "Car Songs" use incorrect terminology.
If he took the time to be technically accurate, it would be much more authentic. I can't understand why the Boss is willing to let a big part of his audience think he's a poser.
The Beach Boys songs are much more superficial, but their terminology is correct.