Growin' Up - Live at the Roxy Theatre, W. Hollywood, CA - July 1978

There I was one night
Just a normal guy
And then, there I was the next night
Goddamn, I was still just a normal guy

Well, I stood stone-like at midnight
Suspended in my masquerade
And I combed my hair 'til it was just right
And commanded the night brigade

Well, I was open to pain and crossed by the rain
I walked on a crooked crutch
I strolled all alone through a fallout zone
And came out with my soul untouched

Hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd
When they said, "Sit down", I stood up
Ooh-ooh, growin' up

Well the flag of piracy flew from my mast
My sails were set wing to wing
I had a jukebox graduate for first mate
She couldn't sail but she sure could sing

Well, I pushed B-52, bombed 'em with the blues
My gear set stubborn on standing
I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school
Never once gave thought to landing

Hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd
When they said, "Come down", I threw up
Ooh-ooh, growin' up

Big man, assist me, please

I think, I ain't sure but I think
My mother and father and my sister, they're here again tonight
Hey, you guys out there, you're over there?
For six years they they've been following me around California
Trying to get me to come back home
Hey ma, give it up, ha
Give me a break
They're still here
I don't know, they're over there somewhere
But, you know, they're still tryin' to get me to get back to college
Every time I come in the house
"You know, it's not too late, you can still go back to college", they tell me
I say, "Alright, alright, ma"

But it's funny 'cause when I was growin' up
There were two things that were unpopular in my house
One was me and the other one, was my guitar
And my father, he used to sit in the kitchen
And we had this grate, like the heat's supposed to come through
Except it wasn't hooked up to any, any like heating ducts
It was just open, straight down to the kitchen
And there was a gas stove right underneath it
And when I used to start playin', he used to turn on the gas jets and try to smoke me out of my room
I'd end up out on the, out on the roof or somethin', you know

And he used to always refer to this guitar, you know, never Fender guitar, Gibson guitar
It was always the "Goddamn guitar", you know
Every, stuck his head into my door that's all I'd hear
Turn down that goddamn guitar

He used to try to get me to be a lawyer
And it was funny 'cause I was in a motorcycle accident when I was 17
And like this cat, just, you know, ran head on into me
And then got out and yelled at me for ruinin' his Cadillac
And we had like a suit, a legal suit
And my father took me down to this lawyer in town
And he said "Oh, man, I got to defend this"
And I looked about, just about exactly the same way I look right now

And like I remember we were goin' to court, right, the day of the suit
Like I got, I'm like in the right, I just got hit, and my leg's messed up
And I remember my lawyer telling me "If I was the judge I'd find you guilty"
You know, I don't know for what, for bein', just for bein' there I guess, you know

But anyway, my father always said "You know you should be a lawyer
You know you get, get a little something for yourself", you know
And my mother, you know, she used to say "No, no, no, no
He should be, he should be a author. He should write books
You know you should, that's a good life, you could get a little somethin' for yourself
But like, what they didn't understand was, was that I wanted everything
And so, you guys, you, one of you guys wanted a lawyer and the other one wanted an author, well
Tonight, youse are both just gonna, have to settle for rock-n-roll

I took month long vacations in the stratosphere
You know it's really hard to hold your breath
I swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared
I was the cosmic kid

My feet, they finally took root in the earth
But I got me a nice little place in the stars
I swear I found the key to the universe
In the engine of an old parked car

I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd
When they said, "Sit down", I stood up
Ooh-ooh, growin' up
Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah, growin' up
Yeah

It was "bye, bye New Jersey", we were airborne