‘Badlands’ is a song by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released as the second single from his fourth studio album Darkness on the Edge of Town in July 1978. The song was not a commercial Top 40 success, only reaching number 42 on the Billboard Hot 100, even worse than the album's previous single ‘Prove It All Night’. Cash Box called it "Springsteen at his best with organ backing, guitar work, romping beat and Clemons' sax solo." Record World said that "the message, and the delivery, is emotionally devastating." ‘Badlands’ did achieve considerable progressive rock and album-oriented rock radio airplay at the time, and classic rock airplay since.
“I came up with titles, and I went in search of songs that would deserve the title,” Springsteen said, describing the writing of Darkness. “‘Badlands’ – that’s a great title, but it would be easy to blow it! But I kept writing, and I kept writing, and I kept writing and writing until I had a song that I felt deserved that title.” He nicked a riff from the Animals‘ “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and tapped the ferocity of the punk singles he’d been listening to at the time and ended up with a song that perfectly fits Pete Townshend’s definition of a rock anthem: “praying onstage.” “I believe in the faith that can save me/I believe and I hope and I pray/That someday it will raise me/Above these Badlands,” Springsteen sings. “That’s him singing the high part, while his other voice, this full-throated thing, continues below,” says Jackson Browne. “It’s cool and thrilling. There is an economy of language that comes in here. He’s building a persona, a lexicon of references.”
‘Badlands’ was the first track and the second single from the Darkness On The Edge Of Town album, following ‘Prove It All Night.’ Neither song did much damage on the charts but they both had staying power and remained in Springsteen's setlists for decades to come. Springsteen's song ‘Born To Run’ from three years earlier finds him taking his girl and making a run for it, but in ‘Badlands,’ he and his girl stay put, determined to turn the badlands good. There's hope, but it's more prosaic; they're going to have to work for it if they want to turn things around. Much of Darkness On The Edge Of Town reflects the characters of the Born To Run getting older and more pessimistic.
Rolling Stone editors rated ‘Badlands’ to be Springsteen's second-greatest song all time, behind only ‘Born to Run’, and consider it to fit the definition of a rock anthem derived by The Who guitarist Pete Townshend, in that it is "praying onstage". According to contemporary musician Jackson Browne, ‘Badlands’ is "cool and thrilling. There's an economy of language that comes in here. He's building a persona, a lexicon of references."
Label – Columbia
Songwriter – Bruce Springsteen
Producers – Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]Lights out tonight, trouble in the heartland
Got a head-on collision smashin' in my guts, man
I'm caught in a crossfire that I don't understand
But there's one thing I know for sure, girl
I don't give a damn for the same old played-out scenes
Baby, I don't give a damn for just the in-betweens
Honey, I want the heart, I want the soul, I want control right now
You better listen to me, baby
[Pre-Chorus 1]
Talk about a dream, try to make it real
You wake up in the night with a fear so real
You spend your life waiting for a moment that just don't come
Well, don't waste your time waiting
[Chorus]
Badlands, you gotta live it every day
Let the broken hearts stand as the price you've gotta pay
We'll keep pushin' 'til it's understood
And these badlands start treating us good
[Verse 2]
Workin' in the fields 'til you get your back burned
Workin' 'neath the wheels 'til you get your facts learned
Baby, I got my facts learned real good right now
You better get it straight, darling
Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king
And a king ain't satisfied 'til he rules everything
I wanna go out tonight, I wanna find out what I got
[Pre-Chorus 2]
Well, I believe in the love that you gave me
I believe in the faith that could save me
I believe in the hope and I pray
That someday it may raise me above these
[Chorus]
Badlands, you gotta live it everyday
Let the broken hearts stand as the price you've gotta pay
We'll keep pushin' 'til it's understood
And these badlands start treating us good
Whoa whoa whoa whoa
[Guitar Solo]
[Saxophone Solo]
[Bridge]
Hmm, hm-hm-hm
Hmm, hm-hm-hm-hm
Hmm, hm-hm-hm
Hmm, hm-hm-hm-hm
For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me
I wanna find one place, I wanna spit in the face of these
[Chorus]
Badlands, you gotta live it every day
Let the broken hearts stand as the price you've gotta pay
Keep movin' 'til it's understood
And these badlands start treating us good
[Outro]
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
Badlands, whoa whoa whoa whoa
Badlands, whoa whoa whoa whoa
Badlands, whoa whoa whoa whoa
Badlands, whoa whoa whoa whoa
Badlands, whoa whoa whoa whoa