lifeblood: songs: backgrounds: racing in the street

2019-09-23 the bruce project - wfuv - fordham university - new york, new york (amy ray)

amy ray: "it was what i did in my little studio to warm up for myself all the time. and then i played it a couple of times live, but i rarely did because i have this total reverence for like bruce and i'm like, don't cover bruce springsteen, you know (laughs)...

rita houston: like don't do it publicly.

amy ray: yeah, because i love him so much that i, it's like a weird thing. but then i was like, that's silly if you feel it just do it.

rita houston: yes indeed.

amy ray: and i love that song, i feel like it's an underdog sometimes. there's something about the reference to a male relationship, which is interesting. i know he does that some but not as much. and then he references this relationship with this woman, and he references it from her perspective in a way that's interesting to me. so it's got these elements that are not totally, you know, normal bruce just slightly nuanced in a different way. i mean, that line, she stares out alone into the night with the eyes of one who hates for just being born. i know that feeling, and i know many people who have that feeling all their lives, you know, who just can't get a relief. so i think that song's appropriate right now too because i think it's like you can either give up and give in to everything that's going on or you can, like, go out and go racing in the street, keep on living, you know.

rita houston: well, we couldn't help but notice how northeast state turned into southeast state on your version of racing in the street.

amy ray: i think i said southern states didn't i.

rita houston: southern states, yes.

amy ray: right before we did it i was like, i'm gonna say northern, i'm gonna say northern because we're up in the northeast right now, but it slipped out because i learned it originally from a bootleg of a concert in atlanta. so it's his version he says we cover all the southern states and everybody in atlanta, like, rah!!! you know, it was like the greatest thing, so it's in me now.