Jungleland - Bruce Springsteen

The Rangers had a homecomin’ in Harlem late last night
And the Magic Rat drove his sleek machine, over the Jersey state line
Barefoot Girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge
Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain
The Rat pulls into town rolls up his pants
Together they take a stab at romance 
And disappear down Flamingo Lane

Well, the maximum lawman run down Flamingo 
Chasing the Rat and the Barefoot Girl

And the kids ‘round here, look just like shadows 
Always quiet, holding hands
From the churches to the jails 
Tonight all is silence in the world, as we take our stand 
Down in Jungleland

The midnight gangs assembled 
And picked a rendezvous for the night
They'll meet 'neath that giant Exxon sign 
That brings this fair city light

Man, there's an opera out on the turnpike
There's a ballet being fought out in the alley
Until the local cop, cherry top, rips this holy night

The street’s alive as debts are paid
Contacts made, they vanished unseen
Kids flash guitars just like switch-blades 
Hustling for the record machine

The hungry and the hunted 
Explode into rock ‘n roll bands
That face off against each other out in the street 
Down in Jungleland

(Guitar solo)

In the parking lot the visionaries dress in the latest rage
Inside the backstreet girls 
Are dancing to the records that the D. J. plays

Lonely-hearted lovers struggle in dark corners
Desperate as the night moves on
Just a look and a whisper, and they're gone

(Soulful Sax Solo)

Beneath the city two hearts beat
Soul engines runnin’ through a night so tender 
In a bedroom locked
In whispers of soft, refusal, and then surrender 

In the tunnels uptown
The Rat’s own dream guns him down 
As shots echo down them hallways in the night
No one watches, when the ambulance pulls away
Or, as the girl shuts out the bedroom light

Outside, the street’s on fire in a real death waltz
Between what’s flesh and what's fantasy 
And then poets down here, don't write nothin’ at all
They just stand back and let it all be

And in the quick of the night 
They reach for their moment
And try to make an honest stand 
But they wind up wounded, not even dead
Tonight in Jungleland