#215

#215  Bruce Springsteen > Johnny 99
1982 släpptes ’Nebraska’, en platta som Springsteen spelade in på fyra kanaler med en enkel portastudio i hemmet. Egentligen var inspelningarna ämnade som demogrunder för en ny studioplatta med The E Street Band men istället växte en naken, akustisk platta fram där Springsteen, ensam med gitarr och munspel, berättade närgångna berättelser om människor som hamnat i samhällets utkant.  Ett samhälle där förlorarna har huvudrollen. En av plattans bärande låtar, ’Johnny 99’, handlar om den arbetslöse bilarbetaren Johnny som berusad, desperat och förvirrad begår ett mord och straffas med livstids fängelse.  Med ”debts no honest man could pay” begär Johnny självmant domaren överväga att ändra till dödsstraff för att slippa 99 års fängelse…

Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late that month
Ralph went out lookin’ for a job but he couldn’t find none
He came home too drunk from mixin’ Tanqueray and wine
He got a gun shot a night clerk now they call him Johnny 99

Down in the part of town where when you hit a red light you don’t stop
Johnny’s wavin’ his gun around and threatenin’ to blow his top
When an off duty cop snuck up on him from behind
Out in front of the Club Tip Top they slapped the cuffs on Johnny 99

Well the city supplied a public defender but the judge was Mean John Brown
He came into the courtroom and stared young Johnny down
Well the evidence is clear gonna let the sentence son fit the crime
Prison for 98 and a year and we’ll call it even Johnny 99

A fistfight broke out in the courtroom they had to drag Johnny’s girl away
His mama stood up and shouted ”Judge don’t take my boy this way”
Well son you got a statement you’d like to make
Before the bailiff comes to forever take you away

Now judge judge I had debts no honest man could pay
The bank was holdin’ my mortgage and they was takin’ my house away
Now I ain’t sayin’ that makes me an innocent man
But it was more ‘n all this that put that gun in my hand

Well your honor I do believe I’d be better off dead
And if you can take a man’s life for the thoughts that’s in his head
Then won’t you sit back in that chair and think it over judge one more time
And let ‘em shave off my hair and put me on that execution line