Broadway Lyrics
Broadway's dark tonight
A little bit weaker than you used to be
Broadway's dark tonight
See the young man sitting in the old man's bar
Waiting for his turn to die
[Verse 1]
The cowboy kills the rock star
And Friday night's gone too far
The dim light hides the years
On all the faded girls
Forgotten but not gone
You drink it off your mind
You talk about the world like it's someplace that you've been
[Pre-Chorus 1]
You see, you'd love to run home, but you know you ain't got one
Cause you're living in a world that you're best forgotten, around here
[Chorus]
Broadway's dark tonight
A little bit weaker than you used to be
Broadway's dark tonight
See the young man sitting in the old man's bar
Waiting for his turn to die
You choke down all your anger
Forget your only son
You pray to statues when you sober up for fun
Your anger don't impress me
The world slapped in your face
It always rains like hell on the loser's day parade
[Pre-Chorus 1]
You see, you'd love to run home, but you know you ain't got one
Cause you're living in a world that you're best forgotten, around here
[Pre-Chorus 2]
When you're thinking you're a joke and nobody's going to listen
To the one small point I know they've been missing around here
[Chorus]
Broadway's dark tonight
A little bit weaker than you used to be
Broadway's dark tonight
See the young man sitting in the old man's bar
Waiting for his turn to die
[Pre-Chorus 1]
You see, you'd love to run home, but you know you ain't got one
Cause you're living in a world that you're best forgotten, around here
When you're thinking you're a joke and nobody's going to listen
To the one small point I know they've been missing around here
[Chorus]
Broadway's dark tonight
A little bit weaker than you used to be
Broadway's dark tonight
See the young man sitting in the old man's bar
Waiting for his turn to die
About
This song was written about a Broadway street in Buffalo, NY. According to John Rzeznik, there was a bar and a church on every corner, and a lot of the blue collar workers spent their free time drinking. As John Rzeznik got older, he began to see the next generation falling into the same habits.
Though a bit different in tone, the song bears comparing to “Here Comes a Regular” by the The Replacements, a band the GGD, and especially Rzeznik, looked up to and emulated. In fact, in the 1990s, Rzeznik began a correspondence with Westerberg and the later co-wrote “We Are The Normal” from 1993’s Superstar Car Wash.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
In VH1 Storytellers, Johnny Rzeznik said:
I wrote this song about the neighbourhood I grew up in, and some of the really interesting characters that lived there. There were a lot of good people there, but certainly a few very narrow minded people. It was like this blue collar working class kinda neighbourhood in Buffalo, and it was like -and I’m not trying to sound like Bruce Springsteen, but that was really was it was like- basically what it was like is a church on every corner and a bar on every corner. So that was kinda the vibe and everybody worked in all the factories around town and stuff. I’m proud that I’m from there. And it’s kinda forgotten place now. The neighbourhood has gotten really run down now. So I went back to see my fathers house, where I grew up in. And I’m driving down the street and I’m like ‘I gotta get the hell out of this neighbourhood.’ Or I’ll be killed. But it was a great place to grow up in. You learn the difference between right and wrong out of someone telling you or smacking it into your head. In retrospect I’m glad for that."
- 1.Dizzy
- 2.Slide
- 3.Broadway
- 6.Bullet Proof
- 7.Amigone
- 9.Full Forever
- 10.Acoustic #3
- 11.Iris
- 12.Extra Pale
- 13.Hate This Place
