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Author Topic:   Where were Janey's fingers?

Fred posted 06-11-2000 02:56 PM PT (US)
"...by the time we made it up to Greasy Lake I had my head out the window and Janey's fingers were in the cake..."
I've always kinda wondered exactly what Bruce meant by that line. I took it as a sexual innuendo. Don't know what else he could be referring to. Anybody else have a different idea?
Zero posted 06-11-2000 04:13 PM PT (US)
I have always thought the same.
karen posted 06-11-2000 05:26 PM PT (US)
I've always been on the same track here, along with going back to the alley where she was trading hands with her mission man. But lately I've looked at 'the cake' to be drugs that maybe they both ingested, and now he's? got his head out the window, too loose to fake coz he was too stoned?! I know Bruce says he's never taken that stuff, but the singer in 'Spirit...' may have.
bbb posted 06-11-2000 09:01 PM PT (US)
Where did you see that Bruce has never tried drugs?
brilliantly disguised posted 06-11-2000 09:09 PM PT (US)
I have heard 'cake' used as slang for 'coke' before-not the delicious beverage.
And who cares if Bruce ever tried drugs? As a non-drinker/smoker/druggie I would hope not...but I really could care less about his personal habits. I don't care if he stinks, farts, swears, spits, talks with his mouth full, picks his nose, drinks, belches, snores, etc etc etc. I doubt if he's coming over for dinner tonight. Let Patti and his family worry about such things--I like his rock n roll.
karen posted 06-11-2000 10:05 PM PT (US)
bbb--It was in 'Backstreets' Bruce has said on tour in '99 that he's never done cocaine, but joked that he might try it that nite, I'd need to refer to mag for the exact tourstop. He has also commented in interviews about never using drugs, there is a mention of it in 'Ain't No Sin....' also.
brilliantly
disguised---I really don't care if Bruce 'tried' drugs either, but I would certainly care if Bruce 'used' drugs, It's been a huge influence on many talented musicians and performing artists dating back way before the psychedelic era.
Fred--do you think maybe it was their birthday cake?? and what were those birthday songs?
bbb posted 06-11-2000 11:28 PM PT (US)
OK, here's my Bruce/drugs story. In January 1981, when I was a freshman in college and already a huge Bruce fan, I read the book "Born to Run" by Dave Marsh. Bruce was already my hero (I had even written about him as such in my h.s. English class called Hero), but he became even more so after reading this book. One thing that I really liked was that he didn't take drugs. I got in an argument with one of my skeptical friends when I mentioned this because he said "bullshit, everybody in rock takes drugs." I kept telling him "you don't get it, he's different, I believe what this book says."
Anyway, there was this very attractive girl on campus who I would say Hi to and occasionally have a small conversation with. Well, we get back for the Fall semester of either '82 or '83 and I hear from a few people that this girl had gone out on a few dates with Bruce Springsteen during the summer. (For the only time in my life, I'm actually jealous of the girl instead of the guy! Not that I'd want to go on dates with Bruce, but I'd sure like to hang out with him for a few nights). So, I finally get a chance to talk to this girl at a party and I ask her how did she meet the Boss? She said that she was pretty bombed at the Stone Pony and Bruce was at the bar, so she went up to him and started a conversation. She said the next thing she knew he asked her if she wanted to go do some coke and they did. I said "What?! I thought Bruce didn't do drugs." She said "Well, he does." That blew me away - now I had to go back to my friend and tell him he was right all along.
As for saying it doesn't matter, well, I guess it doesn't matter a whole lot seeing that I've spent the last 18 years continuing to be a huge Bruce fan. It's a lot like my friends (and in a lot of ways, Bruce feels like an old friend, even though we've never met - well, except for the hand slap in the front row last November) - half my friends never touched a drug stronger than pot (and that was over with in high school), the other half tried coke, speed, and acid. I used to be disappointed when they would tell me about doing this and that. Did it effect our friendship - no. Was I happy they did it - no.
brilliantly disguised posted 06-12-2000 12:57 AM PT (US)
Damn good point Karen--I did not even think about the 'wild bithday songs' line...maybe it was just a birthday party.
Maybe cake was...well...just CAKE!
lonely rider posted 06-12-2000 01:36 AM PT (US)
Where were Janey's hands?
Oh my.

I thought "singin our birthday songs" was always along the connection with wearing your "birthday suit" aka just plain nude. If anybody has any other opinions on Bruce using drugs I'd sure like to hear them too.
southjerseygirl posted 06-12-2000 08:58 AM PT (US)
my girlfriend grew up with bruce and her and her husband were roadies way back in the beginning. she showed me a picture she took at a party in 1973,, and it blew my mind. the whole band is dancin and partyin and in a corner of the room,, there was bruce,, totally oblivious to everything going on around him,, sittin there writing something down,,probably a song. she said in the 3 years they hung out,,the hardest drug she ever saw him take was alcohol,, never anything else. she says he was never into drugs.
karen posted 06-12-2000 09:13 AM PT (US)
'Spirit...' is one of my favorites! As a freshman in college in the mid-70's, lots of partying going on everywhere around me. At that time you'd always hear 'Greetings...' blasting out of somebody's stereo. 'Spirit..' sang about one big party! Thanks to Wild Billy, they all got wasted, Killer Joe a little too much. That Greasy Lake was some place, and to have a band there too! ; ) I think Bruce knew we'd love this one, and I think he brought it all together in the form of Sex, Drugs, and Rock'n Roll.
bbb---There may or may not be truth to your story, personally, I don't believe everything I hear, there's probably more truth in what I read. Anyway, I just want to comment on Bruce here because I sense that a lot of die-hard fans become uneasy when they hear stories of Bruce's active sexuality or possible drug use. Look at the times when he was growin' up! I think fans tend to dehumanize him when it comes to these things, he's no different than anyone else, He puts his pants on the same way we all do, That's just one of the many things I love so much about him!
brucefanatic posted 06-12-2000 09:43 AM PT (US)
I have always thought this was a sexual reference, not a drug statement. I find the line "I said I'm hurt, she said honey let me heal it" to be incredibly sexy.
Esther
bbb posted 06-12-2000 01:12 PM PT (US)
Karen - I don't blame you for not believing everything you hear, especially second-hand like this. But, I REALLY don't believe everything I read. Anytime I've ever known the truth about a story first-hand and then read about it in the paper, they always have gotten it wrong. Most of the times, writers decide what the story is going to be before they even know the facts. By the way, this girl had absolutely no reason to lie about it (the fact that she dated Bruce was already confirmed by her friends who were there). She just told me very matter-of-factly. And, I agree with what you said, about him being human, etc. Like I've said it didn't effect my feelings about him all that much. Also, the reason I had asked where you had read it was because my theory had been that when I read Born to Run, he still had not tried any drugs and then maybe in the early '80s, he dabbled in them. I also thought that he dabbled in them because I read an excerpt from a book by a big-time rock groupie who knew all the big rock stars. She was saying that it is so hard to stop taking drugs for these guys, "except if you have a non-addictive personality like Bruce Springsteen." I took this to mean that he tried it for a short time, and was able to just leave it behind.
Fred posted 06-12-2000 07:50 PM PT (US)
It just doesn't make sense to believe that Bruce did hard drugs. Most artists put out some sorry shit when they're stoned all the time. Bruce's music has been too consistently good to have been made during periods of continual highs.
Not saying he didn't try some drugs. Have no way of knowing that, but Vinni Lopez said recently(I think on VH-1's Behind The Music or something similar) that "Everyone would be having a party and getting stoned(?), but not Brucie, he'd be in the back with his guitar, writing songs." I'm paraphrasing, but it went something like that.
karen posted 06-12-2000 10:03 PM PT (US)
I can believe that Bruce was not into drugs at all, I feel there was a lot of it all around him, most likely amongst some close peers, but I'm glad he had the right sense to resist. Even if he did partake, I wouldn't be shocked or surprised, but I could never see Bruce letting something so bad get in the way of his songwriting and performance, The man's got what it takes, he's on a natural high!
Magnus posted 06-13-2000 07:16 AM PT (US)
I know that Bruce did have people very close to him who were having drinking and alcohol problems at certain times (Danny Frederici openly admits to this about himself in an interview), and I would not be surprised if Bruce tried some drugs at some time or another. bbb's story is however, the first I remember hearing about Bruce taking drugs. I don't think it even comes up in that Point Blank book, where one would expect it to be mentioned. I know that Bruce has said in an interview in 98 (could have been Chrlie Rose I'm not sure) that he had "never really had any drug experience". I don't think he has ever used them over a long period of time because then his music would have been crap, and I think we would have known by now. I don't think he would lie about that sort of thing to his fans anyway.
I had always thought that the "birthday songs" were just two stoned out people deciding to sing "happy birthday" to each other randomly (it didn't have to be either of their birthdays, they just decded to sing). But there could certainly be a different explanation. And BTW what does "trading hands" mean, exchanging drugs?
I am vehemently anti drug, but for some strange reason I so love that song. Hearing it live for the first time ever last year was unbelieveable.
brucefanatic posted 06-13-2000 11:58 AM PT (US)
I see "trading hands" as touching each other. I never thought any of the song was drug reference as they "had a bottle of rose, let's try it". So they were drinking wine and "making love in the dirt singing our 'birthday song'" which I see as the first time for them together and that feeling that goes with it - kind of new, reborn, as it were.

Author	Topic: Where were Janey's fingers?
Fred	posted 06-11-2000 02:56 PM PT (US) "...by the time we made it up to Greasy Lake I had my head out the window and Janey's fingers were in the cake..." I've always kinda wondered exactly what Bruce meant by that line. I took it as a sexual innuendo. Don't know what else he could be referring to. Anybody else have a different idea?
Zero	posted 06-11-2000 04:13 PM PT (US) I have always thought the same.
karen	posted 06-11-2000 05:26 PM PT (US) I've always been on the same track here, along with going back to the alley where she was trading hands with her mission man. But lately I've looked at 'the cake' to be drugs that maybe they both ingested, and now he's? got his head out the window, too loose to fake coz he was too stoned?! I know Bruce says he's never taken that stuff, but the singer in 'Spirit...' may have.
bbb	posted 06-11-2000 09:01 PM PT (US) Where did you see that Bruce has never tried drugs?
brilliantly disguised	posted 06-11-2000 09:09 PM PT (US) I have heard 'cake' used as slang for 'coke' before-not the delicious beverage. And who cares if Bruce ever tried drugs? As a non-drinker/smoker/druggie I would hope not...but I really could care less about his personal habits. I don't care if he stinks, farts, swears, spits, talks with his mouth full, picks his nose, drinks, belches, snores, etc etc etc. I doubt if he's coming over for dinner tonight. Let Patti and his family worry about such things--I like his rock n roll.
karen	posted 06-11-2000 10:05 PM PT (US) bbb--It was in 'Backstreets' Bruce has said on tour in '99 that he's never done cocaine, but joked that he might try it that nite, I'd need to refer to mag for the exact tourstop. He has also commented in interviews about never using drugs, there is a mention of it in 'Ain't No Sin....' also. brilliantly disguised---I really don't care if Bruce 'tried' drugs either, but I would certainly care if Bruce 'used' drugs, It's been a huge influence on many talented musicians and performing artists dating back way before the psychedelic era. Fred--do you think maybe it was their birthday cake?? and what were those birthday songs?
bbb	posted 06-11-2000 11:28 PM PT (US) OK, here's my Bruce/drugs story. In January 1981, when I was a freshman in college and already a huge Bruce fan, I read the book "Born to Run" by Dave Marsh. Bruce was already my hero (I had even written about him as such in my h.s. English class called Hero), but he became even more so after reading this book. One thing that I really liked was that he didn't take drugs. I got in an argument with one of my skeptical friends when I mentioned this because he said "bullshit, everybody in rock takes drugs." I kept telling him "you don't get it, he's different, I believe what this book says." Anyway, there was this very attractive girl on campus who I would say Hi to and occasionally have a small conversation with. Well, we get back for the Fall semester of either '82 or '83 and I hear from a few people that this girl had gone out on a few dates with Bruce Springsteen during the summer. (For the only time in my life, I'm actually jealous of the girl instead of the guy! Not that I'd want to go on dates with Bruce, but I'd sure like to hang out with him for a few nights). So, I finally get a chance to talk to this girl at a party and I ask her how did she meet the Boss? She said that she was pretty bombed at the Stone Pony and Bruce was at the bar, so she went up to him and started a conversation. She said the next thing she knew he asked her if she wanted to go do some coke and they did. I said "What?! I thought Bruce didn't do drugs." She said "Well, he does." That blew me away - now I had to go back to my friend and tell him he was right all along. As for saying it doesn't matter, well, I guess it doesn't matter a whole lot seeing that I've spent the last 18 years continuing to be a huge Bruce fan. It's a lot like my friends (and in a lot of ways, Bruce feels like an old friend, even though we've never met - well, except for the hand slap in the front row last November) - half my friends never touched a drug stronger than pot (and that was over with in high school), the other half tried coke, speed, and acid. I used to be disappointed when they would tell me about doing this and that. Did it effect our friendship - no. Was I happy they did it - no.
brilliantly disguised	posted 06-12-2000 12:57 AM PT (US) Damn good point Karen--I did not even think about the 'wild bithday songs' line...maybe it was just a birthday party. Maybe cake was...well...just CAKE!
lonely rider	posted 06-12-2000 01:36 AM PT (US) Where were Janey's hands? Oh my. I thought "singin our birthday songs" was always along the connection with wearing your "birthday suit" aka just plain nude. If anybody has any other opinions on Bruce using drugs I'd sure like to hear them too.
southjerseygirl	posted 06-12-2000 08:58 AM PT (US) my girlfriend grew up with bruce and her and her husband were roadies way back in the beginning. she showed me a picture she took at a party in 1973,, and it blew my mind. the whole band is dancin and partyin and in a corner of the room,, there was bruce,, totally oblivious to everything going on around him,, sittin there writing something down,,probably a song. she said in the 3 years they hung out,,the hardest drug she ever saw him take was alcohol,, never anything else. she says he was never into drugs.
karen	posted 06-12-2000 09:13 AM PT (US) 'Spirit...' is one of my favorites! As a freshman in college in the mid-70's, lots of partying going on everywhere around me. At that time you'd always hear 'Greetings...' blasting out of somebody's stereo. 'Spirit..' sang about one big party! Thanks to Wild Billy, they all got wasted, Killer Joe a little too much. That Greasy Lake was some place, and to have a band there too! ; ) I think Bruce knew we'd love this one, and I think he brought it all together in the form of Sex, Drugs, and Rock'n Roll. bbb---There may or may not be truth to your story, personally, I don't believe everything I hear, there's probably more truth in what I read. Anyway, I just want to comment on Bruce here because I sense that a lot of die-hard fans become uneasy when they hear stories of Bruce's active sexuality or possible drug use. Look at the times when he was growin' up! I think fans tend to dehumanize him when it comes to these things, he's no different than anyone else, He puts his pants on the same way we all do, That's just one of the many things I love so much about him!
brucefanatic	posted 06-12-2000 09:43 AM PT (US) I have always thought this was a sexual reference, not a drug statement. I find the line "I said I'm hurt, she said honey let me heal it" to be incredibly sexy. Esther
bbb	posted 06-12-2000 01:12 PM PT (US) Karen - I don't blame you for not believing everything you hear, especially second-hand like this. But, I REALLY don't believe everything I read. Anytime I've ever known the truth about a story first-hand and then read about it in the paper, they always have gotten it wrong. Most of the times, writers decide what the story is going to be before they even know the facts. By the way, this girl had absolutely no reason to lie about it (the fact that she dated Bruce was already confirmed by her friends who were there). She just told me very matter-of-factly. And, I agree with what you said, about him being human, etc. Like I've said it didn't effect my feelings about him all that much. Also, the reason I had asked where you had read it was because my theory had been that when I read Born to Run, he still had not tried any drugs and then maybe in the early '80s, he dabbled in them. I also thought that he dabbled in them because I read an excerpt from a book by a big-time rock groupie who knew all the big rock stars. She was saying that it is so hard to stop taking drugs for these guys, "except if you have a non-addictive personality like Bruce Springsteen." I took this to mean that he tried it for a short time, and was able to just leave it behind.
Fred	posted 06-12-2000 07:50 PM PT (US) It just doesn't make sense to believe that Bruce did hard drugs. Most artists put out some sorry shit when they're stoned all the time. Bruce's music has been too consistently good to have been made during periods of continual highs. Not saying he didn't try some drugs. Have no way of knowing that, but Vinni Lopez said recently(I think on VH-1's Behind The Music or something similar) that "Everyone would be having a party and getting stoned(?), but not Brucie, he'd be in the back with his guitar, writing songs." I'm paraphrasing, but it went something like that.
karen	posted 06-12-2000 10:03 PM PT (US) I can believe that Bruce was not into drugs at all, I feel there was a lot of it all around him, most likely amongst some close peers, but I'm glad he had the right sense to resist. Even if he did partake, I wouldn't be shocked or surprised, but I could never see Bruce letting something so bad get in the way of his songwriting and performance, The man's got what it takes, he's on a natural high!
Magnus	posted 06-13-2000 07:16 AM PT (US) I know that Bruce did have people very close to him who were having drinking and alcohol problems at certain times (Danny Frederici openly admits to this about himself in an interview), and I would not be surprised if Bruce tried some drugs at some time or another. bbb's story is however, the first I remember hearing about Bruce taking drugs. I don't think it even comes up in that Point Blank book, where one would expect it to be mentioned. I know that Bruce has said in an interview in 98 (could have been Chrlie Rose I'm not sure) that he had "never really had any drug experience". I don't think he has ever used them over a long period of time because then his music would have been crap, and I think we would have known by now. I don't think he would lie about that sort of thing to his fans anyway. I had always thought that the "birthday songs" were just two stoned out people deciding to sing "happy birthday" to each other randomly (it didn't have to be either of their birthdays, they just decded to sing). But there could certainly be a different explanation. And BTW what does "trading hands" mean, exchanging drugs? I am vehemently anti drug, but for some strange reason I so love that song. Hearing it live for the first time ever last year was unbelieveable.
brucefanatic	posted 06-13-2000 11:58 AM PT (US) I see "trading hands" as touching each other. I never thought any of the song was drug reference as they "had a bottle of rose, let's try it". So they were drinking wine and "making love in the dirt singing our 'birthday song'" which I see as the first time for them together and that feeling that goes with it - kind of new, reborn, as it were.