Seeds
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Lyrics

Well a great black river a man had found
A man discovered a lucrative vein of oil.

So he put all his money in a hole in the ground
He invested his entire fortune in drilling equipment.

And sent a big steel arm drivin' down down down
He used a drilling rig to penetrate deep into the earth below.

Man now I live on the streets of Houston town
The artist is now homeless and living in Houston, likely due to the failure of his employer's drilling venture.

Packed up my wife and kids when winter came along
The artist's family fled their home in search of work in a warmer climate.

And we headed down south with just spit and a song
They traveled to the southern United States with little more than hope and determination.

But they said "Sorry son it's gone gone gone"
Unfortunately, upon arriving in the South, they discovered that the job prospects were no better than where they came from.

Well there's men hunkered down by the railroad tracks
The artist notices the many homeless people camped out along the rail lines.

The Elkhorn Special blowin' my hair back
A train named the 'Elkhorn Special' roars past, creating a powerful gust of wind.

Tents pitched on the highway in the dirty moonlight
The homeless population is so great that people have resorted to camping out along the highway.

And I don't know where I'm gonna sleep tonight
The singer is uncertain if he will be able to find a place to sleep.

Parked in the lumberyard freezin' our asses off
The artist and his family are forced to spend a freezing night in an abandoned lumberyard.

My kids in the back seat got a graveyard cough
The children's exposure to the harsh winter weather has made them ill.

Well I'm sleepin' up in front with my wife
The couple has had to rearrange their car to accommodate their children's illness.

Billy club tappin' on the windshield in the middle of the night
A police officer wakes the family in the middle of the night and tells them to leave.

Says "Move along man move along"
The police officer is ordering them to leave the area and find somewhere else to go.

Well big limousine long shiny and black
The artist sees a wealthy person's luxury car.

You don't look ahead you don't look back
This is a warning that the wealthy cannot see past their own success and are ignorant of the struggles of others.

How many times can you get up after you've been hit?
This rhetorical question ponders how much hardship one person can bear before they break.

Well I swear if I could spare the spit
The artist is so overcome with anger that he would spit at the luxury car if he could.

I'd lay one on your shiny chrome
He would spit on the car's pristine exterior.

And send you on your way back home
He would force the driver to leave the area.

So if you're gonna leave your town where the north wind blow
The singer is warning others not to leave their home in search of a better life, as it often leads to hardship.

To go on down where that sweet soda river flow
He is specifically warning them not to head to the South where a river called the 'sweet soda' flows.

Well you better think twice on it Jack
He advises the listener to carefully consider their actions.

You're better off buyin' a shotgun dead off the rack
Instead of leaving home, he suggests buying a gun and staying put.

You ain't gonna find nothin' down here friend
The singer asserts that there is nothing to be gained by traveling to the South.

Except seeds blowin' up the highway in the south wind
The only reward for heading South is disappointment and a wasted effort.

Movin' on movin' on it's gone gone it's all gone
The repeated phrase signals the end of the artist's tale of hardship and the futility of chasing after success.