van Zandt was born as Steven Lento in Winthrop, Massachusetts. His mother, Mary Lento, remarried when he was young and Steven took the last name of his stepfather, William Van Zandt. The family moved from Massachusetts to Middletown Township, New Jersey when he was seven.
Van Zandt subsequently became a songwriter and producer for fellow Jersey shore act Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes in the mid- to late-1970s, penning their signature song "I Don't Wanna Go Home", co-writing other songs for them with Springsteen, and producing their most-acclaimed record, Hearts of Stone. As such, Van Zandt became a key contributor to the Jersey Shore sound. Van Zandt then went on to share production credits on the classic Springsteen albums Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, and Born in the U.S.A..
Van Zandt has produced a number of other records, including an uncredited effort on the Iron City Houserockers' Have A Good Time (But Get Out Alive). Less successful was his work on Lone Justice's second album Shelter, which was a career-ending flop for the Los Angeles cowpunk band.
In 2004, he contributed the song "Baby Please Don't Go" to Nancy Sinatra's self-titled album
Van Zandt officially left the E Street Band in 1984 (Springsteen's song "Bobby Jean" is said to be inspired by the split) and has been involved in numerous solo musical projects and collaborations since then, ranging from soul music to hard rock to world music. In particular, he released four albums in the 1980s and one in 1999, sometimes fronting an on-and-off group known as Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul. Van Zandt has written that these albums are each elements in a five-part concept cycle. The first of them, 1982's white soul Men Without Women, earned the most critical praise (Jay Cocks of TIME magazine dubbed it one of the ten best albums of the year), while its follow-up, 1984's Voice of America, did the best on the U.S. albums chart, although none of them were much of a commercial success. With Voice of America, his music became explicitly political, with the central theme being opposition to Ronald Reagan-era American foreign policy.
Continuing his involvement in issues of the day, in 1985 he created the music-industry activist group Artists United Against Apartheid as an action against the Sun City resort in South Africa. Forty-nine top recording artists, including Springsteen, U2, Bob Dylan and Run DMC, collaborated on a song called "Sun City" in which they pledged they would never perform at the resort. The effort was modestly successful. In 1987 he released the album Freedom - No Compromise, which continued the political messaging in an even more strident fashion. Some U.S. appearances in that year as opening act for U2's arena-and-stadium Joshua Tree Tour continued in the same vein – Oliver North was labelled a "criminal motherfucker" – but were not well-received by audiences, who found the sound overbearing and the performances lacking musicality. Both the record and his concerts were more popular in Europe, however. Little Steven's fourth album, 1989's Revolution, attracted little attention.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Van_Zandt
balance
Little Steven Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Let yourself go
Let the power tingle through you
Let the music help you find your rainbow
Realign your mind, soul and body, begin again
Time to get ready for childhood's end
Too many overfed, underfed, landrich, landless
Got my eyes wide open time for new birth
Restore the balance
Got my eyes wide open time for new birth
Restore the balance
Mother earth raped and poisoned
Our souls have been denied too long
Blind ambition we can't see the forest
For the trees are all gone
Out of harmony moving too fast creating new animals
Torturing the ones we already have
The four directions lead us through the great mystery
Life, unity, equality, eternity
Got my eyes wide open time for new birth
Restore the balance
Got my eyes wide open time for new birth
Restore the balance
Warriors of the rainbow unite
From the darkness of the wasteland
Open up the inner light
Oh great spirit your breath gives life
I hear your voice in the wind
I come before you as a child
Seeking strength and wisdom
May I walk in beauty
And with your help
Overcome my greatest enemy
Myself
Got my eyes wide open time for new birth
Restore the balance
Got my eyes wide open time for new birth
Restore the balance
The lyrics to Little Steven's song "Balance" are a call to action for those who feel the urgency to restore balance to the world. The song speaks to many issues plaguing humanity including environmental destruction, political injustice and lack of spiritual alignment. The opening lines "Close your eyes for a little while, let yourself go" sets the tone for the song, which urges the listener to let go of their everyday worries and concerns and allow the power of music to tingle through them.
The next lines "Realign your mind, soul, and body, begin again, time to get ready for childhood's end" suggest that it is time for a spiritual rebirth, a paradigm shift that calls for humanity to set a new course. The song suggests that too many people are either overfed or underfed, too rich or too poor, and that this imbalance must be corrected. This notion is coupled with a sense of urgency, as the lyrics suggest that it is time for either justice or one last kiss.
"Mother Earth raped and poisoned, our souls have been denied too long, blind ambition we can't see the forest, for the trees are all gone", the lyrics of the song seem to suggest that the root causes of humanity's imbalance lie in the destruction of the natural world and in human greed. Only by restoring balance, can humanity hope to overcome its greatest enemy: itself.
Line by Line Meaning
Close your eyes for a little while
Take a moment to relax and be present in the moment.
Let yourself go
Allow yourself to let loose and be free from stress or worry.
Let the power tingle through you
Feel the energy of the music running through you.
Let the music help you find your rainbow
Allow the music to guide you towards positivity and happiness.
Realign your mind, soul and body, begin again
Take the time to realign yourself and start fresh.
Time to get ready for childhood's end
Prepare for a new beginning or a change in life.
Too many overfed, underfed, landrich, landless
There are too many inequalities and injustices in the world.
The time has come for justice or maybe one last kiss
It's time to make a change; justice or peace may be necessary.
Got my eyes wide open time for new birth
I am aware and ready for a new beginning.
Restore the balance
Bring back harmony and equality to the world.
Mother earth raped and poisoned
The earth has been damaged and destroyed by human actions.
Our souls have been denied too long
We have been neglected and deprived for too long.
Blind ambition we can't see the forest
We have become blinded by our own self-interest and can't see the bigger picture.
For the trees are all gone
We have destroyed nature and its resources.
Out of harmony moving too fast creating new animals
Human actions have caused chaos and led to unnatural changes in our world.
Torturing the ones we already have
We have mistreated and harmed those who are already in existence.
The four directions lead us through the great mystery
There is much to discover and learn from following the guidance of nature.
Life, unity, equality, eternity
Values that we should strive for and aim to achieve.
Warriors of the rainbow unite
People from different backgrounds and beliefs should come together to support a common cause.
From the darkness of the wasteland
In the midst of chaos and destruction there is still hope.
Open up the inner light
Allow yourself to be guided by your inner positivity and light.
Oh great spirit your breath gives life
Nature is full of life and energy that we should appreciate and respect.
I hear your voice in the wind
Nature speaks to us in different ways that we should listen and learn from.
I come before you as a child
We should approach nature and life with a sense of innocence and humility.
Seeking strength and wisdom
We should be open to learning and growing throughout our lives.
May I walk in beauty
May I live my life with grace and appreciation for beauty and positivity.
And with your help
We need the guidance and support of nature in order to succeed in life.
Overcome my greatest enemy
We need to overcome our own inner negative thoughts and behaviors.
Myself
Our own self-doubt and negative thoughts are our biggest enemies that we need to overcome.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: STEVEN VAN ZANDT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@kurtheisey6365
One of my all-time favorite songs
@paulsauter3670
beautiful song a prayer
@jerryvo1974
Wonderfull music !
@dallasheltzell
Sort of a Prince groove.
@Neontiger77
had that album when it came out XD on an LP lol...