Light of Day (song)

"Light of Day", sometimes written as "(Just Around the Corner to the) Light of Day", is a song written by Bruce Springsteen and performed initially by Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox with their fictitious band The Barbusters in the 1987 film Light of Day. The song has since become a staple in Jett's concerts.

The song appeared on the Light of Day soundtrack album. As a single, it reached number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1987, and it was credited to The Barbusters (Joan Jett and The Blackhearts) on the record label. It received additional album-oriented rock airplay due to its Jett and Springsteen connection. A music video featuring The Barbusters performing the song, interspersed with numerous scenes from the rest of the film, was popular on MTV. The song has also appeared on several Jett compilation albums.

In 2011 American Songwriter named "Light of Day" their Favorite Movie Song.^[1]

Lyrics

"Light of Day" is a powerful guitar-driven, roadhouse-flavored stomper that features Springsteen's usual automotive imagery and includes some of his heartland rock sentiments as well as some of the film's sensibility:

Well, I've been out of the woods for six days and nights now

And I'm a little hot wired but I'm feeling all right now

I got some money in my pocket and I won't need a ride, yeah!

I gotta make it down to Galveston by Saturday night, yeah

Well, I'm a little down under but I'm feeling okay

And I got a little lost down along the way

Well, I'm just around the corner till the light of day, ye-ah

The song's lyrics focus on the quest for happiness amidst life's difficult circumstances, told through the eyes of a person driving and traveling the nation and world in search of something better, only to find that it really existed at home all along.

While the song's lyrics do not directly mention either Springsteen's native New Jersey or Jett's native Pennsylvania by name, the song has been interpreted to reference the authenticity of people and places associated with these two states, inspired at least partly by Springsteen's failed marriage to actress Julianne Phillips and Springsteen's brief residence in California with Phillips, which Springsteen has since described disparagingly.

Song's inspiration and use by Springsteen

The tale is told that Springsteen donated the song to film director Paul Schrader as loose payment for his having appropriated Schrader's working title for this film for the song "Born in the U.S.A.."^[2] Because the song was written around Springsteen's divorce from Phillips, it also includes subtle references to the rejection of inauthentic relationships between people with different value structures, described lyrically by Springsteen as "I got a little lost down along the way."

Springsteen subsequently featured "Light of Day" heavily in his own concerts; it showed up during his 1987 Jersey Shore club appearances, then served as the main set closer throughout his 1988 Tunnel of Love Express, 1992-1993 "Other Band", 1995 (six shows with Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers in a band featuring Bruce on lead guitar and occasional lead vocal) and 1999-2000 Reunion Tours. Two such performances were captured in the 1993 In Concert/MTV Plugged and 2000 Live in New York City videos and albums, but any particular rendering could be extended to arbitrary length via Springsteen raps, vamps, stage hijinks, and false endings.

The song has rarely been performed since The Rising Tour, where it only appeared one time- on the last day of the tour. It was played four times on the 2007-2008 Magic Tour and eleven times on the 2012-2013 Wrecking Ball World Tour. It made a more permanent return on the High Hopes Tour in 2014, where it resumed its traditional position as set closer. It was performed a few times in 2015 by Springsteen and one time on The River Tour 2016 with special guests Joe and Johnny Grushecky.

Springsteen has never released his own studio version of the song.

References