The Most Striking Springsteen Lyric: The Results Are In

Yesterday we called your attention to the poll a Blogness on the Edge of Town asking Springsteen fans to pick their favorite lyric.  Well, after 4000 votes, the results are in:

1. “Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true, or is it something worse?,” from “The River” off The River, 324 votes, 8%.
2. “Show a little faith, there’s magic in the night,” from “Thunder Road” off Born to Run, 200 votes, 5%.
3. “Ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive,” from “Badlands” off Darkness on the Edge of Town, 183 votes, 4%.
4. “Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge, drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain,” from “Jungleland” off Born to Run, 162 votes, 4%.
5. “Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted,” from “Promised Land” off Darkness on the Edge of Town, 158 votes, 4%.
6. “It’s a sad man my friend who’s livin’ in his own skin and can’t stand the company,” from  “Better Days” off Lucky Town, 147 votes, 4%.
7. “She stares off alone into the night, with the eyes of one who hates for just being born,” from “Racing in the Street” off Darkness on the Edge of Town, 138 votes, 3%.
8. “Tonight my baby and me we’re gonna ride to the sea and wash these sins off our hands,”  from “Racing in the Street” off Darkness on the Edge of Town, 138 votes, 3%.
9. “Poets down here don’t write nothing at all, they just stand back and let it all be,” from “Jungleland” off Born to Run, 136 votes, 3%.
10. “You’ve got to learn to live with what you can’t rise above,” from “Tunnel of Love” off Tunnel of Love, 120 votes, 3%.

It looks like I had three of the top 10 on my list.

Here, in my opinion, were some of the best write-in votes:

• A dream awaits in aisle number two                
• A hurricane blows, brings a hard rain; when the blue sky breaks, feels like the world's gonna change
• A twister to blow everything down that ain’t got the faith to stand its ground                          
• Don’t get caught on the wrong side of that line
• Don’t waste your time waiting for a moment that just don’t come              
• From the churches to the jails, tonight all is silence in the world       
• Hey kid you think that’s oil? Man that ain’t oil, that’s blood                     
• I drop the needle and pray                                               
• I was raised out of steel here in the swamps of Jersey, some misty years ago 
• Leave behind your sorrows, let this day be the last, tomorrow there’ll be sunshine and all the darkness past               
• Let your mind rest easy, sleep well my friend; it’s only our bodies that betray us in the end  
• May the rising sun caress and bless your soul throughout your life                                     
• One day I looked straight at her and she looked straight back
• Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king, and a king ain’t satisfied till he rules everything                               
• Talk about a dream, try to make it real
• The amusement park rises bold and stark, kids are huddled on the beach in the mis      
• The highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last-chance power drive  
• The record company, Rosie, just gave me a big advance
• The screen door slams, Mary’s dress sways
• The shovel in the dirt keeps the devil gone    
• Then I’m gonna go out walking                 
• They bring you up to do, like your daddy done  
• They wind up wounded, not even dead              
• Well, my feet they finally took root in the earth but I got me a nice little place in the stars           
• What else can we do now except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair  
• When they said sit down, I stood up       
• You ain’t a beauty but, hey, you’re alright            
• You can hide ’neath your covers and study your pain               
• Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet