Bruce Springsteen - Balboa Park: Guitar Chords

             A#
He lay his blanket underneath the freeway
as the evening sky grew dark
took a sniff of toncho from his coke can
              F            A#
and headed through Balboa Park
where the men in Mercedes
come nightly to employ
in the cool San Diego evening
     F                      A#
the services of the border boys

He grew up near the Zona Norte
With the hustlers and smugglers he hung out with
He swallowed their balloons of cocaine
Brought them across to the Twelfth Street strip
Sleeping in a shelter
If the night got too cold
Running from the migra
Of the border patrol

Past the salvage yard across the train tracks
And in through the storm drain
They stretched their blankets out beneath
the freeway
And each one took a name
There was X-man and Cochise
Little Spider, his sneakers covered in river mud
They come north to California
End up with the poison in their blood

       Gm7                    D#
He did what he had to do for money
              A#
sometimes he sent home what he could spare
     Gm7                         D#
the rest went to hi-top sneakers and toncho
     A#
and jeans like the gavatchos wear

One night the border patrol swept Twelfth Street
A big car come fast down the boulevard
Spider stood caught in its headlights
Got hit and went down hard
As the car sped away, Spider held his stomach
Limped to his blanket beneath the underpass
Lie there tasting his own blood on his tongue
Closed his eyes and listened to
the cars rushing by so fast


You can simplify chords by removing barre