Man at the Top (song)

"Man at the Top" is a Bruce Springsteen song written in 1983 at the time of the Born in the U.S.A. recording sessions. It was performed only twice during the 1984 and 1985 North American legs of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour: Once at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin on July 7, 1984, and once at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. on August 5, 1985. The Washington, D.C. performance gained notice from both Time m agazine and Springsteen biographer Dave Marsh for its possibly auto-politico-biographical import:

Man at the top says it's lonely up there

If it is, man, I don't care

From the big white house to the parking lot

Everybody wants to be the man at the top

The song was never again performed by Springsteen, and went unreleased until it turned up on his 1998 Tracks box set. Meanwhile and since, "Man at the Top" was kept alive by E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren, who renders it in his solo concerts and has described it as his favorite Springsteen song.

Some information came from "The Killing Floor Bruce Springsteen DB Page" by Paolo Calvi http://www.brucespringsteen.it/DB/Databasex.htm