It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City

"It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" is a song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen on his debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. in 1973. The song talks about a young man growing up on the streets of a city trying to stay good and do what he believes is right. It has been covered by David Bowie. John Sayles included this song in a high school lunchroom scene of his movie Baby It's You.

Background
The song inspired Mike Appel to quit his job to become Springsteen's manager, even though Springsteen did not have a record contract yet. It was also the first song Springsteen played at his audition at CBS Records for John Hammond, who eventually signed him to a record contract, on May 2, 1972. The following day, he recorded it as part of a 12-song demo for Hammond. The demo version of the song was released on Tracks in 1998. The version included on Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. was recorded during the summer of 1972 backed by future E-Street Band members David Sancious on piano, Vini Lopez on drums and Garry Tallent on bass.

Live performances
A 1975 live version can be found on the DVD of the Hammersmith Odeon concert that is included in the Born to Run (30th Anniversary Edition) and the Hammersmith Odeon London '75 CDs. A 1978 live version is also included in the Live/1975–85 set.

David Bowie version
David Bowie recorded a version of "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" in late 1973 during the sessions for his album Diamond Dogs (1974). It remained unreleased until 1989, when it was included on the box set Sound + Vision. Bowie had previously taped renditions of Springsteen's other Greetings songs "Growin' Up" and "Spirit in the Night". Bowie attempted another version of "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" in November 1974 during the sessions for Young Americans (1975). Springsteen himself stopped by during the session at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia. Bowie recalled that he struggled to relate to Springsteen due to his cocaine addiction at the time, and never played Springsteen his version because he was unhappy with it.

Personnel
According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon:
 * Bruce Springsteen – vocals, acoustic guitar
 * Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez – drums
 * Garry Tallent – bass
 * David Sancious – piano