| THE WALL - V1a | uncirculating | |
| THE WALL - V1b | HOPES |
Note: Written December 1997–January 1998. The title and idea came from Joe Grushecky and the rest was written by Springsteen after he and Patti Scialfa visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. Bruce had visited the Vietnam Memorial in Washington in December 1997 and sat near Robert McNamara at that year's Kennedy Center Honors; several days later, Grushecky sent Bruce a newspaper clipping about items visitors left at the Vietnam Memorial. Bruce and Grushecky originally tried writing a song on the topic together, but couldn’t get any traction; Bruce set it aside but composed the track not long after. Grushecky subsequently wrote a different, but similarly themed, song called "On The Wall" that appeared on his 2002 Fingerprints album.
The core track was recorded with the E Street Band, including Danny Federici; according to Brian Hiatt, this took place during the March 2001 sessions at The Hit Factory, though others have linked it to the Tracks sessions. Bruce premiered the song live on February 19, 2003 at Somerville Theatre in Somerville, MA, and then played twice during 2005's Devils & Dust Tour. A few overdubs, including Ron Aniello's, Curt Ramm's, and at least some of Nils Lofgren's parts, were added to the original E Street Band track in preparation for the song's release on High Hopes.