| TOKYO | 3:50 | BTF / US4 / MT1 / VAFH / URT2 / EDR |
Note: "Tokyo" was probably written in 1972. One solo piano take of "Tokyo" is in circulation that was either recorded at Pocketful of Tunes in New York around April/May 1972 or during publishing demo sessions on either February 19 or 20, 1973 at 914 Sound Studios, Blauvelt, New York. We do not have documentation to confirm that the circulating demo was recorded at the February session (while we have documentation to prove that the session took place, we do not know the songs recorded, aside from "Song For Orphans"), so it could actually emanate from 1972. Stylistically however, the song best fits amongst the other material he was recording in the early 1973 period.
The song continued to develop after the solo demo with the addition of new lyrics and a refrain sometimes used by fans as an alternate title: "And The Band Played". "Tokyo" was performed live occasionally by Bruce and the band during 1973 and early 1974. However, there is no evidence to assume that it was ever recorded in the studio after February 1973. At some point in 1974, Springsteen composed a list of ten songs that were candidates for inclusion on his third album. A song with the title "Shanghai" is the ninth song on that list, and based on the lyrics we assume that it is actually "Tokyo". Springsteen copyrighted it as "Tokyo" in 1999, after winning his lawsuit against bootleggers.