| YOU MEAN SO MUCH TO ME | DDITV / ESRR / MT1 / UBER22 |
Note: Written in early 1971 as "When She Sings To Me"; title was changed to "You Mean So Much To Me" later in the year. Bruce introduced the song as "When She Sings To Me" in July 1971. Rehearsed at Challenger East Surfboard Factory, though apparently not on the evening of March 14, 1972, because it was absent from the tapes recorded by Tinker West. It was performed throughout 1971, although the circulating live versions mostly stem from the middle months. First caught on tape July 10, 1971 by The Bruce Springsteen Band. Another song that would be ranked in the top tier of Springsteen's pre-CBS portfolio. Bruce obviously felt this was one of his best early creations, as he continued to perform it live (in an acoustical arrangement) regularly throughout 1973 and 1974. There are no records of it being recorded at 914 Sound Studios for Greetings or The Wild, The Innocent, but many undocumented sessions are known to exist during mid-1973, held between 12 midnight and dawn, to avoid having to pay the studio. It is likely most of the base tracks for The Wild were recorded in mid-June 1973 in this fashion, and would explain why most of that information is also missing. However, perhaps the biggest mystery is how the money-conscious Mike Appel and his partner Jimmy Cretecos could fail to record a demo for publishing purposes, unless they used the May 31, 1973 WGOE broadcast tape. Never officially released by Springsteen, it was first bootlegged on 'Deep Down In The Vaults' in the 1990s. In late 1975, Steve Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen decided to get their friend John Lyon and his band Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes a contract and record an album. Bruce helped out by donating two of his compositions to the effort, "You Mean So Much To Me" and "The Fever". At the Record Plant one day, he ran into Ronnie Spector, who had been invited by Van Zandt. Inspired, he quickly wrote an arrangement for "You Mean So Much To Me" as a duet for Ronnie and Southside Johnny (borrowing from his BSB days), which became the closing song on side 2 of the Jukes' debut album, I Don't Want To Go Home. Ronnie agreed to tour with the Jukes throughout 1976–1977, and their duet was a regular encore and show closer.