Note: The only dates recorded in Sony's logs are on August 9 and September 23, 1973 at 914 Sound Studios. V1, the instrumental backing track, and V2, the original vocal take, with "Now, Sandy, them northern angels lost their desire for us…" may have been recorded at the August 9 session. V3, the album version, uses the original backing track, but with overdubs and mixing probably from September 23, including Bruce adding a new final verse. Written in early 1973 at Diane Lozito's (Bruce's girlfriend at time) Bradley Beach house, it was, according to Springsteen, "a good-bye to my adopted hometown and the life I'd lived there before I recorded. Sandy was a composite of some of the girls I'd known along the Shore. I used the boardwalk and the closing down of the town as a metaphor for the end of a summer romance and the changes I was experiencing in my own life." Diane says she was Sandy, along with the "Thundercrack" girl and Rosalita, too.
Note: Written (Springsteen/Theiss) in May 1966 and recorded at Mr. Music in Bricktown, NJ. Performed in concert regularly during 1966 and early 1967. Officially released in September 2016 on Chapter And Verse, the companion album to Springsteen's autobiography Born To Run.
Note: Unfortunately, very few outtakes circulate of "Badlands", although given Springsteen's recording methods at the time far more likely exists in the vault. The title came from Terrence Malick's 1973 movie Badlands (though Bruce had not seen the movie). In late June, the music had been composed, and was first played by the E Street Band on June 27, 1977 at Atlantic Studios. The song's opening riff, Springsteen revealed years later, is a major-key twist on the minor-key intro to the Animals' 1965 hit "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". V1 is an instrumental backing track; Max Weinberg said his opening drum part was suggested by Steve Van Zandt, and inspired by Motown. Bruce had a routine with his engineers to create 'Ruffs' tapes for him, so he could take instrumental or early recordings home and write lyrics. V2 had to be recorded on June 27, 30, or on July 11 or 13 at Atlantic Studios. Springsteen was working at Atlantic Studios on July 13, 1977, when the twenty-five-hour-long New York City blackout began; soon after, the opening lyric "lights out tonight" came into being. New takes, with developing lyrics, were recorded on August 24 and 30, 1977, but contrary to Lost Masters liner notes and many other sources, no outtakes circulate from these sessions.
It wasn't until November 1977, that Badlands was re-written with new lines, including "I wanna go out tonight, I wanna find out what I got" borrowed from "Iceman", about which Bruce later recalled, "That whole record was a record where I felt like I was going to have to test myself, and that was what I wanted to know, so that line ended up in a few different songs" (Los Angeles Times interview, 1998). Next, from a song by Elvis Presley from the 1962 movie Kid Galahad, King Of The Whole Wide World: "A poor man wants to be a rich man, a rich man wants to be a king, but the man who can sing when he hasn't got a thing, he's the king of the whole wide world." Bruce translated this to these Verse 2 lines: "Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king, and a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything." Verse 3 was strengthened by "for the ones who once had a notion, it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive" from "Breakout".
V3 was recorded, perhaps on December 12, 1977 at the Record Plant, with many new pieces in place. Bruce is still yelling at "the man on the TV," but "Badlands" has started to take shape. The vocals for V4, the album version, were dubbed in during a three-day mixing marathon on February 22, 24 and 25, 1978. V4b has less double-tracked vocals than V4c, a last moment dubbing of Clarence Clemons's sax solo on April 11, which was pressed to acetate on April 12, 1978. Springsteen's initial excuse for almost leaving it off was that he believed the instrument evoked the city, leaving it out of place on an album set in something more like "the heartland"; he later admitted that "that would have been a major error."
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V1 |
2:22 |
FFOD / HNWB / MT2 |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V2 |
0:30 |
FFOD / HNWB |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V3 |
4:45 |
FFOD / HNWB |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V4 |
3:10 |
FFOD / HNWB |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V5 |
2:55 |
FFOD / HNWB |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V6 |
4:00 |
FFOD / HNWB |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V7a (take 1) |
3:06 |
LM-1 / HNWB |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V7b (take 1 mix 2) |
3:06 |
TRACKS |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V8 (take 2) |
|
private |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V9 (take 3) |
|
private |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V10 (take 4) |
|
private |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V11 (takes 5-8) |
|
uncirculating |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V12 (take 9) |
8:09 |
THLBB / UH / GS / BUERM / MI |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V12a (take 9 edit 1) |
4:34 |
BITUSA / GREATEST / ESSENTIAL / GREATEST: 2009 / CHAPTER |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V12b (take 9 edit 2) |
4:52 |
LM-19 / THLBP |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V13 (take 10) |
|
uncirculating |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V14a freedom mix |
7:20 |
1984 EP |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V14b radio mix |
6:10 |
1984 EP |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V14c dub mix |
7:36 |
1984 EP |
Note: Writing and recording began at Springsteen's house in Colts Neck, NJ during the fall of 1981 with a set of acoustic demos. V1 evolved, both musically and lyrically, from the bluesy demo "Vietnam". V1 includes the chorus "born in the USA" that Springsteen lifted from the title of a script of a Paul Schrader movie given to him by Jon Landau, as well as many lyrical elements that would remain in the final released version. The demo begins its transition with V2, a brief snippet of the "Born In The U.S.A." riff, the opening verse, and then the sardonic chorus "Born baby in the USA / I believe in the American way". V3-V6 were all recorded soon after, and see Springsteen developing the lyrics with every take. V7 was recorded between December 17, 1981 and January 3, 1982 on the TEAC Portastudio that Mike Batlan had set up in Bruce's home, and was included on the demo cassette tape sent to Jon Landau. In his notes to Landau, Bruce described the song as "a little ditty. should be done very hard rockin." A copy leaked to bootleggers via Batlan and was pressed on 'Lost Masters I' in 1996, before V7b was mixed in 1998 and officially released on Tracks.
When Bruce and the E Street Band entered Power Station on April 26, 1982, the aim was to re-record the songs on his demo tape in a professional studio environment. Logs indicate that work on "Born In The U.S.A." began on the second day, and continued on April 28 and May 3. What work was done on what day is unclear, but it appears that the bulk of the song was recorded across ten takes on a single night, most likely May 3. A Power Station mixsheet dated to May 3 exists, which supports this position. We know that Springsteen initially attempted to re-record his demo tape alone, which may have occurred on April 27 and 28.
On May 3, Springsteen and the band cut a number of takes of a rocking electric reimagining of that original acoustic demo. In take 2 Bruce sung the first verse over his electric guitar, before bass and drum joined in. Take 3 sees Max accompanying Bruce right from the opening, yet the famous organ riff is nowhere to be found. Take 4 begins with Springsteen singing the first verse a cappella, before the band join in. We now skip ahead to take 9, where the riff is now in place alongside other new elements, some of which did not make the final track. Brief audio of the opening verse of takes 2, 3, 4, and the multitracks of take 9 first emerged in April 2022, played by Toby Scott at a public event in Mexico City. Recollections vary as to the origin of the riff; Roy Bittan remembers Springsteen demonstrating the song on acoustic guitar before he improvised the organ riff on a new Yamaha CS-80 synth, and the first take evolved from there. Max Weinberg, however, recalls the first recording was as "a country trio" with a country beat (Max may have been referring to the arrangement found in takes 2-4 above), and the main riff came from Springsteen's guitar. Weinberg doesn't dispute Bittan's memories though.
The eight minute V12 is the full length of take 9. With some edits, including using all or parts of take 10 (V13) for the ending, this take eventually became the first song on side one of Born In The U.S.A (V12b). V12c continues where V12b fades out with an extended synthesizer ending. Toby Scott recalls a total of eight to ten takes, with take six (or nine, recollections seem to vary) as the master. V14a-V14c are 12" dance remixes by Arthur Baker that were recorded at Shakedown Studios in New York City in September 1984. Toby Scott was the recording engineer for the remixes (which include additional vocals by The Latin Rascals), and all were mixed by Bob Clearmountain. The remixes were first released in December 1984. Baker utilised several aspects of the original mixes that were removed for the final album take.
Note: In his 2012 biography, Bruce, Peter Ames Carlin wrote that "While on the road in the Mid-South late in 1973, Springsteen awoke suddenly one morning, grabbed his notebook, and inked in the title "Born To Run". A few weeks later, Bruce, the band, and Appel got back to work at the 914 Sound Studios on January 8, 1974, spending a couple of days fiddling with rudimentary versions of both "Born To Run" and "Jungleland"." According to Springsteen, the entire writing and recording process for the song took six months, while he was living at a rented cottage at 7½ West End Court in West Long Branch, New Jersey. Though recordings from early 1974 have never surfaced, early lyric sheets of "Glory Road" contain many lines that would be used in "Born To Run", including the title.
V1a is the original backing track recorded on May 21, 1974, after rehearsal in prior sessions. V1b is from June 26, 1974, dubbing Bruce's vocal to the V1a track. Work continued, adding lyrics, overdubs, and layer upon layer of sound, at 914 Sound Studios, both in June and then after starting a week's residency at the studio on August 1, 1974. Finally, on or about August 6, 1974, "Born To Run" was completed. 72 tracks were down-mixed to 16 by engineer Louis Lahav. "We only had 16 tracks to work with and they were packed, because he had had so much going on in the songs," Lahav remembers. "I had to ping-pong between tracks all the time to get everything in. Clarence Clemons's sax solo on "Born to Run" was recorded in different parts and I had to edit them to make it a whole solo. It was a really long voyage on that song."
The core backing track is V2. The variants of V3 are numerous test mixes and arrangements, with female choir vocals, double-tracked lead vocals, strings, and hard stop organ endings. Some items listed here may have been created by AI software that separates elements like vocals from the music. V3a has a double tracked vocal, strings and hard organ stop; V3b has double tracked vocals, swirling strings, female chorus, and hard organ stop; V3c has a female chorus and delayed organ end. V3d has a female chorus that does not start until third verse, with funky dead stop. V3e is an alternative mix with only basic instrumental backing; V3f has only guitars in the instrumental backing; V3g does not have a drum track. V3h is Bruce's vocal without any backing instruments; V3i features string and enhanced high end; V3j has less overdubbing; V3k does not include the middle verse and the sax solo and was released by Ktel-CBS in Australia-only in early 1976 on a multi-artist LP called Supersounds.
In a 2006 interview, Louis Lahav described the mixing process: "Springsteen kept changing the lyrics and the song got finished only when he was pleased with the text. But we weren't working only on the vocals that entire time. We were tweaking, overdubbing and pre-mixing until the last moment. In addition to the rhythm section there were strings, glockenspiel, piano, electric guitars, brasses, about four or five acoustic guitars, there are probably thousands of parts and instruments in it. For example, the sax solo was edited from about seven different solo tracks…it took me hours punching in and out what you can do these days in seconds." The final mix chosen for release is V4a. In late October 1974, an advanced tape release of the official version (V4b) was sent to selected radio stations by Mike Appel and Springsteen. V4c is a live recording from WMMR Studios in Philadelphia on November 3, 1974, with Ed Sciaky and Bruce playing V4b on the air. The tape was broadcast by several USA radio stations from November 1974 to July 1975. There is little difference between V4a and V4b, except V4b is pre-brickwalled for radio broadcast. V5 is a studio log entry for March 17, 1975, an attempted mix session at Columbia Studios, 49 East 52nd Street, New York. Jon Landau is quoted in Down Thunder Road: "Sometime later Bruce…decided to go in and attempt to remix [the single] "Born To Run". Bruce called me and told me. He asked if I would be able to drop by. They were doing this work at CBS Studios in Manhattan." Bruce similarly wrote in his autobiography, "We took it to a New York studio one evening and in a half hour realized the impossibility of our task. We would never corral that sound again."
Note: Released as a single ahead of the Tunnel Of Love album on September 17, 1987. Began life as "Is That You?", recorded February 5, 1987, but became "Brilliant Disguise" by the end of that month. Recorded at Springsteen's home studio in Rumson, New Jersey, with overdubs in April by Roy Bittan (keyboards), Danny Federici (organ) and Max Weinberg (percussion). The video was filmed on October 8, 1987 at Fort Hancock, Sandy Hook, New Jersey.
Note: V1 is 'Eloise', a work-in-progress take with soon to be discarded lyrics, recorded at Mediasound Studios in April 1972. V2 was recorded in John Hammond's office on May 2, 1972, and V3 was cut the next day at Columbia Studio E for his Columbia audition tape, and V3b was officially released 26 years later on Tracks. V4 was an acoustic take, recorded without the band at the first Greetings session on June 7, 1972, and does not circulate. V5 was cut on June 27, 1972, and V6, the final take from that session, was chosen for release on Greetings.
Note: "Henry Boy" was recorded as a publishing demo at MediaSound Studios, 311 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019 in June 1972. It has been described as an "early version of what would evolve into 'Blinded By The Light'", which would maybe explain why it vanished from Springsteen's live repertoire after being played live in August 1972. "Henry Boy" was officially released on September 23, 2016 on Chapter And Verse, the companion to Springsteen's autobiography Born To Run. It was dated only as "June 1972" in the liner notes, confirming the well-known idea the studio logs from the time are not complete.
| HE'S GUILTY (THE JUDGE SONG) |
5:57 |
BSS3 / US1 / VAFH |
| HE'S GUILTY (THE JUDGE SONG) |
4:39 |
CHAPTER |
Note: Written in the summer of 1969 and performed in concert regularly during the second half of 1969 and throughout 1970. After Robbin Thompson joined the band the song tended to be slotted into the final stages of the show. Several live performances are in circulation. One of three songs recorded by Steel Mill at Pacific Recording Studio, San Mateo, CA on February 22, 1970, the song was officially released in September 2016 on Chapter And Verse, the companion album to Springsteen's autobiography Born To Run. The released version has been edited, reducing the length by cutting some of the instrumental segments short. Former Steel Mill vocalist Robbin Thompson released a cover version in 1986. Sometimes listed as "Guilty" or "Send That Boy To Jail".
Note: Recorded sometime from July to December 1991 at A&M Studios, Los Angeles. Springsteen handles all guitars and vocals and his two-man backing band on this recording is Roy Bittan (keyboards) and Gary Mallaber (drums). Bittan is credited as a co-producer of this recording.
Note: Written by Bruce in the summer or early autumn of 1996 while on the Ghost Of Tom Joad Tour and premiered live on October 16, 1996. The Devils & Dust recording is a hybrid of two sessions quite some years apart. The basic track (V1) with Danny Federici, Marty Rifkin, Soozie Tyrell and Patti Scialfa emanates from 1997 or 1998 and was cut at Thrill Hill West, Beverly Hills. CA. It was recorded by Toby Scott and produced by Springsteen and Chuck Plotkin. The drums (Steve Jordan) and bass guitar (Brendan O’Brien) were added to the mix in 2004, at Masterphonics, Nashville, Tennessee, and Southern Tracks Recording, Atlanta, Georgia, which is the likely reason why this released version is credited as a Springsteen-Plotkin-O'Brien production, and issued on Devils & Dust.
An early Tracks six-CD sample set from June 1998 indicates that "Long Time Comin'" was considered for Tracks, but ultimately rejected. It's highly likely that this is V1, perhaps with some additional overdubs to complete the song. The sample set listed the song as "version 2", indicating there may have been a "version 1" that had already been rejected. This could have been V1 without overdubs, or an even earlier recording we are unaware of.
Note: Two different, complete, recordings on separate cassettes were made on May 25, 1982, over five months after the vast majority of the Nebraska tracks were cut. Only one take has surfaced (three mixes). V1 and V2a do not include any synthesizer (the synthesizer was likely added at The Power Station). V2b includes an additional 28 seconds of synthesizer at the end that was cut from the official release. The master tape for this longer version was accidentally sent to Japan in 1985 and released on the first-ever CD print run of the album, as well as a second pressing of the Japanese CD in 1986/87. The long version was also utilized on original 1986/87 export editions of the Japanese CD sent to Europe and the USA. The mistake was eventually corrected on all versions. The long version has not been officially available anywhere since 1995. Some early promotional copies of the album sent to press and radio stations (certainly in the UK, and perhaps worldwide) also included the synth coda.
| DON'T YOU WANT TO BE AN OUTLAW |
|
uncirculating |
| THE BALLAD OF JESSE JAMES |
6:57 |
UBER26 / DDITV / TFTV |
| THE BALLAD OF JESSE JAMES |
5:31 |
CHAPTER |
Note: Written in mid-1971. Sometimes referred to by the title "Don't You Want To Be An Outlaw" or "Billy". This ode to Jesse James and Billy The Kid was played live often and there are multiple live performances from the second half of 1971 in circulation. The studio rehearsal take from Challenger Eastern Surfboards, Highlands, NJ on March 14, 1972 is in far better quality than any of the available live versions, and was officially released in September 2016 on Chapter And Verse, the companion album to Springsteen's autobiography Born To Run in an edited version (reducing the length by removing some of the verses in the middle of the song).
Note: Written as a rock song for the Greatest Hits project, but abandoned when Springsteen couldn't find an arrangement. Re-imagined as an acoustic song, and recorded May 23, 1995 at Thrill Hill Recording, Beverly Hills, California. Springsteen handles guitar and vocals, and his four-man backing band on this recording is Danny Federici (keyboards), Garry Tallent (bass), Marty Rifkin (pedal steel, dobro), and Gary Mallaber (drums). V3 is an entirely re-recorded version, but was not recorded during any of the three Seeger Sessions. It was recorded at various stages and studio locations during mid-/late-2006. Bruce's parts (vocal, harmonica) were recorded at Thrill Hill Recording, Rumson, New Jersey in August 2006. Pete Seeger's vocals were recorded at Seeger's cabin in Beacon, NY on July 4, 2006. The backing band's individual parts were recorded at various locations around the United States during mid-/late-2006 and then everything was mixed together at Shelter Island Sound Studios in New York City by David Seitz, and produced by Springsteen, Jim Musselman, and Seitz. The recording was first released on September 11, 2007 on the Various Artists charity compilation Sowing The Seeds (Appleseed). V4 was recorded, most likely early 2009, in his home studio for the The People Speak documentary. V5 was recorded in March 2013 in Los Angeles, the day before a flight to Australia for the Australian leg of the Wrecking Ball Tour, and was produced by Ron Aniello and Springsteen.
Note: Song composed post-9/11, November 2001–February 2002. Recorded at Southern Tracks, Atlanta, during February–March, 2002. Soozie Tyrell contributes violin and background vocals, Jane Scarpantoni plays the cello.
Note: Springsteen kicked around the verses of "Oh Angelyne" for six months, until he received inspiration from "Long Gone Lonesome Blues" by Hank Williams (1950), and wrote the chorus in August 1979. The original inspiration had been the economic situation his sister Ginny and her husband found themselves in, during the late 1970s. Thanks to 'Lost Masters', we have four takes of a solo demo recorded by Bruce at home in February–May, 1979.
"The River" was first recorded at Power Station studios on August 26, 1979, with the completed take 5 (V5) selected for The Ties That Bind and mixed by Bob Clearmountain. Bruce changed his mind in October, and the single album fell through. But in September, he performed "The River" live twice at Madison Square Garden, New York, to great response by fans and critics, including Ginny, his special guest. The version finally released on The River double album had a number of embellishments to the single album mix. For instance, ooo-ooos by Bruce and Steve were added (possibly on January 21, 1980), and later overdubbed on either April 12 or 24, and was sequenced as the final track on the first LP of The River. Studio logs give us those three dates in 1980, but don't specify what was done. In an interview, engineer Neil Dorfsman says he recalls cutting several versions of the song, trying out different tempos and a more embellished rock 'n' roll arrangement. None of these alternative arrangements circulate, and it is not known whether they exist in the vaults. V7 is a brief snippet of an acoustic demo heard in Thom Zimny's documentary about the making of The River, included in the The Ties That Bind (The River Collection) box set.
Note: Written in September 2009 and premiered on September 30th 2009, performed as a tribute to the soon-to-be-demolished Giants Stadium. Recorded by Ron Aniello at Very Loud House Studio, Woodland Hills, California.
