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.
| 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 at Pacific Recording Studio, San Mateo, CA on February 22, 1970 and officially released in September 2016 on Chapter And Verse, the companion album to Springsteen's autobiography Born To Run. This 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".
| 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. This release has been edited, reducing the length by removing some of the verses in the middle of the song.
Note: "Henry Boy" was recorded as a 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 explain why it vanished after being played live in August 1972, while 'Blinded By the Light' was composed and recorded in record time on September 11, 1972, then released on 'Greetings From Asbury Park, New Jersey', and became the first single from the album. 'Henry Boy' was officially released on September 23, 2016 in the album "Chapter and Verse", the companion to Springsteen's autobiography "Born To Run". It was dated only as "June 1972" in the liner notes, suggesting the studio logs from the time are not complete, which is a well known fact. Possibly of greater interest are the live shows in August 1972 described below. These shows were performed just after Bruce thought he was done recording 'Greetings From Asbury Park, New Jersey', only to be informed by Clive Davis, president of Columbia Records, that the album submitted was not acceptable to Columbia, mainly because there was no "single material" that could be released to generate radio airplay. As he recounted in "Songs", Bruce took this to heart, and without delay, composed "Spirit In the Night" and "Blinded By the Light", recording both on September 11, 1972, much to the satisfaction of his record label, who were pleased with the songs, and even more by their new artists' response to their implied request. Unnoticed was "Henry Boy", which garnered respectable attention during the August Max's Kansas City residency, but was never played again. Perhaps Bruce used most of the song in creating 'Blinded By the Light', just like he did with 'Walking In the Street' when creating 'Thunder Road'.
A video of "Henry Boy", filmed in August 1972 at Max’s Kansas City, is in circulation. Springsteen introduces the song as, "a song about being new in town. Now everybody's been new in town, once, or twice. And uh… that's what this next song's about, I think." Very brief audio-video excerpts of both "Henry Boy" and "Growin' Up" from one of the twelve shows during this August 1972 Max's residency first surfaced in a 1990 documentary about John Hammond called From Bessie Smith To Bruce Springsteen. The complete audio-video of both songs has since leaked out and is circulating among collectors. These complete takes represent what was originally supplied to the Hammond film producers by CBS. The producers were only allowed to use brief excerpts of the two songs in the documentary and were not supplied any footage of the rest of the show. The remainder of the show (probably only a couple of songs, for a total of around thirty minutes) exists in CBS's vault but has never circulated. Definitely one, probably two, and possibly several of Bruce's shows during this residency were audio and video recorded in their entirety, utilizing Max's (crude by today's standards) in-house video camera. It is believed the recording was carried out at the behest of Columbia, who wanted footage of Bruce for potential promotional use.
Please check the Brucebase live accounts from August 10, 1972 and August 14, 1972, for information on "Henry Boy", and the film work done at Max's Kansas City in New York. Be sure to click on the "Recording" tab on each gig page for important additional information.
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: A song destined to be special to all people of New Jersey, especially those who remember the summers of the mid-70s at the Jersey shore. First known studio take on August 9, 1973, which turned out to be the second to last session for The Wild, The Innocent. Recorded were V1, the instrumental backing track, and V2, the original take, with "Now, Sandy, them northern angels lost their desire for us, I spoke with them last night, they won't set themselves on fire for us anymore, still, when the weather gets hot, they ride that crazy road down from heaven on their Harley's every season they come and they go, dressed like stars in all them cheap little seaside bars, they're parked with their babies out on the Kokomo…love me tonight and I promise I'll love you forever….". V3 is the album version, mostly from August 9, but with overdubs and mixing on September 23, 1973, including Bruce adding a new final verse, with "nicer" lyrics. When he played back, "I promise you I'll love you—forever?", he must have instantly decided it had to be redone…but then he did it again on the overdub! He changed the words in the live set at The Main Point on October 31. Written in early 1973 at Diane Lozito's Bradley Beach house, it was, according to Bruce, "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". At Bushnell Memorial Hall, Hartford, CT, on April 23, 1973, "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" opened the set, the earliest confirmed performance of the song. Diane says she was Sandy, along with the "Thundercrack" girl and Rosalita, too.
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' V1 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.
V2a is the original backing track recorded on May 21, 1974, after rehearsal in prior sessions. V2b is from June 26, 1974, dubbing Bruce's vocal to the V2a track. Work continued, adding lyrics and overdubs, at 914 Sound Studios, both in June and then after starting a week's residency at the studio on August 1, 1974. Finally, on August 6, 1974, seventy-two tracks were mixed down to the sixteen available by engineer Louis Lahav. The core backing track is V3. The variants of V4 are numerous test mixes and arrangements, with backing vocals, double-tracked vocals and strings: V4a has a double tracked vocal, strings and hard organ stop; V4b has double tracked vocals. swirling strings, female chorus, and hard organ stop; V4c has a female chorus and delayed organ end. V4d has a female chorus that does not start until third verse, with funky dead stop. V4e is an alternative mix with only basic instrumental backing; V4f has only guitars in the instrumental backing; V4g does not have a drum track. V4h is Bruce's vocal without any backing instruments; V4i features string and enhanced high end; V4j has less overdubbing; V4k 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, over-dubbing 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 V5a. In late October 1974, an advanced tape release of the official version (V5b) was sent to selected radio stations by Mike Appel and Springsteen. V5c is a live recording from WMMR Studios in Philadelphia on November 3, 1974, with Ed Sciaky and Bruce playing v5b on the air. The tape was broadcast by several USA radio stations from November 1974 to July 1975. There is little difference between V5a and V5b, except v5b is pre-brickwalled for radio broadcast. V6 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: Unfortunately, very few outtakes circulate of "Badlands", the anthem he opened concerts with for years, although there must be some good stuff waiting in the vaults. Remember, title, music, lyrics, the Springsteen method of songwriting. The title came from Terrence Malick's 1973 movie, Badlands (he 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, recorded on June 27 and 30. 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 in late June, 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 line "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" from 'Iceman', about which he later honestly 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: "You better get it straight, darling, Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king, And a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything, I wanna go out tonight, I wanna find out what I got". 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 Break Out.
V3 was recorded 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 is an alternate, with less double-tracked vocals than the Darkness version, and V4c was the final mix from April 11, which was pressed to acetate on April 12, 1978. V5 take 23 was a last moment dubbing, on May 5, 1978, of Clarence Clemons' sax solo. 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 would have been a major error".
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. V5, now known as "The River", was recorded at Power Station studios on August 26, 1979, with the completed take 5 (V6) selected for The Ties That Bind album. Bruce reconsidered in October, and that plan 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 TTTB version. For instance, ooo-ooos by Bruce and Steve were recorded on January 21, 1980 (V7), later overdubbed on either April 12 (V8) or April 24 (V9), and was sequenced as the final track of Disc 1 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. V10 is brief snippets 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, and including some well-known verses, like "is a dream a lie that don't come true, or is it something worse".
| MY FATHER'S HOUSE - V1 |
|
uncirculating |
| MY FATHER'S HOUSE - V2a |
|
uncirculating |
| MY FATHER'S HOUSE - V2b |
5:35 |
NEBRASKA (stereo mix) / SFEM / HNWB |
| MY FATHER'S HOUSE - V2c |
5:07 |
NEBRASKA / CHAPTER |
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 1986-7 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.
| VIETNAM - V1 |
3:15 |
FFOD / HNWB / MT2 |
| VIETNAM BLUES - V2 |
2:00 |
FFOD / HNWB / MT2 |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. BLUES - V3 |
2:22 |
FFOD / HNWB / MT2 |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V4 |
0:30 |
FFOD / HNWB |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V5 |
4:45 |
FFOD / HNWB |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V6 |
3:10 |
FFOD / HNWB |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V7 |
2:55 |
FFOD / HNWB |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V8 |
4:00 |
FFOD / HNWB |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V9a take 1 |
3:06 |
LM-1 / HNWB |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V9b take 1 mix 2 |
3:06 |
TRACKS |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V10 take 2 |
8:09 |
THLBB / UH / GS / BUERM / MI |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V11a take 4 mix 1 |
4:34 |
BITUSA / ESSENTIAL / GREATEST / CHAPTER |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V11b take 4 mix 2 |
4:52 |
LM-19 / THLBP |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V12 |
|
uncirculating |
| BORN IN THE U.S.A. - V13 take 9 |
|
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 |
“I’m a long gone daddy I don’t need you anyhow. ”
—Hank Williams 1948
Note: Writing and recording began at Springsteen's home in Colts Neck, New Jersey during October 1981 as the demo, "Vietnam" or "Vietnam Blues". V3 is now titled "Born In the U.S.A. Blues", re-titled after Jon Landau sent Springsteen a Paul Schrader script called "Born In the U.S.A.". V4 is a taken from November 1981, with the lyrics "Born baby in the USA, I believe in the American way". V5 thru V8 were recorded in December, and V9 was recorded on the portastudio Mike Batlan had setup on January 3, 1982. Bruce included it on the "Nebraska demos" cassette tape he 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 from Batlan, then V9b was mixed in 1997 and officially released on Tracks in 1998. V10 and V11 were recorded in just four takes (two complete), at The Power Station with the E Street Band, on April 27, 1982. V10 is the 8 minute+ extended jam ending, where Max Weinberg takes his shot at the title, as Bruce would say. V11a (take 4) became the first song on side one of the album, "Born In the USA". V11b continues where 11a fades out, with an extended synthesizer ending; it was leaked out of the sessions, and released unofficially on the bootleg, 'This Hard Land'. V12 represents takes 5-8 on April 28, 1982, and V13 is take 9 on May 3, 1982. V14a thru V14c are dance remixes of V11, undertaken by Arthur Baker, and recorded at Shakedown Studio in New York City in September 1984. Toby Scott was the recording engineer for the remixes (which include additional vocals by The Latin Rascals), which were first released in December 1984.
Note: Released as a single ahead of the album on September 17, 1987. Began life as "Is That You?", recorded February 5, 1987, but became "Brilliant Disguise" by the end of the 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).
Note: Recorded sometime from July to December 1991 at A&M Studios, Los Angeles. Springsteen handles all guitars and vocals and his 2-man backing band on this recording is Roy Bittan (keyboards) and Gary Mallaber (drums). Bittan is credited as a co-producer of this recording.
| THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD - V1 |
|
uncirculating |
| THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD - V2 |
4:20 |
JOAD / ESSENTIAL / CHAPTER |
| THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD - V3 |
|
2007 compilation |
| THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD - V4 |
7:34 |
HOPES |
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). The rock arrangement was premiered live on April 7, 2008 in Anaheim, CA, performed with Tom Morello sharing lead vocals. 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 the mid-late 2006 period. 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 USA during mid-late 2006 and then everything was mixed together at Shelter Island Sound Studios in NYC 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 in March 2013 in Los Angeles, the day before a flight to Australia for the Australian leg of the Wrecking Ball Tour. Produced by Ron Aniello and Springsteen.
Note: Song composed post 9/11, November 2001 - 2002. Recorded at Southern Tracks, Atlanta, during February-March, 2002. Soozie Tyrell contributes violin and background vocals, Jane Scarpantoni plays the cello.
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. This recording is a hybrid of two sessions quite some years apart. The basic track (Bruce, Danny Federici, Marty Rifkin, Soozie Tyrell and Patti Scialfa) emanates from 1997 or 1998, Thrill Hill West, Beverly Hills. CA. 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.
Note: features Springsteen, Ron Aniello (some combination of bass, keyboards, drums, percussion and/or loops, plus backing vocals), Max Weinberg (drums), Charlie Giordano (piano, B-3 organ), Rob Lebret (electric guitar, backing vocals), Curt Ramm (trumpet, cornet), Clarence Clemons (saxophone solo), Soozie Tyrell (violin & backing vocal) and backing vocals from Patti Scialfa, Lisa Lowell, Ross Peterson, Clif Norrell and Steve Van Zandt (uncredited). The New York Chamber Consort provide the strings. 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. Recorded by Toby Scott, Project Supervisor and Rob Lebret, Assistant Engineer at Stone Hill Studio, New Jersey. Also Clif Norrell and Ross Peterson, MSR Studio B, New York, New York. Mixed by Bob Clearmountain at Mix This!, Pacific Palisades, California.
Studio Sessions: Chapter And Verse
