Greatest Hits

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Commercially released: February 27, 1995
Label: Columbia
Produced by Bruce Springsteen, Mike Appel, Jon Landau, Steven Van Zandt, Chuck Plotkin, Roy Bittan
Recorded by Toby Scott, assisted by Carl Glanville and Pete Keppler at The Hit Factory, and Thrill Hill West
Mixed by Bob Clearmountain, assisted by Jay Militscher, Ryan Freeland and Tony Duino-Black
Mastered by Bob Ludwig and Brian Lee, Remastered by Bob Ludwig
Design by Sandra Choron
Photography by Eric Meola, Annie Leibovitz, David Gahr, David Rose, Jim Marchese and Pam Springsteen

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Table of Contents

Overview

Released

Additional Information

Overview

Greatest Hits is Bruce Springsteen's first compilation album. It is a collection of some of Springsteen's hit singles and popular album tracks through the years along with four new songs at the end, mostly recorded with the E Street Band in 1995. The latter constituted Springsteen's first (albeit very partial) release with his backing band since the late 1980s. Some of the songs are shorter versions of the original album releases.

The incorporation of the "new" tracks was portrayed in the 1996 documentary Blood Brothers. "Murder Incorporated" and "This Hard Land" were, in fact, unused 1982 songs from the Born in the U.S.A. sessions, with the latter being re-recorded here more than a decade later, and both subsequently became Springsteen concert staples. "Blood Brothers", on the other hand, was played only as the final closing song of both the 1999–2000 Reunion Tour and 2002–2003 Rising Tour, both times with an extra verse added. "Secret Garden" achieved notoriety via the soundtrack of the 1996 film Jerry Maguire. Alternate versions of several of these new tracks were released on the 1996 Blood Brothers EP.

Released

Greatest Hits

#	Song Title	Running Time	Release
1.	BORN TO RUN	4:31	BORN TO RUN / GREATEST
2.	THUNDER ROAD	4:49	BORN TO RUN / GREATEST
3.	BADLANDS	4:03	DARKNESS / GREATEST
4.	THE RIVER	5:01	RIVER / GREATEST
5.	HUNGRY HEART	3:20	RIVER / GREATEST
6.	ATLANTIC CITY	3:57	NEBRASKA / GREATEST
7.	DANCING IN THE DARK	4:03	BITUSA / GREATEST
8.	BORN IN THE U.S.A.	4:41	BITUSA / GREATEST
9.	MY HOMETOWN	4:13	BITUSA / GREATEST
10.	GLORY DAYS	3:49	BITUSA / GREATEST
11.	BRILLIANT DISGUISE	4:16	TUNNEL / GREATEST
12.	HUMAN TOUCH ²	5:10	HUMAN / GREATEST
13.	BETTER DAYS	3:45	LUCKY / GREATEST
14.	STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA	3:17	1994 single / OST: PHILADELPHIA / GREATEST
15.	SECRET GARDEN ¹	4:28	GREATEST / 1995 single / OST: MAGUIRE
16.	MURDER INCORPORATED ¹	3:58	GREATEST / BB: EP
17.	BLOOD BROTHERS ¹	4:34	GREATEST / BB: EP
18.	THIS HARD LAND ¹	4:51	GREATEST

^{Total Running Time: 1:16:45}

^{1: Recordings that were officially unreleased prior to their appearance on "Greatest Hits".

2: An edited/shortened version of the album track that was previously only available as a promotional item issued to radio stations.}

Additional Information

^{© All credits to the original photographer.}

BORN TO RUN - V1		uncirculating
BORN TO RUN - V2a	4:24	ESRR / BTRS
BORN TO RUN - V2b	4:28	BTRS
BORN TO RUN - V3	4:27	BTRS
BORN TO RUN - V4a	4:40	BIS / BTRS
BORN TO RUN - V4b	4:38	WAR / BTRS
BORN TO RUN - V4c	4:34	ETRJ / BWNH / BTRS / BTRCS / BIS / ROOI / WAR
BORN TO RUN - V4d	4:30	BIS / ROOI / ETRJ / ETRV / BTRS / BTRCS
BORN TO RUN - V4e	4:23	BTRS
BORN TO RUN - V4f	4:21	BTRS
BORN TO RUN - V4g	4:30	BTRS
BORN TO RUN - V4h	4:23	BTRS
BORN TO RUN - V4i	4:21	BIS / BTRCS
BORN TO RUN - V4j	4:21	BTRS
BORN TO RUN - V4k	3:20	Ktel-CBS
BORN TO RUN - V5a	4:28	BORN TO RUN / ESSENTIAL / GREATEST / CHAPTER
BORN TO RUN - V5b	4:28	ETRJ / ETRV / BTRS
BORN TO RUN - V5c	5:27	RTT
BORN TO RUN - V6		uncirculating
BORN TO RUN - V7		uncirculating

Note: On the road in the Mid-South late in 1973, he 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 V1."-Bruce by Peter Ames Carlin. According to Bruce, the entire writing and recording process took six months while he was living at a rented cottage at 7½ West End Court in West Long Branch, which suggests it began in late 1973. V2a is the original backing track recorded at 914 Sound Studios on May 21, 1974, after obviously being rehearsed and practiced in prior days. V2b from June 26, 1974 dubs in Bruce's vocals to the V2a track. Bruce continued work on the song, adding lyrics and overdubs, at 914 Sound Studios, both in June and then starting a week's residency on August 1, 1974. Finally, on August 6, 1974. the final version was mixed down from seventy-two tracks to the sixteen available at 914 Studios, including strings, more than one dozen guitar tracks, sax, drums, glockenspiel, bass, multiple keyboards and a variety of voices. The core backing track V3 was mixed, along with numerous test arrangements V4x, with backing vocals, double-tracked vocals and strings, and finally the one chosen for release V5a. An advanced tape release of the official version V5b, first aired on WMMR in Philadelphia on November 3, 1974 (V5c), and subsequently broadcast by several USA radio stations during November 74-July 75. There is little difference between these versions.

Sifting through all the information and "fake news" on 'Born To Run' is agony; it is obvious many records of studio takes, dubbing and mixing work are missing. V6 was an unreleased tape from October 16 cancelled by Columbia. There is a studio log entry on March 17, 1975, which was not a dub or mix session. We will mark that V7. Over the years, more than ten alternative mixes of Born To Run have leaked out, and this a short list and description of those we could identify. V4a has a double tracked vocal and strings; V4b has double tracked vocals. strings, and a female chorus; V4c also has a female chorus. V4d has a female chorus that doesn't kick in until the 3rd verse; 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; this was released by Ktel-CBS in Australia-only in early 1976 on a multi-artist LP called Supersounds.

CHRISSIE'S SONG - V1		uncirculating
WINGS FOR WHEELS - V2		uncirculating
THUNDER ROAD - V3a	4:39	BIS / WAR / ET / BWNH / BTRCS / UBTROC
THUNDER ROAD - V3b	5:12	BTRS / BTRO
THUNDER ROAD - V4	4:35	BIS / WAR / ET / BWNH / BTRS / BTRCS / UBTROC
THUNDER ROAD - V5	5:03	ESRR / BTRS
THUNDER ROAD - V6	5:22	WAR / BWNH / BTRS / BTRCS / UBTROC
THUNDER ROAD - V7	4:45	BORN TO RUN / ESSENTIAL / GREATEST

Note: Started out as a 1972 song called "Angelina", then after further development, Bruce did V1, a solo recording in October 1974 at 914 Sound Studios, Blauvelt NY of "Chrissie’s Song", including the line "Leave what you’ve lost, leave what’s grown cold, Thunder Road". Sometime between November 1974 and January 1975, Bruce took 'Chrissie' and the following lyrics from "Walking In the Street", and combined them into a composition he now called "Wings For Wheels" V2, recorded in February. The line, "they case the promised land" and verse, "Oh baby I can't lay the stars at your feet, but I think we could take it all, just you and me, Oh come on and see there's a lot of room, For you baby in this front seat". On February 5, 1975 at the Main Point, Bryn Mawr, PA, with Angelina his new girl in the song, Ed Sciaky introduced the radio broadcast that included 'Born To Run', 'She's the One', 'Jungleland', and 'Wings For Wheels'. A memorable moment, not preserved for album #3, was Suki Lahav’s violin behind Bruce: "Now the season's over and I feel it getting cold, Well, I wish I could take you to some sandy beach, where we'd never grow old, ah, but baby, you know that's just jive, tonight's bustin' open and I'm alive, Oh, do what you can do to make me feel like a man". But "Wings" had a horrible jazz ending ("snake charmer's song with a beat"), and sometime after March 9 (the last time "Wings" appeared on a set list), Bruce took the music he had written for "Walking In the Street", and patched it on to the end of "Wings for Wheels"; now his new lyric "this is a town for losers, I'm pulling out of here to win" was followed by the new instrumentral outro. "The night's bustin' open, these two lanes will take us anywhere", and a poster for a 1958 Robert Mitchum movie in the lobby of a movie theater, provided the final ingredients for "Thunder Road".

The exact mechanics behind moving "Walking In the Street" to "Wings For Wheels" is not known, but besides being mostly ignored, there seems to be no end of alternate explanations for the magic that suddenly came to "Thunder Road". While the contributions of people like Landau, Roy Bittan, and Max Weinberg cannot be overlooked, nothing came close to the new instrumental ending. According to the 2005 documentary, "Wings For Wheels the Making of Born to Run", Landau says he helped restructure some songs. Meanwhile, the film shows the band performing the old Wings for Wheels outro on February 6, 1975 at Widener College, Chester, Pennsylvania; then it cuts to the now familiar instrumental ending of "Thunder Road", implying Landau was the person who made the change, or you be the judge. Bruce has never breathed a word about this, which worked out quite well, except he claims to have lost the completed tape of "Walking In the Street", recorded May 28, 1975, which is also why it could not go on "Tracks". Another point of view is that most of "Walking In the Street" was incorporated into "Thunder Road", which brings up the question, what was recorded in two takes on May 28 at the Record Plant?

April 13, 1975 was the day Jon Landau officially joined the album #3 production team. Louis Lahav, chief engineer, and his wife Suki, the violin player, quit and returned to their native Israel at the end of February (this is often misreported as months later, which is incorrect, and the story that she and Bruce were in love, and that the Lahavs left to save their marriage, has nothing to do with "Thunder Road"). Jimmy Iovine reported to work at the Record Plant on April 18, after Landau was instructed to find better accommodations. Thunder Road and Jungleland were the first two songs recorded that day, and a total of three versions of "Thunder Road" would be recorded over April 18-19 and 23, 1975. V3a is a full-band version, the girl is now Chrissie, and ends with the build up, instrumental outro, 2 refrains led by Clarence, to a quick, full ending (no fadeout). V3b has 2 extra refrains for an extra long ending. The lyrics are getting there, but the guitar is not yet talking, and "Leave what you’ve lost, leave what’s grown cold, Thunder Road" from "Chrissie's Song" is still there. V4 is a haunting acoustic solo version, one of Bruce’s greatest studio performances; the girl is now Christina, but otherwise no lyrical changes. V5, released on E Street Radio, is from April 23, starts with Roy Bittan's piano, base rhythm and Bruce's vocal and guitar (no organ or sax). "Leave what you’ve lost, leave what’s grown cold" now replaced with "Sit tight, take hold", a major change. The final refrain is led by piano, with Bruce's overdubbed guitar. V6, recorded, or at least overdubbed, on July 15 or 16, and we are almost ready to open "Born To Run". This take opens with saxophone and Roy's piano, which dominates the first 2 minutes with Bruce's now awesome vocal, introduces us to Mary, and rocks all the way through, dominated by guitar. The long outro mixes guitar, sax and piano just like the album, and has 7 refrains, though one variation only has 5. V7 now has piano and harmonica opening without sax, glock, the talking guitar and Mary, and after 12 hours mixing and dubbing guitars, was completed on July 16, 1975, with Mike Appel on background vocals.

BADLANDS - V1	4:07	LM-2 / DDO / DDOC / DO-3 / AM / UP
BADLANDS - V2	3:47	LM-3 / DDO / DDOC / DO-2 / UP
BADLANDS - V3	3:40	LM-3 / UP / AM / LMEC1
BADLANDS - V4a	3:57	ODM / HOD / AM
BADLANDS - V4b	3:59	uncirculating
BADLANDS - V4c	3:59	uncirculating
BADLANDS - V5 take 23	3:59	DARKNESS / ESSENTIAL / GREATEST / CHAPTER

Note: Unfortunately, very few outtakes circulate of Badlands, one of Springsteen's greatest songs and anthems, that 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 one of Clarence Clemons' greatest sax solos, perhaps ranking just behind Jungleland on his personal list. 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". Relax Bruce, don't overthink everything, you might inadvertently make a real mistake, like deciding to delete "The Promise" at the last minute.

OH ANGELYNE - V1	1:35	LM-6 / DROC1 / RRR
OH ANGELYNE - V2	0:49	LM-6
OH ANGELYNE - V3	2:59	LM-6
OH ANGELYNE - V4	2:20	LM-6 / MT2
THE RIVER - V5		uncirculating
THE RIVER - V6 take 5	4:45	TTTBR / TTTBJ / RIVER: SINGLE / PYP / LEK / ATMF
THE RIVER - V7		uncirculating
THE RIVER - V8		uncirculating
THE RIVER - V9	4:56	RIVER / ESSENTIAL / GREATEST / CHAPTER
THE RIVER - V10	0:36	TTTB: DOCUMENTARY

Note: Evolved from the demo "Oh Angelyne", which he started working on after the Darkness tour ended on January 1, 1979. Thanks to Lost Masters, and Batlan keeping Bruce's garbage, instead of throwing it away, we have four takes of a solo demo recorded by Bruce at home February-May, 1979. V5, now known as "The River", was recorded at The Power Station on August 26, 1979, and V6 was the completed take 5 from August 29, 1979, set to go on "The Ties That Bind" album. Bruce reconsidered and that plan fell through. As the new plan, the River double album, proceeded, Springsteen, for unknown reasons, changed each of tracks chosen for the 1979 TTTB album, some drastically, such as "The Price You Pay", which lost a critical verse, or "Stolen Car", which received a total overhaul. "To Be True" and "Cindy" were removed completely, but the other tracks, including "The River", were changed in subtle ways. For instance, ooo-ooos by Bruce and Steve were recorded on January 21, 1980 V7, and later overdubbed on either April 12 V8 or April 24 V9, and this went on the final track of Disc 1 of the River double album. 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 are 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".

HUNGRY HEART - V1a	2:48	DROC2 / PYP
HUNGRY HEART - V1b	3:44	DROC2
HUNGRY HEART - V1c	3:26	LM-6
HUNGRY HEART - V1d	3:18	LM-6
HUNGRY HEART - V1e	3:29	LM-6 / RRR
HUNGRY HEART - V1f	3:31	private cdr
HUNGRY HEART - V1g - take 2	3:21	TTTBR / TTTBJ / RIVER: SINGLE / LEK
HUNGRY HEART - V1h	3:15	RIVER / 1980 Single / ESSENTIAL / GREATEST

Note: Apparently penned after Joey Ramone asked Bruce to write a song for the Ramones after he attended a Ramones show at The Fast Lane in Asbury Park in March 1979; this may be apocryphal. In any case, Springsteen has confirmed that it was written with the Ramones in mind, and was considering giving the song away. He played it for Jon Landau, who convinced Bruce to keep it for himself. The eight takes listed above all appear to be different mixes of the same basic performance that are also running at varying tape speeds. The version released on The River has been pitch adjusted, raising the pitch of Springsteen's vocal to achieve a more radio friendly sound. V1b is the backing track only. V1f has heavy echo added to Springsteen's vocal. Recorded at The Power Station on June 14 and 21, 1979, with dubs-mixing for the TTTB album September 5, 1979. Dubbing and mixing sessions for the River took place on March 24 and April 10, 1980. Flo & Eddie (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan of the Turtles) contributed backing vocals during one of those sessions.

FIST FULL OF DOLLARS - V1	3:44	FFOD / HNWB / MT2
FIST FULL OF DOLLARS - V2	2:24	FFOD / HNWB
ATLANTIC CITY - V3	1:40	FFOD / HNWB
ATLANTIC CITY - V4 take 1		uncirculating
ATLANTIC CITY - V5 - take 4	4:00	LM-1
ATLANTIC CITY - V6a - take 3	3:56	NEBRASKA / ESSENTIAL / GREATEST
ATLANTIC CITY - V6b - take 3	3:43	NEBRASKA (stereo mix)
ATLANTIC CITY - V7		uncirculating
ATLANTIC CITY - V8		uncirculating
ATLANTIC CITY - V9		uncirculating
ATLANTIC CITY - V10		uncirculating

Note: Before he writes the music, and lastly the lyrics, the first thing Bruce Springsteen does is choose a title! This is how he writes many of his songs, and he chose Fistfull of Dollars from the Clint Eastwood movie. The two demos (V1 & V2) he recorded in April 1981, had the title in them, but they also had quite a few verses written, all about Atlantic City. You can hear him turning pages of his notebook as he worked on them. FFOD never went anywhere, but as for Atlantic City…..
The story continues in late 1981, still at Colts Neck, V3 lines are getting into shape; The rest is Bruce trying variations of the chorus. V4, V5 V6 were recorded on his Portastudio at Colts Neck during a two-week period, December 17 to January 3, 1982, with V6 take 3 chosen for Nebraska. Take 5 v5 is the only outtake from this session. In a letter to Jon Landau, Springsteen noted that "this song should probably be done with the whole band really rockin' out". V7 was cut at The Power Station on April 26-28, 1982, with the band during the 'Electric Nebraska' sessions. Landau insisted on releasing the solo version, "No way was it as good as what he had goin' on that demo tape". The three days working on the full-band arrangement, however, paid off handsomely for years after taking it on the road.

DANCING IN THE DARK - V1a	4:31	BUERM / 1984AC
DANCING IN THE DARK - V1b	3:57	BITUSA / ESSENTIAL / GREATEST
DANCING IN THE DARK - V2a - blaster mix	6:09	1984 EP
DANCING IN THE DARK - V2b - radio mix	4:50	1984 EP
DANCING IN THE DARK - V2c - dub mix	5:30	1984 EP

Note: The last song on Born In The U.S.A. to be recorded. Written in no time at all after Jon Landau convinced Bruce that the album needed a single. According to Dave Marsh in Glory Days, Bruce was not impressed with Landau's approach. "Look", he snarled, "I've written seventy songs. You want another one, you write it." Despite this reaction, Bruce sat in his hotel room and wrote the song in a single night. It sums up his state of mind, his feeling of isolation after the success of The River, and his frustrations of trying to write a hit-single. Six takes cut on February 14, 1984 at The Hit Factory, then 58 mixes, completed on March 8. V1a contains a longer sax solo at the end that was shortened (cut) for the official album version. V2a thru V2c are dance/disco remixes done at The Power Station in April or early May 1984 by Arthur Baker. The recording engineer for the remixes was Chris Lord-Alge. These remixes were released on June 29, 1984. The 7" and 12" singles were released on May 9, 1984, and the 12" finished as the biggest selling in the U.S.A. that year.

VIETNAM - V1	3:15	FFOD / HNWB / MT2
VIETNAM BLUES - V2	2:00	FFOD / HNWB / MT2
BORN IN THE U.S.A. - 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.

YOUR HOMETOWN - V1	3:41	LM-17
YOUR HOMETOWN - V2	3:26	LM-17 / GS
YOUR HOMETOWN - V3	3:21	LM-17 / GS
YOUR HOMETOWN - V4	3:33	LM-17
YOUR HOMETOWN - V5 take 1	6:47	uncirculating
YOUR HOMETOWN - V6 take 2	6:22	uncirculating
MY HOMETOWN - V7 take 3	4:27	BITUSA / GREATEST
MY HOMETOWN - V8 take 4	4:59	LM-19

Note: Written in late 1982 as a rockabilly song called "Your Hometown". V1-V4 were early takes from January - February 1983. After setting it aside for a few months, Bruce came back with a new title, "My Hometown", and arrangement for the band. On June 29, 1983 at The Hit Factory, four complete takes were recorded, but the first two were discarded because they both exceeded six minutes. Takes 3 and 4, which both featuring Ruth Jackson (wife of sound engineer Bruce Jackson) on background vocals, were the finalist, with take 3 V7 chosen for Born In The USA.

GLORY DAYS - V1	1:59	LM-10
GLORY DAYS - V2	4:24	private
GLORY DAYS - V3a	4:54	THLBP / THLBB
GLORY DAYS - V3b	5:18	LM-19 / UH / GS / MI / BUERM / TDB / RTT
GLORY DAYS - V3c	5:05	private cdr
GLORY DAYS - V3d	4:11	BITUSA / ESSENTIAL / GREATEST

Note: V1 is a very early demo from January-April 1982, includes the "my dad" verse that was cut from the final album version, but appears in most circulating bootlegs. V2 is a Colts Neck band rehearsal from April 1982. It seems the song was fairly well developed and rehearsed at this point. Some minor lyrical variations throughout, and it lacks the entire call-and-response ending. V3 is recorded at The Power Station on May 5, 1982; four different mixes are known. V3a only appears on This Hard Land issues and Roll The Tapes, and is unique because of the serious audio distortion that runs throughout. V3b is unedited and contains the extra verse cut from the officially released version. The wild variations in track length appear to be due to tape speed, and there are two variations in the count-in. An alternative source of V3b includes an engineer identifying the take as #11.

BRILLIANT DISGUISE

4:12

TUNNEL / ESSENTIAL / GREATEST / CHAPTER

Note: Began life as "Is That You?", which was recorded February 5, 1987. Became "Brilliant Disguise" by the end of that month. Recorded at Thrill Hill East (Springsteen’s NJ home studio). Springsteen handles multiple instruments and his three-man backing band on this recording is Roy Bittan (keyboards), Danny Federici (organ) and Max Weinberg (percussion).

HUMAN TOUCH – V1a	6:41	private cdr
HUMAN TOUCH – V1b	6:28	HUMAN
HUMAN TOUCH – V1c	5:09	GREATEST / ESSENTIAL / promo cd

Note: Written in the Spring of 1990. Springsteen handles guitar and vocals and his three-man backing band on this recording is Randy Jackson (bass), Roy Bittan (keyboards) and Jeff Porcaro (drums). Additional background vocal overdub by Patti Scialfa. All of the above are different mix/edits of the same core recording. V1a features an extended intro and an extra guitar break mid song. V1c is merely an edited version of V1b and was officially released as a promo single in some countries and later on the official Greatest Hits and Essential packages.

BETTER DAYS

4:04

LUCKY / ESSENTIAL: 2015 / GREATEST

Note: Recorded sometime from July to December 1991 at A&M Studios, Los Angeles. Springsteen handles all guitars, keyboards and lead vocals and his 2-man backing band on this recording is Randy Jackson (bass) and Gary Mallaber (drums). Female background vocalists are Patti Scialfa, Lisa Lowell and Soozie Tyrell.

STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA - V1a		uncirculating
STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA - V1b	4:11	BACK / OST: PHILADELHPIA / 1994 single
STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA - V1c	3:17	GREATEST / ESSENTIAL
STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA - V1d	2:53	DDITV / 1994 b-side
STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA - V1e	4:13	promo-only cd
STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA - V1f	3:43	TOTP video mix
STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA - V2		uncirculating

Note: Written in mid-1993 and first registered at the US Copyright office on August 27. 1993. First issued on December 30, 1993 as part of the Philadelphia soundtrack CD, then issued as a single in February 1994. However, this is a song with a complex recording and release history. All recordings were co-produced by Springsteen and Chuck Plotkin. V1a was recorded during August 1993 at Thrill Hill Recording, Beverly Hills, California, and features only Springsteen – on vocals, guitar, bass, synthesizer and drum machine. V1b, the “hit” version that appeared on the album soundtrack and the single, is the exact same as V1a except that there are added background vocals by Tommy Sims. To complicate matters the V1b version was issued in slightly shorter running time lengths on some versions of the single in some countries (done by shortening either the intro or outro). V1c is a significantly edited version of V1b that was released on the Greatest Hits album. V1d is the version used for the commercially released video – it is the same base recording as V1b except that it features an alternate (“live”) Springsteen vocal. V1e was released as a promotion-only single in the UK and Austria and this is allegedly yet another slightly different mix of V1b. V1f is the audio released as part of a black & white video shot in early 1994 at CBS TV Soundstage studios in New York and originally broadcast on the UK TV show ‘Top Of The Pops’. It is alleged this is yet another slight, but unique, mix variation. V2 is a different recording of the song made in October 1993, apparently at A&M Studios in Los Angeles. It features Bruce on lead vocal, instrumentation provided by Springsteen and jazz virtuoso Ornette Coleman, bass and background vocals by Tommy Sims and additional background vocals by Little Jimmy Scott. V2 was allegedly scheduled to be the officially released version up to early December 1993, when it was nixed at the last second, even after the song’s video (which featured Little Jimmy extensively) was shot. The video had to be re-shot. A brief snippet of V2 (including the tell-tale vocals of Little Jimmy Scott) is actually heard about halfway through the movie (but it’s V1b that is heard in the opening sequence of the movie).

SECRET GARDEN - V1		uncirculating
SECRET GARDEN - V2	0:53	YBNT2
SECRET GARDEN - V3a	4:10	YBNT2
SECRET GARDEN - V3b	2:12	YBNT2
SECRET GARDEN - V4	4:15	DDITV
SECRET GARDEN - V5a	4:27	GREATEST
SECRET GARDEN - V5b	4:32	BB: EP
SECRET GARDEN (Jerry Maguire Mix) - V5c	4:31	Promo cd single

Note: V1 was recorded for "Human Touch" but not utilized. In January 1995, Bruce re-recorded it at The Hit Factory, New York, during his reunion with the E Street Band. V2 is a combination of two brief snippets that was shown in the Blood Brothers video. V3 is a complete, alternate take, and V4 is prefaced by recording "take #1". V5a was released as a single, and included on the album, "Bruce Springsteen: Greatest Hits", released February 28, 1995. V5b features strings (courtesy David Kahn) added to V5a, and released November 19, 1996, on the official "Blood Brothers EP", as well as a single b-side in some countries. V5c, known as "the Jerry McGuire Remix", was produced by Matt Jones at Portland, Oregon radio station Z-100 (with permission from Springsteen/Sony), as part of a spring 1997 listener contest promotion exclusive to that station. It features dialog excerpts from the movie added on top of the instrumental sections of the regular commercial version of the song. There are also additional, brief radio station plug spots before and after the song that are heard on this promo-only CD released June 26, 1997.

MURDER INCORPORATED - V1a	4:05	MI / GS / MILM / LM-19 / TDB / UH
MURDER INCORPORATED - V1b	4:13	private cdr
MURDER INCORPORATED - V1c	4:22	THLBP / THLRR / RTT
MURDER INCORPORATED - V1d	4:31	THLBP / RTT
MURDER INCORPORATED - V1e	4:47	THLBB
MURDER INCORPORATED - V1f	3:57	SFEM
MURDER INCORPORATED - V1g	4:02	GREATEST / ESSENTIAL: 2015
MURDER INCORPORATED - V2	4:03	MI / GS / MILM / UH

Note: Recorded at The Power Station May 3-4, 1982. Different mix permutations of the same core recording. The recording found on track 3 of the LP 'This Hard Land' (Boss Productions) could be another different mix but runs very slow. Track 5 from the aforementioned LP is V1c, which lacks a "woo" before the opening line as well as some backing vocals. V1a deletes the saxophone solo after the second verse. The officially released V1e includes the saxophone solo but fades out earlier than the outtakes, explaining the ten second difference in track length V2 is a mix so different it gets it's own version number. Different instruments and sound.

BLOOD BROTHERS - V1	1:11	YBNT2
BLOOD BROTHERS - V2a	1:54	YBNT2
BLOOD BROTHERS - V2b	1:31	YBNT2
BLOOD BROTHERS - V2c	3:12	YBNT2
BLOOD BROTHERS - V2d	5:05	YBNT2
BLOOD BROTHERS - V2e	5:02	DDITV
BLOOD BROTHERS - V3	4:31	GREATEST
BLOOD BROTHERS - V4	4:53	private
BLOOD BROTHERS - V5	3:57	BB: EP
BLOOD BROTHERS - V6	3:12	private
BLOOD BROTHERS - V7	5:12	private
BLOOD BROTHERS - V8	5:42	private
BLOOD BROTHERS - V9	3:54	private
BLOOD BROTHERS - V10	4:20	private
BLOOD BROTHERS - V11	2:20	private
BLOOD BROTHERS - V12	4:16	O&S

Note: Recorded in January 1995 at The Hit Factory, New York City. There are many different arrangements, and it's clear that Springsteen was uncertain about which to use. V1 is a brief snippet shown in the video. V2a and V2b are slightly different mixes of the official video take. V3 (with session player Frank Pagano guesting on percussion instruments) and V5 are different recordings, both of them officially issued. V4 (take #31) is very similar to the V3, slightly slower with small lyrical variations. V5 is the stirring "rock" version that many consider superior to V3, while V6 is an alternative take (#20) of the "rock" version with some lyrical variation and an upfront accordion accompaniment. V7 is the earliest complete take and an alternative arrangement of the "rock" version with a melody very close to that of the Greatest Hits version. This take (#3) also has some lyrical variations, including "out on west end" rather than ".out on the end". V8 features a quiet, downbeat arrangement and is take #9. V9 is performed by Bruce, Max, and Roy (on keyboards). This take (#18) features some lyrical variations and can perhaps be described as "Secret Garden-ish". V10 is fascinating, and the arrangement can only be described as heavily Dylan-inspired with an organ riff that is very reminiscent of "Like A Rolling Stone". There's also plenty of harmonica and some lyrics that are unique to this arrangement. At the conclusion, Bruce says "well that's the idea anyway!". This is the same arrangement found in V1. V11 is a cut work-in-progress of the Greatest Hits arrangement in a different key (D) and Bruce providing instruction and direction to the band. V12 is a stunning solo acoustic performance that is deserving of an official release.

THIS HARD LAND - V1	4.46	THLRR / TRACKS / UH / SQBI / MI / GS
THIS HARD LAND - V2	4.50	THLBP / THLBB / MAT / CAST
THIS HARD LAND - V3	4:43	VA
THIS HARD LAND - V4		uncirculating
THIS HARD LAND - V5		uncirculating
THIS HARD LAND - V6		uncirculating
THIS HARD LAND - V7	4:33	YBNT2 / BB
THIS HARD LAND - V8	4:40	DDITV
THIS HARD LAND - V9	4:48	GREATEST
THIS HARD LAND - V10	5:40	private

Note: V1-V4 recorded at The Power Station (not The Hit Factory, as the Tracks liner notes suggest) on May 11 and 13-14, 1982. Springsteen returned to it V5-V6 with two demos recorded on January 3 and 15, 1983. Re-recorded in January 1995 at The Hit Factory, New York City, for the Greatest Hits sessions. Frank Pagano guests on percussion instruments. V7 is a brief snippet shown in the video. V6 and V8 are two different recordings, though very similar. Neither is as good as the original 1982 Born In The USA studio session version that is available on Tracks. V9 is take #3 with mandolin and accordion and an extended coda.

^{Studio Sessions: Greatest Hits}

1995 brucespringsteen g info retail r_gh studio

	Count
Born To Run	1721
Thunder Road	1412
Badlands	1203
The River	683
Hungry Heart	738
Atlantic City	364
Dancing In The Dark	1024
Born In The U.S.A.	992
My Hometown	536
Glory Days	549
Brilliant Disguise	437
Human Touch	126
Better Days	122
Streets Of Philadelphia	91
Secret Garden	7
Murder Incorporated	272
Blood Brothers	6
This Hard Land	272

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