The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle

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Commercially Released: November 5, 1973
Label: Columbia
Produced by Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos
Recorded by Louis Lahav at 914 Sound Studios (May - September 1973)
Design by Teresa Alfieri and John Berg
Photography by David Gahr

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Overview

Released

Additional Information

Overview

Following the completion of the debut LP sessions on October 26, 1972, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. was commercially released on January 5, 1973. Despite positive critical response, it sold 22,000 copies. Springsteen continued composing new material after the sessions ended, and was allegedly supplied with a reel-to-reel recorder by Mike Appel and/or Jim Cretecos to make home demos on his own. No audio from September-December 1972 has ever emerged, but publishing demo recording sessions were held at 914 Sound Studio, Blauvelt, NY on January 29-30, 1973 (where takes of "Saga Of the Architect Angel", "Ballad Of A Self-Loading Pistol", "Janey Needs A Shooter", "Winter Song", and "I Met Her At A Tourist Trap In Tijuana" were made) and February 19-20, 1973, where "Song For Orphans" was recorded, and probably "Tokyo" and "Vibes Man". This is unconfirmed, but stylistically and chronologically speaking the recordings of "Tokyo" and "Vibes Man" are the only ones that fit the timeline. Previously thought to date from mid-1972, both seem to fit the E Street Band rather better than the solo songs Springsteen was composing in 1972. "Tokyo" was played live with the band in April 1973, while "Vibes Man" would later become the coda to "New York City Serenade", after Bruce combined it with another song from early 1973, "New York [City] Song". It should be noted that these two sessions were not part of sessions for Springsteen's second album.

Recording sessions for The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle (WIESS) are thought to have begun in mid-May 1973, but so far, records for only two songs have been found from that time, "Circus Song" and "The Fever". However, there are indications of a lot of missing recording information from 914 Sound Studios between June 1972 and March 1975. Studio time at 914 Sound was slotted in during breaks in touring, and often took place after midnight, when the owners were not around. Marathon sessions were held around the clock, Springsteen said in Born To Run that he and Clarence pitched a tent outside the studio and slept there for days while working on overdubs. Though only two sessions are on record, Bruce did not perform between May 13 and 23. According to Craig Statham in Springsteen - Saint in the City, "The recording went on for four months, with a total of 50 days and nights of studio work".

According to known studio logs, sessions began in earnest at 914 Sound Studios on Friday, June 22, 1973 to record the base tracks, but the final live performance before this was on June 15, so sessions may have begun the following week, or much earlier in May. On June 28, David Sancious re-joined the not-yet-known-as-the-E-Street-Band, and contributed overdubs and mixing help to tracks already recorded. In a late 1970s interview in Thunder Road magazine, Sancious verified that most of the session songs had already been recorded by the time he joined. Four is the actual number, there are no June log entries for "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)", "Incident on 57th Street" and "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)". Contributions were made by non-band members Suki Lahav (background choir vocals), Richard Blackwell (congas, percussion) and Albee Tellone (baritone sax). Sancious overdubbed instrumental tracks and background vocals onto recordings, and experimented with different mixes. No alternate takes of the album tracks have ever been released or bootlegged, but we know there were many, especially "Circus Song", which was re-named "Wild Billy's Circus Story" for the album. Alternate mixes of "Kitty's Back" and "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" do circulate, along with a recording of "New York City Song" from June 22, before it ceased to exist. According to studio logs, two songs were recorded that have not circulated in any fashion, "Fire On The Wing" and "Never On A Sunday". There may be more, but we only have information on a fraction of the recording sessions.

Some critics looking back have commented that songs such as "Santa Ana", "Thundercrack", "Zero and Blind Terry", "The Fever" and "Seaside Bar Song" might have formed the core of a strong record. "Fever" became an underground hit after Appel leaked it to radio stations, but Springsteen did not include it, and the others, on the final track sequence, because there was no room. The seven songs that made the cut were all that could fit on a 12" vinyl pressing, and Columbia had no interest in a double album. It is reported Columbia Records executives did not overrule proposed track selections for the album, but their influence was felt, and there were threats that there would be no album at all. Springsteen remembers, "I wrote several wild, long pieces…arranged to leave the band and the audience exhausted and gasping for breath", but "Incident" and "Rosalita" were chosen over "Zero" and "Thundercrack" in the end.

One night in August, Columbia A&R Chief Charlie Koppelman and Kip Cohen drove up to 914 Sound Studios, and made Appel and Bob Spitz play an early version of the album. Koppelman's reaction was, "Fellas, we may have come to the end of our days with Bruce Springsteen. This is not an album we are going to put out." When Appel reported back to Springsteen, Bruce "restructured, remixed and got rid of the filler", and added "Incident On 57th Street" and "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" in September. When Koppelman played the finished album, he acquiesced, and it was released on November 5. However, the album received very little press - there were no advertisements in the trades, no release party. The band weren't even sure when the album was going to hit the stores.

Released

The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle

#	Song Title	Running Time	Release
1.	THE E STREET SHUFFLE	4:24	WIESS / 1975 b-side
2.	4TH OF JULY, ASBURY PARK (SANDY)	5:53	WIESS / 1975 single
3.	KITTY'S BACK	7:04	WIESS
4.	WILD BILLY'S CIRCUS STORY	4:38	WIESS
5.	INCIDENT ON 57TH STREET	7:46	WIESS
6.	ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT)	7:00	WIESS
7.	NEW YORK CITY SERENADE	9:53	WIESS

^{Total Running Time: 46:50}

Additional Information

THE E STREET SHUFFLE - V1		uncirculating
THE E STREET SHUFFLE - V2	4:24	WIESS / 1975 b-side

Note: Written around early/mid-1973, and first played live June 6, 1973, before David Sancious joined the band. V1 was recorded at 914 Sound Studios on June 28, 1973, and another recording session was logged on September 22, but it is certain there were more in between. Albee Tellone, sound manager and roadie for Bruce from November 1972-December 1973, believes it was Sancious' presence that inspired the tune. Albee says: "I went to David's house with Bruce to learn it while David played his piano. I thought that they had written it together". He goes on to say: "We all went to the studio and played 'live' together in the large room just like we had rehearsed it in the garage in Deal, NJ. Bruce sang it 'live' then too. I was told that they were going to keep only the drums and bass parts and build overdubs from there. Bruce played rhythm on his Telecaster but replaced it later as the tracks were added. I came back on another day to overdub my sax part. We also recorded the 'tune-up' intro with tuba and cornet separately when I came back to play the baritone sax part". "Albany" Al Tellone guests on baritone sax, and would appear as a special guest on this song during the final three months of 1973. The song's main riff is lifted from the Major Lance hit "The Monkey Time", while the outro borrows musically from Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up".
^{Thanks to Albee for the information.}

4TH OF JULY, ASBURY PARK (SANDY) - V1	5:47	US5 / BIS / ROOI / SA914 / ET / ETRJ
4TH OF JULY, ASBURY PARK (SANDY) - V2	5:35	PS / EY / ROOI / SA914
4TH OF JULY, ASBURY PARK (SANDY) - V3	5:31	WIESS / ESSENTIAL / CHAPTER / 1975 single

Note: First known studio take was 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…". 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. 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." Diane says she was Sandy, along with the "Thundercrack" girl and Rosalita, too.

KITTY'S BACK - V1	7:10	PS / EY / SA914 / ET
KITTY'S BACK - V2	7:16	uncirculating
KITTY'S BACK - V3	7:25	ROOI
KITTY'S BACK - V4	7:25	US5 / BIS / ETRJ
KITTY'S BACK - V5	7:04	WIESS

Note: Written during mid-1973. In 1974 Bruce mentioned he got the idea for the title from a neon sign promoting the return of popular stripper’s show to a local Shore-area club. Base track was recorded June 28, 1973 with overdubs on July 11, 24 and September 23. David Sancious has mentioned in interviews that the organ solo on this track is his, and we can presume it was added at one of the three later sessions. The final product reflects the song writing and arranging skills of Bruce, with help from Sancious. It spent the rest of the decade in the live set. One of the final songs completed for the album. All versions are slightly different mixes or recordings, V1-V4 could be from any or all of the recording dates confirmed.

CIRCUS SONG - V1		uncirculating
WILD BILLY'S CIRCUS STORY - V2	4:38	WIESS

Note: Written in 1972 as "Circus Town", and performed live as an acoustic show opener from December 1972 (by which time it was being called "Circus Song"), up until mid-1974. Inspired by memories of the circus that came to Freehold every summer when Bruce was young, he brilliantly describes the cast of characters as the tuba plays, "I’ve stood around carnivals at midnight when they’re clearing up and I was scared, I met some dangerous people.” On April 24, 1973 at the Main Point, Little Tiny Tim says, "Sampson, where's the liars? Oh, they're outside cryin' Oh, hear the liars Oh, feel their fire Hear the liars, They're so scared of dyin'", after which he sings "Well, anybody wanna try the big top? All aboard, Nebraska's our next stop." Though he had performed "Circus Song" with these lyrics since January, he made a change just before appearing May 1, 1973, at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles, where it was to be filmed for showing at the CBS Sales Convention in July. The final verse was changed to, "And the strong man, Sampson, lifts the midget, little Tiny Tim, way up on his shoulders, way up and carries him on down the midway, past the kids, past the sailors, to his dimly lit trailer, And the Ferris go 'round and 'round like it ain't ever gonna stop, And the circus boss is whispering into some little boy's ear, "Hey son, you wanna try the big top?" All aboard, Nebraska's our next stop!". In the blink of an eye, "Circus Song" went from the killer of every boy's dream to run away and join the circus, to something less nefarious, and that's the way it stayed. Click this link for further details.

The first studio recordings were made on May 14, 1973 at 914 Sound Studios, with eight takes; it is not known if any of these recordings survived, but are listed above as V1. An almost perfect recording of "Circus Song" was recorded on May 31, 1973 at WGOE Radio Alpha Studios, Richmond, Virginia. It's available on Über Series Vol 22. Work on "Circus Song" was resumed with two days on June 25 and 26 and final dubs on the 28th, the complete album take renamed, "Wild Billy's Circus Story". When or why the title of the song was changed is not currently known, but it was June or later, at least as far as documentation goes. This song might not exist without bass player Garry Tallent on tuba and organist Danny Federici on accordion.

ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) - V1	7:17	US5 / ET / ETRJ / ROOI / SA914
ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) - V2	7:00	WIESS / ESSENTIAL / GH09

Note According to Diane Lozito, Bruce's girlfriend 1971-1975, "he wrote 'Rosalita' in bits and pieces and didn't have a title for it," she says. "My mom is Rita Lozito. Then he met my grandma. So I assume that's where he put it together." Her grandmother's full name was "Rose Lozito"; In that part of Jersey, it's pronounced Lazita, so "Rose Lazita". Apparently, the derivation of the sub-title "(Come Out Tonight)" is by an unrelated and unknown process. Also according to Diane, and confirmed independently by her sister, Carol Lisa Lozito, though the song name came from her grandmother, the song was about Diane. Carol also said her sister was 'Crazey Janey" in "Spirit In the Night", "Sandy" in "4th of July, Asbury Park", "Terry" in "Backstreets", and the girl in "Thundercrack". This has never been refuted by Springsteen. In an interview for Mojo magazine published in January 1999, Springsteen told Mark Hagen that he wrote "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" as a live showstopper, just as he had written "Thundercrack" before it. Rosie was performed for the first time on February 14, 1973 at Richmond, Virginia, fully-formed musically, with plenty of lyrics too, though some were unfamiliar "with her chiffon reigns" and "soft sweet samurai tongue". According to roadie and baritone sax player "Albany" Albee Tellone, Rosalita's layered sound was recorded over numerous sessions at 914 Sound Studios, culminating on Bruce's birthday September 23, 1973, also the last known date of the WIESS sessions. The final album mix, and an instrumental backing track V1, are all that is in general circulation.

NEW YORK CITY SONG - V1		uncirculating
NEW YORK CITY SERENADE - V2	9:58	PS / EY / SA914 / GT / ROOI
NEW YORK CITY SERENADE - V3	9:53	WIESS

Note: "New York Song" aka "New York City Song", was composed 1972-1973, and played live from January 3 - June 2, 1973. It was recorded on May 31, 1973 at Alpha Sound Studios, Richmond, Virginia for live broadcast on WGOE-FM, and can be found on Über Series Vol 22. On June 22, V1 was recorded for Album #2 at 914 Sound Studios, Blauvelt, New York. In the following week, an idea to combine it with elements of "Vibes Man", another 1972 composition, was hatched, and "New York City Serenade" V2 was recorded on June 28, 1973. Credit has been assigned to David Sancious, who made the arrangement suggestions, though he tried to side-step by saying "I don’t think they constituted the arrangement." On July 18, 1973, it was performed live at Max's Kansas City, New York, where Sancious added the West Side Story piano introduction. V4 is presumably the result of overdubs on August 7 and September 13, 1973, including addition of strings, group vocals and congas to the final mix.
^{Courtesy Richard Blackwell.}

05 1973 brucespringsteen info november retail r_wiess studio t

	Count
The E Street Shuffle	156
4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)	274
Kitty's Back	192
Wild Billy's Circus Story	32
Incident On 57th Street	148
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)	813
New York City Serenade	103

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