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.
| 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. 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.
| NEW YORK 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 through June 2, 1973. 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." V3 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. Thanks to Richard Blackwell for information on the history of this song.
Note According to Diane Lozito, his girlfriend from 1971 to 1975, Bruce "wrote "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" in bits and pieces and didn't have a title for it. My mom is Rita Lozito. Then he met my grandma. So I assume that's where he put it together." Diane's grandmother's full name was "Rose Lozito"; In that part of Jersey, it's pronounced Lazita, so "Rose Lazita". 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 Crazy Janey in "Spirit In The Night", Sandy in "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)", Terry in "Backstreets", and the girl in "Thundercrack". This has never been refuted by Springsteen. In an interview for Mojo 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. The song 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, e.g. "with her chiffon reigns" and "soft sweet samurai tongue." According to roadie and baritone sax player "Albany" Al Tellone, the song'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 Wild & Innocent sessions. The final album mix and an instrumental backing track (V1) are all that is in general circulation.
| 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 through December 1973, believes it was Sancious's 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." The song features Tellone guesting on baritone saxophone. 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".
| 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: "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. 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. Mike Appel claims that the midsong press roll is not performed by Vini Lopez but by an uncredited sessions drummer.
