Disc 3 (bonus disc) track 1 of The Essential Bruce Springsteen, 2003. Outtake from The River.
- The Essential Bruce Springsteen (2003)
- Bruce Springsteen: guitar, vocals
- Roy Bittan: piano
- Clarence Clemons: saxophone, percussion
- Danny Federici: organ, glockenspiel
- Garry Tallent: bass
- Steven Van Zandt: guitar, backing vocals
- Max Weinberg: drums
Released on The Essential (2003) and The Ties That Bind: The River Collection (2015).
Live versions are available on the following 4 official live downloads:
One of these recordings is also available on the playlists The Live Series: Songs Of Hope (2019) and The Live Series: Songs From Around The World, Vol.2 (2024).
| FROM SMALL THINGS (BIG THINGS ONE DAY COME) - V1a | 2:33 | SO / DROC2 / ATMF |
| FROM SMALL THINGS (BIG THINGS ONE DAY COME) - V1b | 2:42 | ESSENTIAL: BONUS / RIVER: OUTTAKES |
| FROM SMALL THINGS (BIG THINGS ONE DAY COME) - V2 | uncirculating |
Note: V1a and V1b are two slightly different mixes of the same take, recorded at Power Station on September 2, 1979. The song was included in an archival concept list compiled by a Sony engineer in 1993, and also on a early six-CD Tracks sampler from June 1998 but ultimately not released until Essential in 2003. In the Essential liner notes Springsteen wrote that "I busted out my Gretsch "country gentleman" guitar and the band drove the hell out of it in a take or two". Former Blondie guitarist Frank Infante disclosed that the distinctive guitar riff featured in the band's 1980 hit "Atomic" was recorded using a Country Gentleman guitar borrowed from Bruce. At the time, Blondie and Springsteen were recording in adjacent studios at the Power Station in New York City. V2 is a rough take with just Bruce on guitar and vocals, which he recorded for Dave Edmunds after offering him the song to record in 1981.
Studio Sessions: The River
From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come) |
A one, tow, three, four!
One, tow, three, four!
At sixteen she quit high school to make a fortune in the Promised Land
She got a job behind the counter in an all-night hamburger stand
She wrote faithfully home to mama, "now mama don't you worry none"
From small things, mama, big things one day come
It was late one Friday, he pulled in out of the dark
He was tall and handsome, first she took his order then she took his heart
They bought a house on the hillside, where little feet soon would run
From small things, mama, big things one day come
Oh but love is fleeting, it's sad but true
When your heart is beating, you don't wanna hear the news
She packed her bags and with a Wyomie County real estate man
She ran down to Tampa in an "El Dorado Grande"
She wrote back, "dear mama, life is just heaven in the sun
From small things, mama, big things one day come"
Come on Max!
Well she shot him dead on a sunny Florida road
And when they caught her all she said was she couldn't stand the way he drove
Back home dear Johnny prays for his baby's parole
He waits on the hillside where the Wyomie waters roll
At his feet and almost grown now, a blue-eyed daughter and a handsome son
Well from small things, mama, big things one day come
Yeah from small things, mama, big things one day come
| Visit SpringsteenLyrics.com for other versions of this song. |
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