So Young And In Love

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Disc 1 track 15 of Tracks, 1998.

Tracks (1998)
- Bruce Springsteen: vocals, guitar
- Roy Bittan: piano, backing vocals
- Clarence Clemons: saxophone, percussion, backing vocals
- Danny Federici: organ, glockenspiel
- Garry Tallent: bass
- Max Weinberg: drums

A NIGHT LIKE THIS - V1a		uncirculating
A NIGHT LIKE THIS - V1b		uncirculating
A LOVE SO FINE - V2	3:47	BIS / WAR / ET / BWNH / BTRS⁽¹²⁾ / ETRJ
SO YOUNG AND IN LOVE - V3	3:47	TRACKS / BTRCS

Note: The recording and composition history of this song is extremely convoluted due to several changes in title, erroneous details in the officially released liner notes, and ambiguous information in sources like Clinton Heylin's The E Street Shuffle (Heylin assumes, almost certainly inaccurately, that studio records regarding "A Night Like This" refer to the song "Angel Baby", which has occasionally been bootlegged under the former title).

"A Night Like This" was first potentially recorded at 914 Sound Studios as early as around May 21, 1974; this would likely have been just a base track (V1a). Additional work was possibly completed on the song around August 6 (v1b). These dates are based on Heylin's discussion, but may be speculative. The first confirmed performance took place at a rehearsal show at the Main Point on September 19, 1974. By October 1974, it would come to be known as "A Love So Fine", but in early performances the chorus was "A Night Like This" and the title was written as such on at least one contemporary setlist. On October 4, 1974, Springsteen changed the chorus, replacing the "A Night Like This" with "A Love So Fine". The band's handwritten setlists for that night, however, still used the earlier title.

Studio logs show that a track titled "A Night Like This" was recorded at 914 Sound Studios on October 16, 1974. While there is little doubt this was "A Love So Fine", it is not known how many takes and configurations were taped. Only an instrumental backing track of "A Love So Fine" remains from this era. It has been in heavy bootleg circulation since the late seventies, first issued on vinyl 'E Ticket', and then on many CDs from 1989 onwards, including 'Born In The Studio' and 'War And Roses'. This was most likely the October 16 recording. According to studio documentation, a session on that day produced a two-inch master reel that has "A Love So Fine" and "Born To Run" paired, supporting this viewpoint, and that an engineer used the old title of "A Night Like This".

It appears that Springsteen took the "A Love So Fine" backing track and the verses he had fine-tuned on stage for a year, changed the chorus for a third time, and created "So Young And In Love", which was issued on Tracks in 1998. The contradictory liner notes date the recording to 1/6/74 (January 6). Bruce was on tour in Cambridge, MA that day. It is also possible that the liner notes misread Luis Lahav's European-style notation for June 1, but credited musicians Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg did join the band until August 1974. This might suggest a fall 1974 recording date, but the liner notes further indicate the venue was Record Plant Studios in New York City, and Jimmy Iovine was the engineer. So it is possible the correct date was January 6, 1978, during sessions for Darkness On The Edge Of Town, and that the liner notes date is simply a misprint. However, close listening reveals the backing track is the exact same track he laid down in 1974 with overdubbed vocals. It is possible the vocal track was recorded in January 1978, with Bruce singing over the 1974 backing track. Springsteen has also stated in an interview with Mojo in 1998 that the cut on Tracks is from the Darkness sessions. "So Young And In Love" was mixed in 1998 by Ed Thacker and sequenced amongst Darkness-era songs. An early Tracks track list uses the title "A Love So Fine", and an auctioned annotated lyrics sheet also use that title, but the chorus is correctly "So Young And In Love", suggesting some internal confusion.

^{Studio Sessions: Born To Run}

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So Young And In Love