Bruce Springsteen, City At Night, Taxi Cab, The Way

I think that on one or two occasions (OK, maybe a lot more than that) I may have mentioned that I'd love Bruce Springsteen to release a re-mastered 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town' album, in a box set along with a full concert from the Darkness tour in 1978.  I was pleased to learn before Christmas that Bruce, who undoubtedly reads this blog regularly (even Bruce needs a Bruce Fix), decided to take my advice and we now know that said box set is imminent.

The next thing I would like Bruce to do is to release more lost gems from the Darkness recording sessions.  He squeezed a few onto the 'Tracks' box set that he released in 1998, but there are so many more.  One option for Bruce is to release a 'Tracks II".  Another option might be to slip a third disc of studio outtakes, and maybe a couple of live audio tracks, into the upcoming 'Darkness' box set.  Bruce, I appreciate that you took my advice on releasing the 'Darkness' box set, so I'll be good about this and let you choose which of the above two options I've outlined for you, but you must choose one of them.

Today's fix features two outtakes from the 'Darkness' recording sessions.  The first I've long known as 'City At Night', although it is alternately known as 'Taxi Cab'.  (We'll find out which it is now that Bruce knows what he has to do.)  I find 'City At Night' very cinematic and can visualize it set to scenes of Robert De Niro driving around in his cab in Martin Scorsese's 'Taxi Driver'. 

Since we know that De Niro stole his famous "You talkin' to me?" line from Bruce (see the June 5, 2009 fix), I wonder if Bruce was somehow inspired by the movie to write this song.  The timeline is right.  Bob saw Bruce in 1975, 'Taxi Driver' came out in 1976, Bruce recorded 'City At Night' in 1977.  It all adds up.

'The Way' is a nice, romantic ballad that clearly didn't belong, either musically or lyrically, on the Darkness album.  Another example is 'Hearts of Stone' which I featured in the October 23, 2009 fix.  These are just some of the many great songs that didn't make the cut, but are worthy of being properly mixed and mastered so we can enjoy them the way they deserve to be heard.

Happy Friday! 

Comments

[Friday Bruce Fix]

Hi Sarah.

I think the only official release of "The Way" is on The Promise double CD. Maybe you could download it from one of those file sharing sites, assuming someone has found a way to isolate it and then uploaded it.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Rick

[Sarah]

Please could anyone tell me where to find "The Way" as a single or on a CD. It appears on the end of "City of Night" as a lovely surprise - has it been recorded as a single, as I can't isolate it from this track?