Bruce Springsteen, If I Was The Priest, Jesus Was An Only Son, Stolen Car, Mansion on the Hill, Tomorrow Never Knows

In each of the last two week's Friday Bruce Fixes, I featured songs that were making their debut after five years of fixes. I know it must seem shocking that I've missed so many great songs, but damn that Springsteen guy has written a lot of songs and I'd have to be doing this blog a lot longer before I'd be able to get to them all. To complicate matters, he keeps on writing more songs. I think I'm fighting a losing battle!

Still, not quite ready to give up, I've unearthed a few more fine tunes from Bruce Springsteen that I've yet to play here on Your Friday Bruce Fix.  So, here we go.

Waaaaay back on May 2, 1972 when Bruce auditioned for John Hammond at Columbia, I think the story goes that when John asked Bruce to perform a song he wouldn't normally play live, Bruce played 'If I Was the Priest'. He played it that day on acoustic guitar. This solo piano performance quite possibly comes from the demo recording session the following day at Columbia.

Now, fast forward to 2005's 'Devils & Dust' album for which Bruce recorded 'Jesus Was An Only Son'. This was written more than 30 years after concocting the above scenario where Jesus was the sherrif and Bruce was the priest, and was likely informed by the emotions that come from being a father of three children. It's hard not to be touched by this song, especially if you've ever lost a family member, especially a child, or contemplated what that might be like.

If you enjoy the religious references in Bruce's song writing, you might want to read 'The Gospel According to Bruce Springsteen'. I haven't read it myself, so I can't recommend it, but I suspect it's an interesting read.

Back to songs making their debut, here's a double shot of 'Stolen Car'. First up, the lovely version that appeared on 'Tracks' as 'Stolen Car' but which was also known in bootleg circles as 'Son, You May Kiss the Bride', followed by the official version as played on 'Born in the USA' tour.

'Mansion on the Hill' came from Bruce's acoustic masterpiece 'Nebraska'. This is a live version from the Reunion tour.

Finally, 'Tomorrow Never Knows' is an overlooked gem from the 'Working on a Dream' album.

Happy Friday!

Comments

[Rick]

Thanks, Mark. It's nice when a group of songs just kind of fit together, especially when I've found them for another reason, in this case simply as I hadn't played them before. Thanks for sharing that video. I love those stories, which are so easy for us all to relate to, as children or parents.

[Jerseystylephotography.wordpress.com]

Great theme today. Mansion On The Hill is always a fav of mine. This past September, when I saw Springsteen in NJ, he intro'ed the song by talking about going for ice cream with his family and seeing the tall radio towers off of Route 9 - their red lights were "buttons on the giant's coat" as his mom told him. Check it here > http://youtu.be/3NzPEPengGA (I've taken my kids to the Jersey Freeze :-)