Enough with the ersatz Bruce — let’s play some of the real thing. Springsteen recorded this track with the E Street Band in 1982, at the same Power Station sessions at which the full-band versions of the songs on “Nebraska” were recorded (they were later scrapped in favor of the four-track demos they worked from, and still haven’t seen official release. It was finally released on “Born in the USA” in 1984, and it almost lost out to “Pink Cadillac” until that was chosen at the B-side to “Dancing in the Dark.” Like several songs on that album, its upbeat music goes against the grain of its dark lyrics.
The album version mixed down from the original master runs only about three and a half minutes, and it pushes the vocals way out front. The original tape, as remastered for a bootleg called “Unsatisfied Heart,” runs a minute and a half longer and rescues Clarence Clemons’ bubbling baritone sax and Danny Federici’s rollicking organ from the deep background, though it lacks the tenor sax solo of the album version.
Here’s the album cut for comparison. Released as the sixth single from the LP in 1985, it reached No. 9 on the Hot 100. It’s a great concert song, but it’s rarely been played since the “BITUSA” tour.
Covers of the song have mostly come from artists who cite Springsteen as an influence. Frank Black gave it a post-grunge treatment with the Catholics for a 1998 maxi-single track.
Vampire Weekend recorded the tune in 2010 and included it on its tour set list that summer.
