Bruce Springsteen released The Ties That Bind: The River Collection

The Ties That Bind: The River Collection Bruce Springsteen

Released: December 4, 2015 Recorded: 1979-80, 2015 Peak: 31 US, 49 UK Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 0.06 UK Genre: classic rock

Tracks, Disc 3 (The Ties That Bind single album) Click on a song titled for more details. The Ties That Bind [3:34] Cindy [2:26] Hungry Heart [3:19] Stolen Car (version 1) [4:31] Be True [3:54] The River [5:01] You Can Look But You Better Not Touch [2:37] The Price You Pay [5:29] I Wanna Marry You [3:30] Loose Ends [4:07] Total Running Time (The Ties That Bind): 38:26 Tracks, Disc 4 (The River: Outtakes): Click on a song titled for more details. Meet Me in the City [3:36] The Man Who Got Away [3:31] Little White Lies [2:29] The Time That Never Was [3:39] Night Fire [4:44] Whitetown [3:23] Chain Lightning [2:50] Party Lights [3:10] Paradise by the “C” [3:11] Stray Bullet [6:10] Mr. Outside [2:16] Roulette [3:54] Restless Nights [3:46] Where the Bands Are [3:46] Dollhouse [3:33] Living on the Edge of the World [4:19] Take ‘Em As They Come [4:31] Ricky Wants a Man of Her Own [2:47] I Wanna Be with You [3:24] Mary Lou [3:23] Held Up Without a Gun [1:19] From Small Things Big Things One Day Come [2:42] Total Running Time (The River: Outtakes): 76:23 The Players: Bruce Springsteen (vocals, guitar, harmonica, percussion, producer, piano on “Drive All Night”) Roy Bittan (piano, organ, backing vocals) Clarence Clemons (saxophone, percussion, backing vocals) Danny Federici (organ, glockenspiel) Garry Tallent (bass) Steven Van Zandt (guitar, backing vocals, producer) Max Weinberg (drums, percussion)

Rating: 4.294 out of 5.00 (average of 25 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album In 2015, a reissue of the album added two more CDs. The first was The Ties That Bind, the original single-disc album Springsteen planned. The second disc is outtakes from the era. The collection also included DVDs of a documentary and a live show from 1980. This collection is similar to The Promise, the 2010 reissue of 1978’s Darkness on the Edge of Town in that both collections add a chunk of outtakes from the same era as the familiar album, but both include songs that had some additional work done on them to ready them for the release. Most of the songs featured on the two additional CDs had been released in some form before (see track listing above). The biggest chunk came from Springsteen’s archival box set Tracks which he released in 1998. However, there were also songs initially featured as B-sides on singles and one from The Essential Bruce Springsteen in 2003. The latter was a 2-disc compilation with a third bonus disc of archival material on the limited edition. Finally, alternate versions of Stolen Car and You Can Look But You Better Not Touch were released on the single disc The Ties That Bind. The original versions were on The River. Even with all this material, there were still songs from this era not featured on The Ties That Bind: The River Collection. Many of these can be found on the Lost Masters bootleg collection which was released in the 1990s. WK The Songs Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs. The commentaries about the songs are condensed versions from ESS EStreetShuffle.com, an excellent site for exploring all of Bruce’s discography. Other commentary is taken from The excellent book Bruce Springsteen – All The Songs: The Story Behind Every Track by Philippe Margotin & Jean-Michel Guesdon.

Cindy Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 7/16/1979 Released: The Ties That Bind (single album, 1980/2015) About the Song: This starts as “a sad sack hero doing his best to please his girl, only to find that she sets the bar just a little bit higher than he can clear. But ‘Cindy’ quickly takes a darker turn, and it isn’t long before we realize that our narrator may be more of a stalker than a suitor.” ESS At first the listener sympathizes with the narrator. He’s attentive, doting even, but his girl just seems to take him for granted.” ESS However, we learn the narrator doesn’t have “intentions aren’t as virtuous as he’d led us to believe.” ESS At the end, it is unclear if “Cindy will ever be free of her would-be Romeo, despite her consistent signals of disinterest.” ESS “Bruce has played a clever trick: rather than putting his characters through a story arc, he takes the listener on a ride instead. The song’s characters don’t change, but our perceptions of them do. It’s a neat feat to pull off in two and a half minutes–impressive enough that we’ll forgive Bruce the occasionally clumsy meter.” ESS The song was part of the single-album version Bruce submitted to the record label, but got dropped very late in the game. It’s too bad because like “Hungry Heart” “it combines the trappings of romantic pop with darker lyrics and undertones. It would have fit very nicely on the album.” ESS

Be True Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 7/18/1979 Released: 1/22/1981 as B-side of “Fade Away,” The Ties That Bind (single album, 1980/2015), Tracks (box set, 1998) Charted: 3/28/1981 Peak: 42 AR Click for codes to charts. About the Song: “Be True” began life as a completely different song (“Mary Lou”) with almost the same lyrics. The biggest difference with the latter is that it names the leading lady and has lines “that shift just a bit too much of the focus to the narrator.” ESS Both songs use “Hollywood vocabulary and iconography as a metaphor for living a romanticized life rather than a real one.” ESS “Our off-screen heroine imagines herself as the leading lady in a major motion picture, and we’re led to believe she lives her life that way–forcing herself and her relationships to fit her big-screen expectations.” ESS Meanwhile, “our would-be leading man promises only the possibility of something real.” ESS One might be inclined to think “Be True” is a love song because of lines like “Be true to me / And I’ll be true to you,” but “what Bruce’s character is really saying is: ‘Be your authentic self with me and I’ll be mine with you.” ESS Bruce said, the narrator is “talking to a woman he’s interested in, but actually that’s a device to address just how do you find yourself through the falseness of some of those things and not sell yourself short and try to get the most out of yourself.” ESS The two official releases, however, are very different. The version on the 1998 Tracks box set is better known than the one on The Ties That Bind: The River Collection. The latter version “runs ever so slightly slower, for example, with Roy’s piano significantly higher in the mix and Max’s drum much lower.” ESS Bruce also sings entirely different codas in each version. Both versions “give proper due to Danny Federici’s glockenspiel, which is clearly the most important musical element of ‘Be True’ – it’s what gives the song it’s bright, poppy feel.” ESS

Loose Ends Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 7/18/1979 at the Power Station in New York Released: The Ties That Bind (single album, 1980/2015), Tracks (box set, 1998), 18 Tracks (1999) About the Song: Estreetshuffle.com calls this “one of the best Springsteen tracks to ever get left off an album.” ESS It is “musically lush in the Spectorian girl group mold…but lyrically dark, hopeless, and fatalistic.” ESS It could have been “Bruce’s first true relationship song as well as the standard bearer for his trademark juxtaposition of poppy melody with somber lyrics.” ESS “Clarence plays one of his best and longest solos on record, and Bruce layers his own voice for background, turning in one of his warmest vocal performances to date.” ESS The song tells “the story of a relationship turned toxic. Like all great loves, it starts like a storybook, and Bruce employs some of his most romantic lyrics to date to paint the scene.” ESS Eventually, though, “both partners are miserable, but neither is willing to flinch – waiting instead for the other to be the one to break it off..” ESS “It’s never stated, but the tragedy of ‘Loose End’ is that our characters didn’t notice their love dying as it happened–only once it was too late.” ESS

Meet Me in the City Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 6/14/1979 Released: 10/16/2015 as a single, The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015) About the Song: “For a song that sounds like it was written for the sole purpose of opening a Springsteen concert…’Meet Me in the City’ hides surprising depth for those who pay close attention to its lyrics.” ESS Its cleverness “lies in the fact that it is a romantic song about realism – or perhaps more accurately, it’s a song about a romantic who yearns to be a realist.” ESS It is “also an artist’s internal dialogue, a songwriter’s message to his younger self across the years that span the creation of the song itself.” ESS The version released on The Ties That Bind: The River Collection is actually “an amalgamation of a vintage 1979 backing track and backing vocals with a 2015 lead vocal.” ESS “Take a listen to this 1979 E Street Band rehearsal session – you’ll hear a slightly slower and much brighter arrangement than on the record, thanks to Danny Federici’s prominent glockenspiel, which is buried in the mix in the studio version.” ESS

The Man Who Got Away Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: June 13 – July 5, 1979 Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015) About the Song: At one time this was slated for the single-disc version of what eventually became The River. However, it didn’t see the light of day until the 2015 release of The Ties That Bind: The River Collection. “That’s too bad, because ‘The Man Who Got Away’ is an absolutely fantastic song, three-and-a-half minutes of taut rock storytelling accompanied by a tight E Street Band.” ESS At first “it seems like we’re listening to one of Bruce’s trademarked ordinary working Joes engaging in a bit of Hollywood escapism…but we quickly learn that this particular escapism may be just as much literal as it is metaphorical.” ESS “Our narrator is literally on the lam, dodging the police officers and staying one step ahead of the APB out for his arrest.” ESS

Little White Lies Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 6/1/1979 Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015) About the Song: “Thematically, ‘Little White Lies’ has a lot in common with ‘Stolen Car,’ and it’s possible that it was cast off from the River sessions for that reason. Like in ‘Stolen Car,’ the protagonist (Billy) is looking back on the early days of his relationship, remembering and ruing a young love and ardor that was allowed to cool.” ESS “Little White Lies” “tells a more vivid story…with a more specific diagnosis and an uptempo melody that conveys more frustration and self-reproach.” ESS

The Time That Never Was Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded:June 27, 1979 – March 16, 1980 Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015) About the Song: “Other than a studio log that referenced its title, no one even knew it existed until it showed up one day in The Ties That Bind: The River Collection.” ESS This “is classic Darkness/River-era Springsteen. Lyrically, it explores the same themes as ‘The River’” ESS with a narrator who “can’t help but look back on a youthful past that never lived up to its promise.” ESS However, “it’s paired with a lush, romantic backing track that would be right at home on The Promise.” ESS “The backing track…elevates ‘The Time That Never Was’ to true hidden gem status, from Max’s girl group drum beat to the Four Seasons-esque backing vocals by Stevie, Clarence, Bruce, and Roy, to that gorgeous, swoony Big Man sax solo.” ESS It “may be a contender for the finest band arrangement and mix on record. We easily hear each band member’s contributions, and each gets a chance to shine.” ESS

Night Fire Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded:instrumental track: June 13, 1979; vocals: probably 2014-2015 Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015) About the Song: “Night Fire” floated around as a bootleg for years with “vocals [that] were so muffled that it seemed like no one was even trying to capture them.” ESS “It’s not one of Bruce’s best. It deserved being cast off the island. The melody is repetitive, the guitar-work is uninspired, and Bruce’s vocals are strained.” ESS The version that emerged in 2015 features the same instrumental track but newly recorded vocals. The lyrics were new as well.

Whitetown Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 1980 and 2015? Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015) About the Song: The original 1979 demo of “Whitetown” featured “essentially the same melody as ‘Mr. Outside.’” ESS The version onThe Ties That Binds, however, appears to be significantly reworked with a “lush sound” and “growing-old theme” along with a “modern-day singing voice,” ESS “almost a rewrite of ‘Glory Days.’” ESS It became “a wonderful song that would have been a delightful addition to Working on a Dream,” ESS Bruce Springsteen’s studio album from 2009.

Chain Lightning Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: February 17, 1980 Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015) About the Song: “If ‘State Trooper’ and ‘Pink Cadillac’ had a love child, it would have been ‘Chain Lightning.’” ESS “In addition to the prominent ‘State Trooper’ guitar line, and the obvious ‘Pink Cadillac’ bass and percussion, you can also hear the likely influence of Henry Mancini’s 1959 instrumental, ‘Peter Gunn.’” ESS The song feels “like a bridge between albums – a Darkness theme paired with a River backing track – rather than in keeping with either one, and perhaps that’s one of the reasons Bruce discarded it.” ESS The version on The Ties That Bind is very different than the rehearsal bootleg that had circulated for years. “It’s clear that Bruce changed the arrangement quite a bit between this rehearsal and the final studio take, The earlier version is a faster, fiercer, almost punk arrangement.” ESS Bruce’s demo recording of the song nearly a year earlier features an acoustic arrangement more similar to the version released in 2015. ESS “The official studio version is a perfect fit for Bruce’s lyrics: the E Street Band rumbles and thunders, just like the first line of the song, but they never lose their cool restraint.” ESS The song “is about the unbridled but undirected passion of youth, the feeling of power and vitality without any place to channel it.” ESS

Party Lights Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: October 8, 1979 Released: 11/23/2015 as a single, The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015) About the Song: Bruce is well known “for recycling lyrics and music; it stems from his practice of writing lyrics and music independently of each other.” ESS “Party Lights” is “the product of so much Springsteenian in-breeding that it would be a joke – if it wasn’t so darn catchy.” ESS The song “is two parts ‘Jersey Girl,’ one-and-a-half parts ‘Point Blank’ and almost a heaping dollop of ‘I Wanna Marry You’ before Bruce thought better of it and swapped it for a riff almost certainly influenced by Tom Petty’s ‘Listen to Her Heart’ (released just a year prior).” ESS “’Point Blank’ is dark and noir-ish; ‘Jersey Girl’ is blue-collar romance. ‘Party Lights’ is somewhere in between, a tale of an older-than-her-years single mother and her street suitor and would-be savior.” ESS Bruce takes the listener “inside the mother’s mind and revealing her sense of time passing her by.” ESS “The party lights that symbolize her youth, freedom, independence, and freedom from care.” ESS The “narrator is no detached observer but rather someone who takes a very strong interest – although the nature of his interest is not exactly clear.” ESS It seems that he and the young girl in the song “share a deep but platonic bond.” ESS

Paradise by the “C” Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: live recording: 7/7/1978, studio: 1980 Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015), Live 1975/1985 (live box set, 1986) About the Song: When Bruce embarked on his 1978 tour in support of Darkness on the Edge of Town, he opted to include an intermission in the show. He needed a song to open the second set that eased “fans back into the show while late stragglers found their way back to their seats. Bruce found his solution in a ‘new’ instrumental he debuted on the very first night of the tour.” ESS “Paradise by the ‘C’” “accomplished all this while also epitomizing the Jersey Shore sound. You might have been seeing the band in a theater or arena, but you felt like you were in a boardwalk bar.” ESS “C” was a nickname Bruce had for Clarence Clemons, which made for a perfect title for the “sax-centric” song that gave him “a song-length chance to shine. Always a fan favorite, Clarence commanded the audience’s attention, but since there were no lyrics, it wasn’t a big deal if conversations wrapped up around you or late arrivals clambered over you.” ESS “Clarence may have been the song’s focal point, but that didn’t mean he was the only featured player: Danny Federici’s organ is almost as prominent, and Max’s late-song extended drumroll tightly coiled both the band and the crowd’s energy for an explosive release that seemed to signal the true arrival of the second set.” ESS

Stray Bullet Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 2/24/1980 3/9/1980 and 4/10/1980 Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015) About the Song: “The power of the song lies in how it sneaks up on you.” ESS It is “haunting and deceptively idyllic.” ESS “Musically, it’s unlike anything else Bruce recorded at that point in his career; lyrically, it covers some very dark and very bloody ground.” ESS “The melody is lilting and gentle, carried by Clarence’s brooding sax–gentler than any track Bruce had set down on vinyl to that point.” ESS It makes sense that it was omitted from The River as “it conjures up some of the same imagery as that album’s title track and overlaps thematically with ‘Point Blank.’” ESS

Mr. Outside Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: late 1979 Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015) About the Song: This is “an officially released song that’s actually an edited version of a bootlegged home demo.” ESS Bruce wanted to include the song on The Ties That Bind: The River Collection. Archivist Toby Scott couldn’t find an official recording so he scoured the internet and found a bootleg of Bruce’s original home demo. It “was pretty raw” but Scott carefully edited out the “starts, stops, and mistakes…paring away a full third of the recording.” ESS Musically, the song is part “of a trilogy of never-finished songs that share the same melody, and the only one that ever saw any kind of official release.” ESS The “devil-may-care melody perfectly underscores Bruce’s lyrics.” ESS “None of the lyrics are particularly artful or insightful.” ESS “Essentially, the song is just a character sketch.” ESS

Roulette Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 4/3/1979 Released: 2/27/1988 as B-side of “One Step Up,” The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015), Tracks (box set, 1998) Charted: 4/16/1988 Peak: 45 AR About the Song: In 1979, the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in Harirsburg, Pennsylvania, suffered a partial meltdown in what “remains the most significant accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power history.” ESS Within days, Bruce penned a song about the incident. The song, Roulette,” got its name from how state officials were “taking chances and placing bets on the safety of its residents.” ESS The song “captured the sense of fear, panic, and distrust that was prevalent in the immediate aftermath of the accident.” ESS The narrator is a fireman who is fleeing town, packing “his family and their belongings so quickly that the yard is still filled with toys and their home unprotected.” ESS By song’s end, the “narrator is lost in his paranoia, and we sense that last thread–the one that’s been fraying throughout the song–is about to snap.” ESS Even in its earliest full-band version, the song “kicks off with a terrifying drum entrance by Max Weinberg on the tom-toms and a suspenseful guitar riff lifted from Magazine’s ‘Shot by Both Sides.’” ESS It was the first song recorded for what would become The River, but failed to make the final cut. Its “punk spirit and live energy set the tone for much of that record.” ESS Bruce said the song “went a little over the top, which is what’s good about it. In truth it probably should have gotten put on. It would have been one of the best things on the record and it was just a mistake at the time.” ESS It finally emerged as the B-side of “One Step Up” in 1988.

Restless Nights Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 4/11/1980 at the Power Station in New York Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015), Tracks (box set, 1998) About the Song: “In this nostalgic song, the narrator compares the present day to the happy days of yore: ‘Now outside the streets are gray and the childhood games we played / Faded away.’” MG It is “an excellent piece, with superb backing vocals – no doubt a collaboration between Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt – two blazing Farfisa organ and lead guitar solos, and a remarkable performance by the boss.” MG-399

Where the Bands Are Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 10/9/1979 at the Power Station in New York Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015), Tracks (box set, 1998), 18 Tracks (1999) About the Song: “The E Street Band…shine in this song…with full-on rock ‘n’ roll energy.” MG-400 It has “the same energy, the same vocal power… [and] the same blazing sax solo” MG-400 as “Dollhouse” “and, as a bonus, a superb guitar solo by Steve Van Zandt and some supercharged backing vocals.” MG-400

Dollhouse Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 8/21/1979 at the Power Station in New York Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015), Tracks (box set, 1998) About the Song: On this song, “the narrator is talking to his partner, who behaves as if the years haven’t passed. She continues to play games, setting rules to fit her own little world. The narrator starts thinking he’s just another one of her toys.” MG-399 He sees “all the sadness of the world on the face of the woman he loves as her dollhouse continues to crumble.” MG-399 “Springsteen starts this song as a nursery rhyme on the glockenspiel and piano before diving into a powerful rock led by Max Weinberg and Garry Tallent’s very effective rhythm section. Clarence Clemons dials up the heat with an incandescent sax solo. As for the Boss, his lead vocals are simply superb; it’s a veritable lesson in rock music.” MG-399

Living on the Edge of the World Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 12/7/1979 at the Power Station in New York Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015), Tracks (box set, 1998) About the Song: “Living on the edge means to live dangerously. In this song…the expression applies to the economic situation in the United States…But it also reflects the narrator’s day-to-day life. He’s at the wheel of his car trying to get back to the woman he loves. Gospel and rock songs are playing on the radio. This song paved the way for Nebraska, especially ‘Open All Night,’ at least for some of the lyrics. Musically, it’s a rock song with a distinctively punk dynamism, dominated by guitars, the Farfisa organ, and some excellent backing vocals. As a bonus, Springsteen performs a very good harmonica solo.” MG-400

Take ‘Em As They Come Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 4/10/1980 at the Power Station in New York Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015), Tracks (box set, 1998) About the Song: This “is one of the many songs written by Bruce Springsteen in the first half of his career that revolve around the essential ‘gilfriend-car-night out’ triptych. Here, however, he has added a touch of mystery, even suspense. At the start of the song, he recounts a dream. A couple are driving across a deserted region, far from town. In his trembling hands the man holds a weapon belonging to his fiancee’s father. The girl is wearing her best dress and carrying a switchblade. We understand the narrator has ventured into dangerous territory with his companion…he wants to be able to comfort and protect her when the inevitable stranger comes along to pick a fight.” MG-423 While he recorded it during the sessions for The River he didn’t think it worthy of the album, which is surprising given that “it perfectly matches the spirit of this double album: raw energy directly from the origins of rock ‘n’ roll.” MG-423 “It is a lively rock piece which…is somewhat reminiscent of the musical texture of Born to Run.” MG-423 It features an “energetic vocal performance” MG-423 from Bruce and is “carried by a Byrds-style guitar duo, heavy riffs on piano and Farfisa…and a powerful, pulsing rhythm section from Max Weinberg and Garry Talent.” MG-423 PopMatters.com’s Robert Loss wrote that he was convinced the song would have been a hit. MG-423

Ricky Wants a Man of Her Own Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 7/16/1979 at the Power Station in New York Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015), Tracks (box set, 1998) About the Song: This song is “about Ricky, a teenager who has grown up and wants her independence, but her parents still think of her as their little girl. It’s the eternal generational conflict, especially since the songwriter used his own sister Pamela as inspiration.” MG-401 This is “a light pop-rock song that is unpretentious, but delightful. Danny Federici’s Farfisa and Steve Van Zandt’s vocal harmonies came out particularly well, and the piece as a whole is supported by the excellent Weinberg-Tallent team.” MG-401

I Wanna Be with You Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 5/31/1979 at the Power Station in New York Released: 5/8/1999 as a single, The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015), Tracks (box set, 1998), 18 Tracks (1999) Charted: 12/5/1998 Peak: 33 AR About the Song: In this song, “the narrator is so head over heels in love that he’s willing to do anything…The consequences soon catch up with him: he loses his job at the gas station and earns a bad reputation…Bu he doesn’t care. The world can fall apart as long as he’s with the woman he loves.” MG-402

Mary Lou Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 5/30/1979 at the Power Station in New York Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015), Tracks (box set, 1998) About the Song: It makes sense that “Mary Lou” didn’t make the cut for The River since it tells the same story as “Be True.” “Mary Lou is a young woman who can only think about the romantic movie actors she venerates and about perfect but artificial love.” MG-403 Then again, “Be True” didn’t make it on the album either. “The song revolves around a prominent piano part, allowing Roy Bittan to shine, especially on the rhythmic element. Clarence Clemons performs a warm tenor sax solo. The arrangements and construction of the piece are nevertheless a bit too incoherent to be convincing.” MG-403

Held Up Without a Gun Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: ? Released: 10/21/1980 as B-side of “Hungry Heart,” The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015), The Essential (2003) About the Song: “Held Up Without a Gun” was pulled from The River at the last minute, which seemed unnecessary since at a mere 77-second run-time, it would have fit without anything else getting bumped. It may be that “it’s essentially the musical twin of ‘You Can Look But You Better Not Touch.’” ESS The “ferocious track” ESS “typically gets characterized as a song about the 1979 oil crisis when gasoline prices spiked” ESS but that isn’t really what it’s about. “Bruce uses current events as a jump-off point for the song, but it quickly – everything about this song is quick–establishes a more timeless theme.” ESS

From Small Things Big Things One Day Come Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 1979 Released: The Ties That Bind: Outtakes (archives: 1980/2015), The Essential (2003) Covered by: Dave Edmunds (1982, #28 AR), Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1990, #65 CW) Click for codes to charts. About the Song: Bruce recorded this song in 1979, but it failed to make it on the 1980 album The River. In 1982, Dave Edmunds covered the song; it was a minor album-rock hit. Springsteen gave him the song when Edmunds came to one of his concerts and Springsteen invited him backstage.

Notes: In 2015, Bruce Springsteen’s 1980 album The River was reissued as a four-disc box set The Ties That Bind: The River Collection. It included the two original discs plus a third disc that consisted of the original proposed one-album disc The Ties That Bind and a fourth disc comprised of outtakes. Click on the highlighted links for more details. Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com review of The River by William Ruhlmann ESS EStreetShuffle.com MG Philippe Margotin & Jean-Michel Guesdon (2020). Bruce Springsteen – All The Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. Cassel (an imprint of Octopus Publishing Group Ltd.): Great Britain. WK Wikipedia page for The River Related DMDB Pages: First posted 7/30/2025; last updated 7/31/2025.