Bruce Springsteen - BITUSA B-sides

Is that the live version of "Jersey Girl" from the 75-85 box set? If so, that one without a moment's hesitation. I could live inside that recording.

Johnny Bye Bye

"Shut Out the Light" is pretty damn spooky.

I had no idea "Pink Cadillac" was a b-side! For some reason I always thought it was a BITUS album track.

remember Natalie Cole's cover?

"Pink Cadillac" and "Stand On It" got nearly as much airplay on Chicago radio in the 80s as any of the BITUSA singles.

Bette Midler added "Pink Cadillac" to the set list for her 1982-83 De Tour tour and recorded the song for inclusion on her 1983 No Frills album; however Springsteen blocked the release of Midler's version on the grounds that "Pink Cadillac" wasn't a "girl's song".

"Pink Cadillac" and "Stand On It" got nearly as much airplay on Chicago radio in the 80s as any of the BITUSA singles.

Yep. This is exactly why I had no idea it was a B-side until today.

I'm pretty sure "Pink Cadillac" was played more than "I'm Goin' Down," even. But none of the subsequent b-sides got any airplay (aside from "Santa," but that was an FM staple long before it was officially released).

Yeah, I'd say Santa, but that was sort of a belated official appearance of a staple. His "Jersey Girl" owns that song, of course, too.

I love how "Stand On It" and "TV Movie" are such ultimate b-sides, yet wildly inferior to several of the songs he has yet to even release. Fun, though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbCvvGNMyOw

That Springsteen/Midler story sounds ur-Wikipedia apocryphal. If he disallowed her to record it, it was likely because he wanted to record it himself; she was playing it live before he had ever performed or released it. But even that sounds fishy.

natalie cole's cover is kinda good!
http://youtu.be/admyAPe93ds
kinda!
i would vote for the arthur baker dancing in the dark remix if i could!

After reading the 33 1/3 on the album, I'm more convinced than ever that Bruce did good by keeping "Stand on It" and "TV Movie" as B-sides (and "I'm Goin' Down," which he's never liked, is my second favorite single).

"Shut Out The Light" is one of his story-songs that ends with the narrator stuck alone in the middle of the night with no hope ahead. Great song.

(And great, appropriate b-side story to "Born in the USA.")

And it's only two minutes long!

Had no idea it was that short. My cassette of Nebraska, made by a friend who was a big Springsteen guy, had that as a filler song at the end, which made perfect sense.

And it's only two minutes long!

You sure you're not confusing it with Johnny Bye Bye?

Indeed I am.

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pink cadillac

a few years ago, while driving around on the olympic peninsula, i visited a casino for the first (and last) time in my life. they had a buffet of leathery chicken things, a few similarly grizzled lifers yanking the arms of slots that paid out in pull-tabs, and a middle aged fat guy in a cowboy outfit singing "pink cadillac" alone onstage to a casio preset. goat, obviously.

'johnny bye bye.' i always found this verse devastating:

We drove down to Memphis, the sky was hard and black
Up over the ridge came a white cadillac
They'd drawn out all his money and they laid him in the back
A woman cried from the roadside "Ah he's gone, he's gone"

something about 'they'd drawn out all his money' gets me. such a harsh, cold way of putting it. that said, i always felt like the released version almost ruined the song by rushing it: those lyrics cry out for a less upbeat treatment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT3c2lc4Gvk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsUOBqZbN3A

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oh for god's sake

justice!

I forgot to vote but I woulda voted janey

"Janey Don't Lose Heart" as robbed in my abscence. Easily his best ever b-side.

http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/27557_112921565386675_3117_n.jpg