Roll of the Dice: All or Nothin’ at All

The maddening thing about Bruce’s Human Touch album is that there are some really good songs ruined by terrible arrangements and over-production (I’m talking to you, “Real World“).

And then there are the throwaway songs, weightless in substance without even the saving grace of a pleasant pop hook. But even those can fool you: I spent a couple of decades hating “All or Nothin’ at All” for its over-dense guitars, grating vocals, and unimaginative lyrics… and then one night in 2014, he whips it out in concert for only the second time in 20+ years, and dang if it isn’t one of the night’s highlights. Makes me wonder what he could do with “Real Man” if he tried.

Let’s compare. Here’s the original–

Ouch, those lyrics. It’s like he isn’t even trying. When the cleverest lyric of a song is:

Shout out what you’re thinking of
If what you’re thinkin’ of is love

…you know this isn’t a great candidate for scholarly analysis.

So yeah, the chorus says it all: the narrator wants his love to give him all of it, or none of it. And that’s basically the entire song. The verses don’t add anything of substance.

(Bonus: If you like the released version above, check out the studio outtake below–it’s almost a minute longer!)

Bruce knows this song doesn’t rank among his best work; it’s probably why he’s only ever performed it eight times, and only twice (by request, somehow) since 1992.

The last time he played it was in Woodlands, Texas, in 2014, and wouldn’t you know it: I was 5th in the pit, leaning dead center on the stage by Bruce the whole night.  My best pit position ever. By that point of the High Hopes Tour, every show was a wild card of requests and rarities. I was excited to see what Bruce would surprise us with that night, and I was none too pleased when he chose “All or Nothin’ at All.” Heck, the person who requested it wasn’t even there that night!

Even Bruce knew this was a clunker–watch how sheepish he is about playing this song in the beginning; he even stops momentarily to invite the befuddled audience to applaud. And then: magic. He fully commits to the song, and somehow… without the overproduction, with the power of the full E Street Band, and the addition of the horn section… it works. Bruce goes for broke and relishes the silliness of the song. And I gotta tell you: it was a ton of fun.

So yeah, I still hate the song on the album. But I’ll sneak a listen from time to time on the bootleg.

All or Nothin’ at All
Recorded: 1990-1991
Released: Human Touch (1992)
First performed: June 17, 1992 (Stockholm, Sweden)
Last performed: May 6, 2014 (Woodlands, TX)

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