Roll of the Dice: I Need You

In early 1982, Bruce recorded a series of demos in his home studios. Some were released essentially as recorded on Nebraska; others were electrified for Born in the U.S.A., Tracks, or other collections. And some never saw light of day at all.

“I Need You” falls into that last camp. One of two work-in-progress songs based on a common melody (“Ruled by the Gun” is the other), the existing bootleg take features lyrics that are complete enough to get a sense of what Bruce was aiming for:

I don’t need no fancy car to drive me around
I don’t need no pretty face cause that just gets me down
I need you

I don’t need your money, baby to spend
I don’t need your money, I don’t need your friends
I need you

It’s pretty standard “that’s all right with me” romantic territory for Bruce, but there’s no real hook, which may be why he abandoned it. The only other trace of this song that we have is this backing vocal mock-up. If you can visualize them together, you might have something that could have worked on The River, but we’ll probably never know. Bruce made more progress with “Ruled by the Gun,” but that’s an essay for another day.

I Need You
Recorded: early 1982
Never released
Never performed

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