Today’s entry is an unusual one. I’ve covered unreleased songs and even work-in-progress snippets, but this is the first essay for which we don’t even have a scrap of music to listen to.
The only reason we know that “Until the Rain Comes” exists is that its lyrics were included in the 2006 public auction of a notebook containing lyrics from songs Bruce had written in 1968 at the tender age of eighteen.
The table of contents shows several previously-unknown songs.
The ninth song, “Until the Rain Comes,” is actually known to have been played by Bruce during his solo acoustic shows that spring and summer, but no recording has surfaced.
The handwritten lyrics are above (thanks to springsteenlyrics.com), but here they are transcribed:
Today I sail from the shores of my homeland
reflections upon the water enchant my searching eyes
Across the flaming clouds rides the brave Apollo
until the rain comes leaving silence on the sky
I lay upon the soft green grass and think for many days
voices to my left and right tear me in two ways
Upon reaching the ancient age of 18 I have found
what is round isn’t round at all, and what is up may be down
A windy day is running near, the white dove flies alone
broken brothers tear the earth and turn into dried up bones
I ask for an answer and do not hear a sound
lies upon lies again, until the rain comes
The emerald waves lap upon the shore
kiss the naked body of the night before
The sweet young sparrow weeps for things she’s never done
and I’ll drink her love, when the rain comes
So I cut the ropes that bind my craft to the shore
and sail upon the open sea, where freedom flows so pure
Back upon the sandy beach a child cries with dawn
I’ll never return again, until the rain comes
Lyrically (and that’s all we have to go on), “Until the Rain Comes” is very much the product of an 18-year-old, newly independent, questioning and unsure, saying goodbye to his childhood and venturing forth into adulthood.
Perhaps a recording will surface one day and we’ll hear Bruce breathe life into the song.
Until the Rain Comes
Never Recorded
First/Last Performed: mid-1968
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