With “Fade Away,” Bruce absolutely nails it: his lyrics, music, and vocals absolutely ooze desperation. It’s a young man’s “Back in Your Arms,” covering the same emotional ground but without his older self’s wisdom, insight, and self-awareness. “Fade Away” is all anguish, and anguish never sounded sweeter.
I usually start these essays by breaking down the lyrics, but the music does at least as much heavy lifting here, so let’s start by acknowledging: “Fade Away” is a Danny Federici showcase. His organ evokes a retro feel, even for 1980, with a lush, aching melody that would sound right at home accompanying the Drifters or Platters.
And that bridge–oh, that bridge: Bruce kicks it off with an impassioned “oh girl,” but Danny takes it and soars. In much the same way that Clarence’s solo on “Drive All Night” says more than Bruce’s vocals and lyrics ever could, Danny is the hero of “Fade Away.”
But let’s talk about those vocals, too, because they’re some of Bruce’s finest, and certainly among his most impassioned.
It’s interesting to compare the final version we know and love with Bruce’s original 1979 acoustic demo. Not so much the lyrics (there are only a few–albeit key–differences) or the missing bridge, but listen to Bruce’s delivery:
In the demo, the verses are rushed, but more importantly, each line of the chorus ends just a bit lower than in the album version. It’s amazing what a difference that makes–a subtle change packs an emotional wallop, and it’s one of the best examples of how much care and craft goes into Bruce’s songwriting.
Now, the lyrics:
Well now you say you’ve found another man who does things to you that I can’t.
Pretty much doesn’t matter what comes after that–the line every man most fears hearing has already been said, and we can already feel the knife. But the second verse twists it:
Well now you say that you’ve made up your mind
It’s been such a long, long time since it’s been good with us
And that somewhere back along the line you lost your love and I lost your trust
You can just imagine being on the receiving end of that conversation. Heck, maybe at one time you were.
Now rooms that once were so bright are filled with the coming night
Bruce is getting a little dramatic now, but that’s what lost love will do to you.
But the lyrical brilliance of the song is in the final verse and in the chorus:
Now baby I don’t wanna be just another useless memory holding you tight
Or just some other ghost out on the street to whom you stop
And politely speak when you pass on by
Vanishing into the night
Left to vanish into the night
I don’t wanna fade away
I don’t wanna fade away
Tell me what can I do, what can I say
‘Cause darlin’ I don’t wanna fade away
Just like the first line presses a primal fear button, that last verse, chorus, and in fact the entire conceit of the song exploits an existential fear of irrelevance: that we might someday not matter to the one who matters most. Better to be hated than to be forgotten. The narrator fears his disappearance from her life and attention. It’s a piercing insight from an artist who at the time was still growing in his songwriting maturity.
“Fade Away” is a gorgeous, perfect song, so it’s not surprising that it was released as the second single off The River (backed by “Be True”). The mystery is why it didn’t chart higher than #20.
It’s also a mystery why Bruce has performed it so rarely. Here’s a rare 1980 performance captured on video, from Largo, Maryland. As is often the case with Bruce, the song benefits from live performance. This is only the third time Bruce has ever played the song in public, but it’s already a showpiece.
It took 14 years for “Fade Away” to make a return appearance to Bruce’s setlists, surfacing a few times as a solo electric piano number in 2005.
“Fade Away” made only four appearances in the decade that followed, finally returning as a nightly standard during Bruce’s full-album River shows in 2016.
When Bruce dropped the full album concept after the U.S. leg, “Fade Away” lived up to its name. Except for the three rare European full-album shows, “Fade Away” hasn’t been seen since.
Fade Away
Recorded: March-June 1980
Released: The River (1980)
First performed: November 1, 1980 (Los Angeles, CA)
Last performed: July 28, 2016 (Oslo, Norway)
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