Roll of the Dice: I Just Can’t Change

Here’s our second pre-ESB song this week.  Unlike “Funk Song,” however, “I Just Can’t Change” has lyrics and is a fully realized song. Bruce wrote it in 1971, and he performed it live with the Bruce Springsteen Band through 1972, although only one specific performance is documented and recorded.

Although the song itself wouldn’t survive 1972, its melody was resurrected in 1975. See if you recognize it.

Lyrically, “I Just Can’t Change” couldn’t be any more straightforward:

Well you can come by in the morning, baby, and that’ll be alright
Well if you wanna stop by this evening I’ll be home about nine
Well but don’t you come around if you’re gonna act strange
No don’t do it to me

Because I just can’t change, babe
I just can’t change
No matter how I try, child
I just can’t change

Well you tell me how much you miss me, girl, well I miss you too
And it’s been so long since you kissed me, don’t you think I’m about due
But don’t you, don’t you be coming around if you’re gonna try and rearrange
No don’t do it to me

You could take it as a “take me as I am” song, I suppose, or a resistance to being “tamed” or “domesticated,” but the final verse takes a more selfish turn:

Yes I know you’ve got a lot of love and you wanna give it to me
But sometimes you make me crazy trying to put them chains on me, babe
And she calls so sweetly, so discreetly on the telephone
And she says, “how you been, babe, are you busy and are you alone”
And I tell her, “Well if you’ve got the money then something can be arranged, child”

So maybe that’s why Bruce orphaned the song–it certainly didn’t have a sympathetic protagonist. Or maybe he just decided he could put its melody to better use, because it re-appeared in 1975 grafted to the lyrics of “The E Street Shuffle,” for a gorgeous arrangement that Bruce played frequently on the Born to Run tour (and which Bette Midler covered on vinyl and film).

In any event, enjoy this curious historical artifact, because this is one song we’re unlikely to hear played live again.

I Just Can’t Change
Recorded: N/A
Released: N/A
Performed: February 4, 1972 (Richmond, VA)

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