For every great song Bruce has released over the years, there’s at least one great outtake that never saw the light of day.
“Little Girl Like You” isn’t one of them.
You might argue that as a demo recording from the Born in the U.S.A. sessions, it’s unfair to judge what the final song might have become, and you might have a point.
But I’d argue that with a rushed, overly simplistic melody and shallow, unimaginative lyrics, this song would be lost and forgotten on any album it appeared on.
And yet, that may not be the main reason why Bruce chose not to release it.
“Little Girl Like You” was recorded during the BITUSA sessions in January 1983. It was probably written sometime earlier. And although it seems shocking to us today with the benefit of knowing Bruce’s full body of work and politics, back in 1982, Bruce came under public fire from the National Organization for Women for his sexist lyrics.
Specifically, Bruce was called out loudly, publicly, and repeatedly for us frequent use of the term “little girl” to refer to the women in his songs.
Putting this song on Born in the U.S.A. might have been like throwing a match in the proverbial powder keg.
Check out the lyrics:
I want a little house, on a little hill
I wanna settle down, yeah, I think I will
Settle down and find a little love that’s true
Settle down with a girl like you
Seen a lot of girls
Had a lot of fun
Ran around a lot
Now my runnin’s done
Honey, all I wanna, wanna be runnin’ to
Is the arms of a girl like you
You start livin’ life
Like you just don’t care
You done everything
You been everywhere
But what I done ain’t nothin’ to what I wanna do
When I find a little girl like you
We’ll get married
In a church down a Wynan Bay
Tell a lotta jokes
Have a lotta laughs
Do whatever it is that we wannna do
Long as I do it with a girl like you
Hey little stranger
Walkin’ down the street
You’re the only one
You make my life complete
I got a plan but it’s one made for two
So I need a little girl like you
Yeah, hey, I need a little girl like you
Oh Honey, I need a little girl like you.
It’s not just the repeated “little girl” phrasing that’s problematic–it’s the context of a song about a guy who seems more interested in having someone like you rather than you in particular. You could argue that it’s just creative license, and this one I’d ordinarily grant–except that it’s clear in the last verse that he’s addressing a stranger, and in the earlier verses it’s clear that he’s got quite the hookup history and has his mind set on another.
To a pair of 2018 ears, it’s a little creepy.
So, yeah: probably for the best that Bruce discarded this one. He’s never performed it live, and I doubt he ever will.
Little Girl (Like You)
Recorded: January 20, 1983
Never released
Never performed
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