It’s time for another dip into the “1968 Notebook” — this time for a song so work-in-progress that not only is it unfinished and unrecorded, it doesn’t even have a name. (Springsteenlyrics.com adopted the first words of the first line as the working title, so we’ll do the same.)
“Turn Around” appears to be about a lothario who warns his dalliance not to fall for him, because he’s not sticking around for long–not especially surprising songwriting territory for an 18-year-old aspiring rock star. Except it’s not at all clear who’s falling for whom.
Correcting the grammar and spelling a bit and making a couple of spot eye corrections (all credit to Springsteenlyrics for figuring most of this out), we’re looking at:
Turn around, watch where you’re going
Look out, darlin’, your feelings are showing
Tomorrow morning babe, I’ll be going
It’s a shame I’ve got to leave even without knowing you
So far, we’re listening to a man who refuses to be tied down but who isn’t about to pass up a good fling.
I’ve cried and chased around after you
There ain’t just nothing else that I can do
So look out woman I’m coming on through
I’m moving to the big city and find myself something new
This verse makes us take another look at the last line of the first verse–perhaps the narrator wasn’t being sarcastic when he lamented “it’s a shame I’ve got to leave without even knowing you.” It sounds here like he’s pursued this girl for quite a while but has perhaps grown tired of the pursuit. He’s got big dreams and is moving on.
It’s not entirely clear which direction Bruce was planning to take this song, but the last verse certainly paints the narrator as more of a runner than a pursuer, absolving himself from his romantic sins through rote church attendance and his embrace (for now at least–we’ll have to wonder where Bruce would have taken the character) of his wandering ways.
But memorizing words from a piece of paper sure ain’t gonna make me no saint
just like clockwork every Friday we’d march to church to confess our sins
and for the special low price of 3 Hail Marys my soul was clean again
Now you know God is groovy and Jesus is just alright
but it’s more fun playing music and sleeping with girls all night
Untitled (Turn Around)
Never recorded
Never released
Never performed
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