Bruce is a self-confessed fan of psychedelic rock, even if its influence can be a bit hard to find in his officially released music. But go back a bit earlier, and you’ll hear it for sure.
Case in point: listen to this 13-minute guitar epic from Bruce’s days fronting The Bruce Springsteen Band. Recorded at a concert at The Student Prince on December 3, 1971, this would appear to be the only known performance and recording of this Springsteen original composition.
What’s it about? I like to think I’m pretty good at analyzing Bruce’s catalog, but I have to admit this one–with its surrealistic imagery and that impenetrable last verse–escapes me. But that may be precisely the goal, as it is with much acid rock.
The first verse appears to paint a landscape–one so immense, colorful and powerful that it leaves one feeling overpower by it, dwarfed by it, lost in it. (Notice that Bruce sings in the second person here, not the first person–a neat trick to draw the listener into his world.)
River wide, mountain so high
Rainbows break across the Southern sky
Ocean so vast it floods the eye
Moving so fast
It’s hard to know if you’re dead or if still alive
Yeah, there’s something so good
Like nothing before you ever had
And a love’s so good
That you ??? so bad <<could use some help figuring out what he’s saying here>>
The second verse appears to bring a girl into the equation–although it’s hard to separate her from the world around her, such is the naturistic tapestry that Bruce continues to weave. And at the end of it, he establishes the song’s theme and hook–searching, but not finding, the source of incredible pain. (He switches to first person here–turning the song personal, now that we’re in his world with him.)
Hair so long, eyes so deep
Heart on fire even when I sleep
Sun so bright it blinds me for the light
No I cannot make it without for another night
Searchin’ like a blind man
Lost without his dog or his cane
Feelin’ like a blind man
I can’t see what’s hurtin’ me
But I sure can feel the pain… so bad
In the next verse, Bruce returns to the alien landscape he’s trapped in, desperate to escape but wanting it all for himself:
River deep, valley so low
Now when the sun passes over
You don’t even leave a shadow
A bottomless pit
Out of which I cannot climb
And I get so selfish
I want it all to be mine, yeah
I’m a blind man
Lost without his dog, or without his cane
And I can’t even see what’s hurtin’ me so bad
But I sure can feel the pain
And then, like I said, that last verse:
Big black rooster, open your eyes
Look at the country
Before you waste it blind
Freedom bells ringing
And animals have learned to speak
I am still trying to learn how to fly, yeah
I’m like a blind man
Lost without his dog or his cane
I can’t even see what’s hurtin’ me, all I know
But I sure can feel the pain
I’ll be darned if I know what the big black rooster symbolizes, what the bells are about, and why the animals are talking. Maybe it’s because I’ve never tried acid. (Bruce has often stated that he never tried drugs, and I believe him–but man, he sure could have fooled me on this song.) Or maybe I’m just trying too hard to find meaning a song that’s just supposed to take you on a trip.
Got a theory about the hidden meaning of “Sure Can Feel the Pain?” I’d love to hear it.
Sure Can Feel the Pain
Never Recorded
Never Released
First performed: December 3, 1971 (Asbury Park, NJ)
Last performed: December 3, 1971 (Asbury Park, NJ)
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