In later years, we’d call it an homage; in earlier years, we’d call it imitation. One thing we know regardless of chronology: Bruce Springsteen has always worn his influences on his sleeve.
One of the best early examples of this is Bruce’s Steel Mill/Bruce Springsteen Band-era song, “Goin’ Back to Georgia,” one of the very first songs Bruce ever recorded in the studio.
In fact, it was only his second time ever in a recording studio. The first time was with his high school band, The Castiles, in his hometown of Freehold in 1966. Four years later, it was Bruce’s band Steel Mill with him at Pacific Recording Studio in San Mateo, at the invitation of local promoter Bill Graham following a couple of very successful gigs at Graham’s Filmore West club.
The band knocked out three songs in a single take each, and one of them was this recording of “Goin’ Back to Georgia.” Take a listen and see if you can pick out the band he had in mind when he did this one.
If that doesn’t sound like an Allman Brothers song to you, then you probably haven’t listened to the Allman Brothers.
Both in style and in content, Bruce was paying tribute. It should be noted, however, that Bruce was still three years away from setting foot in Georgia for the first time. Even then, he wasn’t shy about writing about things with which he had no direct experience.
But if we’re honest about it, the places Bruce name-checks in “Goin’ Back to Georgia” are all interchangeable. There’s not a lot of local color in the song, but there doesn’t really need to be. For one thing, the song is more about going home than it is about a specific geographic location. Bruce hadn’t traveled very widely at the time he wrote this song, but he already understood the emotional gravitational pull that one’s home town exerts on us.
Well I’m going back to Georgia
To spend my last few years
Away from the sadness and the tears
Well I been out to San Francisco
When I traveled on down to L.A.
Still only one place that I can stay
With my last few dollars
And I’m gonna bring my last few dimes
Going back to Georgia
And I’m going back one more time
When I went up to New York City
When I been out the Chicago Loop
Still ain’t but one place that I’ve been true
When I sailed down the Mississippi
When I gambled in New Orleans
Still no finer site I ever seen, yeah
There’s another reason we needn’t concern ourselves too much with the lyrics: “Goin’ Back to Georgia” is all about the jam. Bruce arranged it to showcase the musicians starting with himself, of course, but everyone gets the spotlight: Danny Federici on the organ, Vini Lopez on the drums, Vinnie Roslin on bass.
Bruce performed “Goin’ Back to Georgia” regularly with Steel Mill, and it became one of his earliest fan favorites. In fact, for a song he never released, there are a shocking number of extant live recordings to choose from from the early Steel Mill line-up through The Bruce Springsteen Band era.
But here’s one of my favorites–from one of the very last Steel Mill concerts, on January 18, 1971 at D’Scene in South Amboy, New Jersey. By this time, Robbin Thompson had joined the band as a secondary vocalist, and in this performance–at times polished, at times very loose–Bruce and Robbin trade off on the lead vocals. As a bonus, we also get to hear a very young (21 years old) Bruce practice his early stage shtick. Enjoy.
Goin’ Back to Georgia
Recorded: February 22, 1970
Never released
First performed: February 28, 1970 (Richmond, VA) (and probably earlier, although we lack documentation)
Last performed: October 23, 1971 (Richmond, VA)
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