From time to time here on the Shuffle, we profile Springsteen original songs that never made it to vinyl but instead ended up donating their DNA to other songs that did.
“True Love is Hard to Come By,” for example, led to “Janey, Don’t You Lose Heart,” and “Stockton Boys” donated some lyrics to “Working on the Highway.” Bruce appears to have worked on “Eloise” and “Growin’ Up” at the same time; they share the same melody, but only one of the twins survived. Don’t even get me started on “Garden State Parkway Blues.” (But do check out that entry if you’re not familiar with it, because that song’s DNA is all over Bruce’s catalog.)
There are too many examples of this across Bruce’s catalog to fully recount, but today’s roll of the dice stands out among them.
“Baby, I’m So Cold” shares a melody with “Follow that Dream” and lyrics with “Loose Ends.” But what’s truly unusual about it is that “Baby, I’m So Cold” came after both of those songs, not before.
Bruce recorded “Loose Ends” with the E Street Band in July 1979; he premiered “Follow That Dream” on stage in Paris in April 1981. So it’s remarkable that in early 1982 (with Nebraska likely very much on his mind), he sat down at home in Colt’s Neck, pressed the record button on a cassette recorder, and played this:
Since the lyrics are so close to those of “Loose Ends,” I’ll save my detailed analysis for when I someday profile that classic from Tracks. But even though the lyrics are strikingly similar, the subtle differences make for an entirely different song.
“Loose Ends” is the retelling of a break-up; “Baby, I’m So Cold” foreshadows one.
Because “Baby, I’m So Cold” takes place after the love has gone but before the lovers have, it is (in my opinion, at least) a more intimate and emotionally powerful song.
The chorus–unique to this song–simply finds the lovers estranged from each other but clinging to each other, as if huddling around the embers of their former passion could ease the chill they feel inside.
Listen again, and marvel at how Bruce is able to craft an entirely difference song with only small changes to existing elements.
We met on open streets
We had no place to go
I remember how my heart beat
When you said “Bobby, I love you so”
Then little by little, baby, now I don’t know
We lost the love, so long ago
Now I’m so cold, and we turn the lights down low
So cold, baby, I’m so cold, and we turn the lights down low
So cold, baby, I’m cold
We both made promises we couldn’t keep
Now last night, my girl, you were crying in your sleep
Baby, we used to walk on nights just like this
I would hold you in my arms, fill you with my kiss
(Hold you in my arms, protect you with my kiss)
Now I’m so cold, and we turn the lights down low
I’m so cold, baby, I’m so cold, we turn the lights down low
Our love has fallen around us
Like we said it never could
It happened to us, we said it never would
How could something so bad, baby, happen to something so good
I don’t know, I don’t know
We got no new dreams, baby, left to touch
We’re lost like strangers who know too much
About each other, it was ???
I’m scared but I fear the cold coming in the night
Now I’m so cold, and we turn the lights down low
So cold, baby, I’m so cold, and we turn the lights down low
And we turn the lights down low
And we turn the lights down low
And we turn the lights down low
(Yes, those are lyrics that would someday end up in “Janey, Don’t You Lose Heart” in that final verse.)
“Baby I’m So Cold” never made it to an official release, but it certainly wasn’t a passing flight of fancy; Bruce felt strongly enough about this new song to take it into the studio with E Street Band in May 1982 during the Born in the U.S.A. sessions.
That recording likely resides in the vault, a strong candidate (we can only hope) for eventual release on a Born in the U.S.A. box set).
Baby, I’m So Cold
Recorded: Early 1982 (acoustic demo), May 11, 1982 (studio)
Never released
Never performed
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