If there were a contest to name the most obscure officially released Springsteen song, “Gave It a Name” would be a serious contender, if only people could remember it exists.
Most books about Bruce don’t even mention it in passing; even Brian Hiatt’s otherwise comprehensive Stories Behind the Songs omits it.
Bruce has never played it in concert, and even though he recalled the Human Touch outtake enough to include it in his Tracks box set, he couldn’t remember what he did with the recording. As far as we know, that original recording is still lost (Bruce recalls it as being written primarily for the bass guitar); Bruce ended up re-recording the song in the summer of 1998 with Roy Bittan instead.
That may be for the best, though. Human Touch suffered a bit from overproduction, and Bruce’s 1998 version is gentle and softspoken, revealing its subject matter without belying it.
“Gave It a Name” is short and to the point, employing Bruce’s trusty device of Biblical imagery and characters to both underline Billy’s sin, his remorse, and the inability of humanity to eradicate domestic violence.
In the fields of the lord, stood Abel and Cain
Cain slew Abel ‘neath the black rain
At night he couldn’t stand the guilt or the blame
So he gave it a name
So he gave it a name
So he gave it a name
Billy got drunk, angry at his wife
He hit her once, he hit her twice
At night he’d lie in bed, he couldn’t stand the shame
So he gave it a name
So he gave it a name
So he gave it a name
In the first verse, Bruce retells the story of Cain, Abel, and humanity’s first murder–a crime so heinous and unprecedented that until that point, there was no word for it until Cain coined one in order to have a place to channel his remorse and shame.
In the second verse, we meet Billy, who has a parallel story. What led him to drink, we don’t know; what triggered his anger doesn’t matter. We just know that he struck his wife and was similarly so filled with shame that he had to name the thing that he’d done so that he could come to grips with it.
Bruce is careful to employ parallel construction in these two verses. By doing so, and by drawing upon our familiarity with the Cain and Abel parable, Bruce is able to communicate that Billy’s act of violence isn’t a one-off–it’s just the first of a what is likely to be a pattern of events for Billy, and just the latest in what has always been a pattern for society.
Bruce underscores this by ending the song with an unresolved verse, based on author Pete Dexter’s novel Paris Trout.
Pa told me “Son, one thing I know is true
Poison snake bites you, you’re poison too”
At night I can feel that poison runnin’ ’round my veins
That central line–“poison snake bites you, you’re poison too”–also appears in “The Big Muddy” (see that entry for more on the Paris Trout reference); its migration from outtake to album suggests that Bruce was still fascinated by the notion of violence begetting violence, of the sins of the father being passed on to the son. (He’d obviously been exploring that theme for many years, most overtly in “Adam Raised a Cain.”)
Interestingly, an early lyrics sheet for “Gave It a Name” implies a more explicit father/son parallel at the expense of biblical accuracy. Instead of “Cain slew Abel ‘neath the black rain,” Bruce’s original line was “Cain slew Adam all the same.” Perhaps Bruce realized that the alternative history would distract from the rest of the song; regardless, he reverted to the traditional version before finalizing the song.
Bruce has never played “Gave It a Name” in concert, and the song resides comfortably in obscurity on the final disc of Tracks. But astonishingly, “Gave It a Name” did get one prominent moment in the spotlight: in August 2015, HBO premiered a six-part based-on-a-true-story series called “Show Me a Hero.”
The show explores the complicated civil rights history of Yonkers, New York, and as the first episode opens, introducing the complicated character of Mayor Nick Wasicsko (a Golden Globe-winning performance by Oscar Isaac), a familiar song plays in full and in the foreground.
Gave It a Name
Recorded: August 24, 1998
Released: Tracks (1998)
Never performed
Looking for your favorite Bruce song? Check our full index. New entries every week!
