It started the way many of Bruce’s great songs did–with a hook.
Sometime during the autumn of 1981, Bruce broke out his cassette recorder at his home in Colts Neck, and recorded two different deliveries of the chorus (if you can call it that) of what would become “Club Soul City.”
Oh yeah… the second one’s the stuff. But those 55 seconds are the only glimpse we have into the development of a song that Bruce would quickly finish and donate to Gary U.S. Bonds.
Gary’s cover of “Club Soul City” appears on On the Line, his 1982 follow-up to his Dedication comeback album. Produced by both Bruce and Steve Van Zandt, On the Line features no less than seven original Springsteen compositions (see “Angelyne” for another), and the entire E Street Band backs Bonds throughout.
In fact, if not for Columbia’s insistence on removing Bruce’s backing from the album, it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to call On the Line a lost Springsteen album. Bruce’s contributions to On the Line are light pop numbers, in stark contrast to what he was writing and recording in that Nebraska era; I’m sure Bonds was more than happy to provide an outlet for the lighter side of Bruce’s songwriting.
Let’s take a listen:
“Club Soul City” doesn’t demand a lot of analysis. In fact, it’s basically a more soulful re-write of “Heartbreak Hotel.” While Bruce doesn’t provide the club’s address, it’s almost certainly down at the end of Lonely Street.
Pack up your bags, don’t look back
There’s a little place out ‘cross the railroad tracks
If you’re broken-hearted, and you don’t know what to do
But they got a place down there that’s just for you
Club Soul, Club Soul City, yeah yeah yeah
Club Soul, Club Soul City, oh yeah
There’s a waitress at the back bar, goes with the guy that runs the place (yeah, she does)
She’s got hair like a weeping willow and tears running down her face (every day)
She’s seen a lot of guys like you coming around (I’ve seen tears in her eyes)
Looking for something that they’ve lost, or trying to lose something that they’ve found
Down at Club Soul, Club Soul City, yeah yeah yeah
Club Soul, Club Soul City, oh yeah
So if you’re down on your spirit and there ain’t no one who cares
If you’re lost and you’re lonely, you won’t be lonely down there (oh no)
You can’t miss it, it’s just up the highway, on the front door there’s a sign that says
Restricted to the losing kind
Club Soul, Club Soul City, yeah yeah yeah
Club Soul, Club Soul City, oh yeah
Man, it must have killed Bruce not to provide those call-and-response backing vocals, but Chuck Jackson more than ably rises to the occasion, especially on that terrific final couplet in the last verse.
(Bruce seems to have been taken with that “losin’ kind” turn of phrase, because we have a demo of an original song by that name written at around the same time as “Club Soul City.”)
Despite his many performances with Bonds over the years, Bruce has never played “Club Soul City” live. The closest he came was during a 1992 soundcheck in Milan; you can hear him working out the song below. It’s too bad the song never made it to the setlist during that tour–“Club Soul City” would have been a good fit for the 1992-93 touring band.
