Now here’s a curiosity: an officially released song that’s actually an edited version of a bootlegged home demo.
When Bruce compiled a group of contemporary outtakes to include in his The Ties That Bind: The River Collection box set, he wanted to include “Mr. Outside.” Unfortunately, though, archivist Toby Scott couldn’t locate an “official” recording.
So Scott did exactly what you and I would have done: he scoured the Internet for a bootleg copy of Bruce’s original home demo, and found one. Here’s that original recording from late 1979:
Like many of Bruce’s home demos, though, “Mr. Outside” was pretty raw. It included starts, stops, and mistakes as Bruce worked out the song.
Undaunted, Scott carefully edited the song to remove the blemishes, paring away a full third of the recording. The result: the “official” version of “Mr. Outside” from The Ties That Bind: The River Collection.
Exactly why Bruce and Toby went to the trouble, though, is a mystery.
Musically, “Mr. Outside” is just one of a trilogy of never-finished songs that share the same melody, and the only one that ever saw any kind of official release. (See “Whitetown” and “You Gotta Be Kind” for Mr. Outside’s siblings.) It probably works best for “Mr. Outside” though: the devil-may-care melody perfectly underscores Bruce’s lyrics.
About those lyrics: it seems as if Bruce was reaching for a “Nowhere Man.” Written and recorded in 1979, Bruce’s titular character seems to foretell the stereotype that would come to define the coming decade:
They call him Mr. Outside ’cause he don’t care
Mr. Outside, he’s just having his fun
Mr. Outside, he’s just looking out for number one
Well Mr. Outside, oh your money and your power
Won’t help you come the dark hour
Kingdoms crumble to your feet
You’re left another thief out on the street
Dark glasses and money for hire
All the riches and high-tension wire
He got long dark, dark Cadillac
He got pretty little little girl in back
Nothing really happens in “Mr. Outside.” Essentially, the song is just a character sketch, and the excised verse from the bootleg version reveals the Bruce may have intended Mr. Outside to be even less sympathetic than the previous verses paint him.
Little baby got no diamond rings
You cry ’cause you ain’t got no pretty things
Them pretty things, babe, just look dumb
When you gotta take ’em when they come
None of the lyrics are particularly artful or insightful, and other than the early hints of songs yet to come (“Cadillac Ranch” and “Take ‘Em When They Come“), there’s not a lot of interest here.
Since it technically counts as an official release, I’m tempted to rank it dead last in Bruce’s catalog. But that hardly seems fair for a song that seems like it was released more for historical purposes than for artistic reasons.
So I’ll give Mr. Outside a pass. As has Bruce: he’s never once performed it or mentioned it.
Mr. Outside
Recorded: Late 1979
Released: The Ties That Bind: The River Collection
Never performed
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