Roll of the Dice: Delivery Man

In 1984, the world was introduced to Wilson and Wayne, two good ol’ boys driving down to Darlington County.

That road trip did not end well: it ends with Wayne handcuffed to the bumper of a state trooper’s Ford. But we never learn why–what exactly did Wayne do to attract attention from the long arm of the law?

Well, it all comes down to a flat-bed truck, a load of chickens, and Bobby Jean‘s long-lost sister. No, not Betty Jean, I mean the other other Jean.

Buckle up, and we’ll listen to “Delivery Man,” Bruce Springsteen’s unreleased prequel to “Darlington County.”

Bruce recorded “Delivery Man” in early 1983, sometime after he recorded “Darlington County.” Whether he’d written “Delivery Man” earlier than that, we don’t know–but we do know that the unreleased song foreshadows and explains much of Darlington’s road-trip action.

Taken by itself, “Delivery Man” is a lark, a farce–it’s the story of two inept friends who cause chaos when their illegal load of live chickens overturns in rush hour traffic. But it’s the detail that makes this song so fascinating and enlightening to a Springsteen scholar.

As our story begins, our unnamed narrator and his friend Wilson are illegally (but just a little) transporting a load of live chickens:

I’m rumblin’ outta town ‘cross the West side tracks
Drivin’ my pa’s flat bed with a load of chickens in the back
I’m a little illegal but I ain’t on fire
I got them hens tied down with rope and chicken wire
Up in the cab me and Wilson we gotta shout
Between the noise from the engine and them chickens squawking all about
There’s a low bridge comin’ up on 105
And if we don’t make it man them feathers gonna fly, yeah

That’s called foreshadowing right there. We see it again in the second verse, but there’s so much else to take in that we almost miss it:

Now Wilson ain’t bad lookin’, ‘cept he’s kinda shy
And I got him a girl in rails tonight
Well she goes by the name of Beverly Jean
She got eyes like a jack rabbit starin’ dead in your high beams
On her bureau the World Trade Centers glow
When she turns ’em upside down, well they’re covered in snow
All Wilson says is, “I don’t know, Wayne, I don’t know”

Okay, let’s unpack:

First, we meet Beverly Jean, sister to Bobby and Betty. We know this because both Betty Jean and Beverly Jean have the same “eyes like a jack rabbit starin’ dead in your high beams.”

The next thing we notice is the revelation that our narrator’s name is Wayne–just like the destined-for-arrestin’ buddy from “Darlington County.” And from here, several pieces fall into place:

1) We realize that Wilson, who rides shotgun in “Delivery Man” is the narrator of “Darlington County.”

2) Wayne, the missing-for-seven days buddy from “Darlington County” is the narrator of “Delivery Man.”

3) We suddenly have a pretty good idea of what inspired Wilson’s spur-of-the-moment lie to the little girl on the Darlington County corner: it was the snow globe sitting on his girl Beverly’s bureau.

4) And speaking of that foreshadowing snow globe, we’re starting to suspect what made the state highway patrol so interested in Wayne and Wilson…

So let’s get back to our story, because it’s about to go exactly where you think it’s going.

I took a hard turn just South of the Kokomo
Our rope gave out, my load shifted, we was all over the road
Pens bustin’ on the blacktop, chickens scatterin’ all about
Runnin’ hellbent ‘cross the highway, gettin’ turned inside out
By the local commuters at sixty miles per hour
In five minutes it was all over, except for the flowers

Let’s pause for a moment to admire Bruce’s songwriting. Sure, this may not be one of his more profound songs, but it takes talent to paint such a ridiculously chaotic scene so concisely.

Our story concludes with Wayne surveying the wreckage, both mechanical and animal:

Well that flatbed was sideways in a drainage ditch
There weren’t no way she was movin’ without a crane and a hitch
When the highway patrol came in and set up a block
We was chasin’ some survivors ‘cross the parkin’ lot
Well I stood up and checked the situation at hand
Lord don’t let me spend my life as a delivery man

That’s a terrifically funny last line, and Bruce lets it linger as we survey the scene along with Wayne, presumably waiting for the state troopers to haul them in. But what if they didn’t? What if Wayne and Wilson made a run for it? What if they picked up Wilson’s car and made a break straight for Darlington County?

That’s what we’re left to suspect–or maybe Wayne and Wilson are just destined to get themselves in scrape after scrape. Either way, “Delivery Man” sheds new light on our heroes, and ties together the Born in the U.S.A. universe more tightly than we knew.

Bruce has never performed “Delivery Man,” and he’s obviously never released it. Yet it’s clearly a finished song–it even has a percussion track to accompany Bruce’s guitar–so if you’re a betting fan, I’m laying decent odds that we’ll eventually see an official release for this one.

Let’s hope, because a live “Delivery Man”/”Darlington County” double-shot would be too much fun to miss out on.

Delivery Man
Recorded: January 1983
Never released
Never performed