Roll of the Dice: Changing Children

I suppose a warning might be appropriate here: If you enjoy picturing Bruce Springsteen as a lifelong idealist, you might not want to listen to his (very) early composition, “Change It.”

Written and performed during his Steel Mill era, “Change It” (which I’ve also seen referred to as “Changing Children” on Brucebase and Springsteenlyrics based on what I believe is a mis-hearing of the lyrics–in fairness, we don’t have any published “official” lyrics from these early songs to work from) is a blisteringly cynical song.

Composed at the height of student activism, Bruce seems to have completely (if temporarily) washed his hands of the whole notion of protest, resistance, and social movements in general.

Let’s take a listen.

On the surface, “Change It” is fairly typical of Bruce’s material at that time: it serves as a guitar showcase, and it features young Bruce and the band’s new vocalist Robbin Thompson trading off vocals. But when you listen to the lyrics, what seems at first like a contemporary protest song soon reveals itself to be anything but.

Well everybody’s saying their favorite sayings
Everybody’s singing their favorite songs
Everybody’s got a favorite game they’re playing
We’re alright, but I guess we’re all wrong

I said you better take a look around you brother
Something’s happening here
Sooner or later it’s gonna surround you
And leave you with nothing but fear

All you gotta do is hang around
Tell you you’re never gonna know
Just what’s going down

Go back and listen to (or simply read) that second verse again–it’s a direct reference to Buffalo Springfield’s already-classic protest song “For What It’s Worth.”

Not only does Bruce quote the song directly in the first couplet, he co-opts the song’s rhymes for the chorus that follows as well (around/down vs. sound/down).

If “For What It’s Worth” is a clarion call to action, however, “Change It” is a big fat “why bother?”

Although the band’s vocalists put everything they have into the song’s “Change it, children” refrain (I’m positive it’s not “changing children,” although I can understand how some might hear that), the song progress from subtle to shockingly over cynicism as with each verse.

(If you’re listening to the live recording above, I should point out that Bruce’s entire “Well, I know that we all wanna change it, but first we gotta re-arrange it” verse is an ad lib. I assume that there were some tall folks hogging whatever served as a pit/front-of-stage, and Bruce is gently chiding them to let others see.)

The song continues, poking and prodding at “activists” who are all talk and no action. It’s not that Bruce didn’t believe the protest songs (he written several of them himself by this time)–he was just dismayed that fans would embrace them, sing them, but not live them.

Well there’s cannons on my left, I got cannons on my right
Rode my people out of battle ’till the sign was right
And you know the only path that’s bringing ’em low now, can’t you see the light
Oh doing what you want to, living life like you like

At this point, the song tempo awkwardly changes (prompting Bruce to give the audience clapping lessons), abandoning the tropes of classic sixties protest songs and embracing earlier happy-go-lucky rock classics to add an extra note of sarcasm to the lyrics:

Yeah it’s that time again
I ain’t felt like this since I don’t know when
A new sun is rising and the weather is changing
Whoa whoa it’s revolution
Whoa whoa it’s revolution

So lets get together and have a good time
There’s so much fun it’s gonna blow your mind
Break out the guns and the ammo
Everything’s gonna be fine

(We can clearly hear the influence of The Isley Brothers’ “Shout” in the “it’s that time again, for revolution” chorus at around the 5:20 mark above.)

That middle section culminates with probably the least likely lyrics we’d ever expect to hear from Bruce:

So take LSD and off the pigs
The summer is over gonna make it big

At this point, Steel Mill slows the song to a crawl, and Bruce’s vocals become plaintive and almost sincere:

Everybody’s got a favourite game that they’re playing
Everybody’s right Lord, and huh we’re all wrong
Oh but we can fix that up
We can amend that mistake
Well you know I made a lot of mistakes in my life
Stepped on a few toes too
Well I made a lot of mistakes in my life
The Lord god up above knows that’s true
Changing, we got to change ourselves oh yeah
From all the destruction
From all the corruption

But only almost. At least in this performance, Bruce and the band walk a fine line–the chorus is a sincere plea, but the verses and vocals show that Bruce has (at least for the moment) given up on the hope that his music will inspire his listeners to act.

That particular super power was still years away.

Change It
Never recorded
Never released
First performed: October 17, 1970 (West Long Branch, NJ)
Last performed: January 22, 1971 (Asbury Park, NJ)

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