When is a Darkness outtake not a Darkness outtake?
Well, I’m not sure exactly where the line is, but when the song includes contributions from Patti Scialfa, Soozie Tyrell, and the Alliance Singers, when the backing track is slowed down so much that it adds a full minute to the song, when the original track didn’t even have a vocal until Bruce added it in 2010… well, wherever the line is, I’m pretty sure it’s been crossed.
“Someday (We’ll Be Together)” started out as “Someday (Tonight),” an instrumental track that circulated among bootleg collectors for many years before Bruce rediscovered it when prepping his box set for Darkness on the Edge of Town.
The original “Someday (Tonight)” track is instantly recognizable to anyone who owns The Promise, and I’d argue it’s superior to the modern cut. Played at a brisker pace with a fuller band arrangement (Roy in particular gets a workout) and a “Be My Baby” drumbeat, the song sounds like it was written with Ronnie Spector in mind (and possibly with “Linda Let Me Be the One” in mind as well–the opening bars of each are extremely similar).
We have no way of knowing if Bruce had written any lyrics for it back in the 1970s; more likely than not, he wrote new lyrics (as few as there are) in 2010 using the original “Someday (Tonight)” title as inspiration and anchor. But he was certainly successful at preserving the lush, romantic feel of the original track, even if he altered it so much that we really can’t consider it a true outtake.
“Someday (We’ll Be Together)” is best viewed as a stylistic writing exercise. This is clearly a case where the instrumental track mattered more to Bruce than the lyrics–in interviews, he confesses to being enamored by the sound of the original track and wanting to build on it, to flesh it out using the craft and skill he’d honed over the decades since.
He certainly succeeded–the modern version is even more lush (and almost stately), with soaring vocals and a swelling choir.
It’s just too bad Bruce didn’t put more effort into the lyrics. I certainly don’t believe that every song needs depth and meaning; some of my favorite Springsteen songs are his pop cast-offs. But when I read or listen to the lyrics I can’t help but feel like Bruce phoned this one in–there’s barely even a hint of metaphor, and whatever passion and longing the narrator feels is communicated only by the music, not the words.
Your voice comes calling through the mist
I awake from a dream and my heart begins to drift
Tonight we’re on our own
Tonight we’re all alone
Oh, tonight…
Someday we’ll be together
And the night will fall around us
This love will last forever
Someday we’ll be together
Together…
I can’t sleep so I lie awake listenin’ to the sounds of the city below
I get dressed and walk the streets but I got nowhere to go
Tonight it’s you I miss
Tonight my only wish is
Oh, tonight
Bruce has never performed it in concert, and I wouldn’t lay odds of him doing so anytime soon. But “Someday (We’ll Be Together”) is still a perfectly serviceable if unremarkable deep cut and curiosity on The Promise.
Someday (We’ll Be Together)
Recorded: September 26-30, 1977 (backing track), 2010 (vocals and modern elements)
Released: The Promise (2010)
Never performed
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