Even living legends at the peak of their powers need a break from time to time.
Bruce Springsteen was scheduled to kick off the European leg of the original River Tour a mere twelve days after wrapping the first North American leg, but by the end of that first leg in March 1981, Bruce was exhausted.
His shows had reached and passed the four-hour mark (intermissions included), and he and the band gave their all each and every night. The man desperately needed a break, and so reluctantly the first twelves shows of the European leg were rescheduled to give Bruce a solid month to rest and rejuvenate.
For Bruce, though, resting up included more songwriting, and several home demos recorded during Bruce’s month-long respite escaped into the wild.
Just a few months later, Bruce’s songwriting would turn dark, leading him to his next landmark album, Nebraska. But in the spring of 1981, Bruce was still very much in River mode, and several of the songs he wrote are surprisingly light and poppy. (See “Riding Horse,” for example.)
Perhaps the most charming song-that-never-was from this period is a confection known as “My Heart Is an Open Book.”
Employing a similar conceit to Bruce’s much-much-later composition “Seven Angels,” “My Heart Is an Open Book” contrasts a transparently steadfast lover with the inscrutable object of his affection.
You won’t say what you need
You won’t say what you want
You just stand in the corner
Baby so nonchalant
When you stand around, I try to keep my cool
But my heart’s an open book for you
Enter the gimmick: For the rest of the song (such as it is, it doesn’t appear that Bruce ever finished developing it), Bruce employs the time-tested Book of Love metaphor to illustrate and communicate how his love has formed and deepened. Like most relationships, the first chapters are sunny and bright:
Well baby, late at night you read Chapter One
We’re going out, we’re having fun
You read on up to Chapter Two
There’s a story of my love for you
But of course, over time conflict sets in–and in times of strife, Bruce encourages his love to rely on the good book:
Well, I don’t care what you say and do
You stay angry and I talk it through
Yeah it don’t matter baby, I’m not a fool
Cause my heart is an open book to you
You’re readin’ up baby, to Chapter Three
It tells you how good our love could be
You’re readin’ on up to Chapter Four
Well I kiss you once and then I want some more
You read on now to chapter Five
??? all right
Bruce’s lyrics are unclear here at times–perhaps bluffed, even–but this is a pretty good approximation. Thankfully, “My Heart Is an Open Book” is such a pure pop song that the exact lyrics almost don’t matter–this is a song that wears its heart on its sleeve. Or as Bruce sings:
Yeah it don’t matter what I do because
My heart is an open book to you
My Heart Is an Open Book
Recorded: March-April 1981 (home demo)
Never released
Never performed
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