Believe it or not, even after the 1998 Tracks and 2010 The Promise box sets, there are still unreleased songs from Bruce Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions.
One of my favorite still-missing-in-action tracks is “Sax Song” (also known as “Down by the River”). (Don’t confuse it with the Neil Young song by the same name.)
Take a listen to this rehearsal recording of the E Street Band in all their glory:
“Sax Song” wasn’t finished yet when the band made this recording at The Record Plant, but it was already musically tight enough for us to easily imagine it fitting seamlessly into Bruce’s live set.
There’s a lot here that foreshadows songs in Bruce’s near future, from an introduction that he would soon bestow on “Cadillac Ranch” to the Big Man’s sax solo that sounds like a prototype for “Sherry Darling.” And then of course there’s the title and refrain itself, which would soon form the basis of one of Bruce’s most enduring songs.
Lyrically, the first verse is a bit tough to make out (it’s largely bluffed, which may be why Bruce proclaims at the end, “This song should be one verse!”), but the chorus and second verse are pretty clear:
So come on, down by the river
Come on, come on
Just come on, down by the river
It’s alright
Well baby, let me protect you little darling
If you let me, I’ll be your friend
I know, baby, if you’ll just let me in
Well, every day just brings the same
Every day it brings your same game
But every night ???
Not exactly Bruce’s most profound songwriting, but “Sax Song” obviously isn’t meant to be. It’s a straight up rocker that wouldn’t have fit thematically on Darkness but would have been right at home on The River.
I’m still hoping a finished outtake of this will surface one day.
Sax Song
Recorded: September 27, 1977
Never released
Never performed
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