“I don’t even remember writing it or recording it. It was like, ‘When did I do that?'” – Bruce Springsteen, Rolling Stone, December 10, 1998
How talented a songwriter is Bruce Springsteen?
So talented that he can write and record a killer pop song and later have zero recollection of ever having done so.
That Rolling Stone quote wasn’t a joke: Bruce admitted to Mark Hagen in the January 1999 issue of Mojo, “I didn’t even know that ‘Give the Girl a Kiss’ existed… wow, that’s pretty, that’s fun.”
And to Patrick Humphries in Record Collector a month later: “‘Give the Girl a Kiss’, the party thing from Darkness… I didn’t know that existed.”
So it’s a little hard to definitively pin down the inspiration for the song, when the songwriter himself can only answer: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Still, it seems highly likely that “Give the Girl a Kiss” was inspired at least in part by “Give Him a Great Big Kiss,” which The Shangri-Las took to #18 in 1964.
Although the songs are different in style, the similar titles and choruses (“Tell her that you love her, tell her that you need her” vs. “Tell him that I love him, tell him that I care”) are a pretty unmistakable hat tip.
Musically and stylistically though, “Give the Girl a Kiss” owes more to contemporary Springsteen originals like “So Young and in Love,” “Paradise by the C,” and and “Action in the Streets” (which are all basically the same song anyway).
But oh, those lyrics: pure pop perfection.
Well now I ain’t looking for excitement
Baby that’s just a fact
If you want to get to her heart
You better let her know just where you’re at
Well I say
It ain’t written in the sky above
Well no fortune-teller told me this
You gotta tell her that you love her
Tell her that you need her
And give the girl a great big kiss
Now if you’re such a fool you think
It don’t matter, baby, what you say
Maybe you better tell her how you’re feeling
It ain’t gonna happen any other way
‘Cause darling it ain’t written in the sky above
Well don’t you tell her who told me this
You gotta tell her that you need her
Tell her that you love her
And give the girl a great big kiss
Yeah you better give the girl a great big kiss
The romantic pep talk is a recipe that never fails. It’s a girl group staple (and we know Bruce loves his girl groups), not only for The Shangri-Las but also notably for The Exciters.
(That song would go on to have special significance for Bruce after he was struck by a red-headed woman performing it in a club one night, but that would be a few years up the road.)
Billy Joel would try his hand at a similar confection a few years later as well.
But Bruce distilled the recipe down to its one essential ingredient: the kiss. And in combining those almost-exasperated lyrics with an ultra-carefree, swinging melody, he conjures a protagonist that comes off as encouraging rather than frustrated.
That is, until the bridge gives away the game:
Now baby all I wanna do
Is darling make sweet love to you
Aha! So the narrator isn’t giving a pep talk to someone else–he’s talking to himself. Suddenly, “Give the Girl a Kiss” becomes a song of courage, and that makes it all the more endearing.
And speaking of endearing: can we just appreciate how much fun the E Street Band is having here? From Danny’s star turn to Bruce’s “Bosstime!” solo to the overdubbed Horns of Love, “Give the Girl a Kiss” features the E Street Band at their most winning.
Now I don’t know what the meaning is
Why you wanna hide the things you feel and say
But baby it’s just a natural fact
Love was never meant to be that way
And darlin’ it ain’t written in the sky above
Well no fortune-teller told me this
You gotta tell her that you need her
Tell her that you love her
And give the girl a great big kiss
Did I mention that they recorded this song during the dour Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions (except for the horns, which were added a couple of decades later)? Bruce may not remember “Give the Girl a Kiss” specifically, but he remembers using songs like it to relieve the band after long series of takes tackling darker material.
But the best part of “Give the Girl a Kiss” is still to come:
Give the girl a great big, great big, great big
Give the girl a great big kiss
That killer coda: The Big Man bounces his basso “give the girl a great big, great big, great big” while the Boss soars above him. It’s one of my favorite E Street moments on record. And you can tell Bruce feels the magic, because that coda ends up accounting for 25% of the entire song.
But as fun as “Give the Girl a Kiss” is on record, it’s even more fun live–in part because it’s such a natural singalong, in part because of its irresistible hook, but mostly because it brings out the ham in Bruce.
Once “Give the Girl a Kiss” was officially released on Tracks, Bruce wasted little time debuting it live. At the second of two warm-up shows for the Reunion Tour (which doubled in the early days as the Tracks Tour), Bruce called it a “silly” song and introduced it with a disclaimer: “We cut this for Darkness on the Edge of Town, and you’re about to see why we didn’t use it.”
If he meant it didn’t fit with the album’s theme, well, duh. But if Bruce doubted “Give the Girl a Kiss” as a piece of power pop, he needn’t have worried. Watch this delightful debut build to a hilariously comical (and obviously pre-planned) climax:
With a debut like that, why did “Give the Girl a Kiss” disappear for a decade after only two outings on the Reunion Tour? I have no idea–perhaps Bruce simply forgot about it again. We didn’t hear it again until Bruce’s 2009 show in Hershey, and even then it was only in response to a venue-appropriate sign request.
But Bruce’s best “Give the Girl a Kiss” was his last one, this time on the Wrecking Ball Tour. In granting a fan’s request, Bruce added the two essential ingredients missing from the song’s other live outings: brass and spontaneity.
Watch this wonderful performance from Charlottesville in 2012, featuring a loose Bruce at his funniest, and get your signs ready for the next tour–because we need to hear “Give the Girl a Kiss” again soon.
(As of this writing, lovestreet.com is still available.)
Give the Girl a Kiss
Recorded: November 10, 1977 (brass recorded in 1998)
Released: Tracks (1998)
First performed: March 19, 1999 (Asbury Park, NJ)
Last performed: October 23, 2012 (Charlottesville, VA)
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