Roll of the Dice: You’ve Got It

Not every song has to be a masterpiece; not every song requires analysis and dissection.

Every once in a while, Bruce writes and releases a trifle purely for his own enjoyment, and that’s okay.

“You’ve Got It” is… okay.

“You’ve Got It” is built around a gimmick: Bruce writes almost entirely in the negative, taking palpable joy in finding ways to describe what the titular “it” isn’t and never even attempting to describe what it actually is. (The song is so light that it would collapse if he did.)

No one ever found it, ain’t no school ever taught it
No one ever made it, ain’t no one ever bought it
Baby you’ve got it, baby you’ve got it
Come on and give it to me

Ain’t no one can break it, there ain’t no one can steal it
Ain’t no one can fake it, you just know it when you feel it
Baby you’ve got it, baby you’ve got it
Come on and give it to me

Yeah, you can’t read it in a book, and you can’t even dream it
Honey, it ain’t got a name, you just know it when you see it
Baby you’ve got it, yeah, baby you’ve got it
Come on and give it to me

Well, now listen up, your reckless love is precious so don’t waste it
Can’t tell you what they made it of, but I know it when I taste it
Baby you’ve got it, yeah, baby you’ve got it
You’ve got it in your bones and blood, yeah, you’re real as real ever was
Baby you’ve got it, yeah, baby you’ve got it
Come on and give it to me

So what is it? Charisma, perhaps. Chemistry, maybe. Animal magnetism, sexiness, the power of persuasion, take your pick amongst a spectrum of intangible, invisible, unmeasurable qualities. (Although “come on and give it to me” is such a recognizable come-on that my bet is on sex appeal.)

Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter–“You’ve Got It” is just Bruce having fun (as do the multitude of musicians on the track–yes, that’s the “Glory Days” riff you instantly recognized), and it’s enough for us to listen to it the same way.

Bruce perhaps does his song a disservice introducing it to us in the middle of his masterful Wrecking Ball album; try listening to it on a playlist of his pop songs and it fares much better.

Still, graded on a curve that includes only the poppier songs in Bruce’s catalog, “You’ve Got It” is middle-of-the-pack at best. It lacks the buoyancy and hidden narcissism that makes “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day” so timelessly appealing, and it’s nowhere near as infectious as “Lion’s Den” or “Give the Girl a Kiss.”

Far be it from me to understand (let alone explain) what makes a perfect pop song, but one thing I know about Bruce’s best ones are that after hearing them once, they demand that you sing them. On that front, “You’ve Got It…” not so much.

Bruce tried it live, once. The set up was a bit awkward, as you’ll see in the clip below, but Bruce’s performance was fun.

Fun, yes, but that one and only live performance of “You’ve Got It” didn’t get a particularly Springsteenian crowd reaction, and Bruce seemed very aware of that during his performance. I suspect that’s why that Bergen performance remains a one-and-only.

The irony of “You’ve Got It” is that it ain’t got it.

You’ve Got It
Recorded: 2011
Released: Wrecking Ball  (2012)
First performed: July 24, 2012 (Bergen, Norway)
Last performed: July 24, 2012 (Bergen, Norway)

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