One might argue that the Bruce Springsteen Band line-up (Bruce, Steve Van Zandt, Garry Tallent, Vini Lopez, and David Sancious) is basically the core of the original E Street Band, and you’d be correct… technically.
But even with identical players, those two bands had very different sounds–the BSB period was bluesier, funkier, and groovier than the E Street Band era that followed, and the few surviving documents of that brief period (the band didn’t even make it a full year) are eye-opening for anyone unfamiliar with Bruce’s early music.
Case in point: “All I Want to Do Is Dance,” which Bruce performed at least twice during The Bruce Springsteen Band’s month-long residency at The Back Door in Richmond in February 1972.
(Note: while the dates at the bottom of this article are the “official” entries of record in Brucebase, they very likely are inaccurate. There are several recordings of songs performed during Bruce’s Back Door residency, and the bootleg recordings aren’t definitively linked to particular shows. We can be certain that the two recordings we’re about to listen to hail from sometime in February 1972, though, and we can also be pretty sure that there were more performances of “All I Want to Do Is Dance” that weren’t captured at all.)
Both surviving recordings are a bit distant, and it can be hard to make out Bruce’s lyrics at times. But that’s okay–Bruce’s lyrics from this era were often not very substantive, and that’s certainly true for “All I Want to Do Is Dance.”
Let’s take a listen, starting with this first performance. Of particular note here is the three-minute introductory interplay between Bruce on guitar and David Sancious on keys. It’s almost certainly improvised, and both artists dazzle in their duel.
The other surviving performance is from the same month (perhaps earlier, perhaps later, but certainly only a few weeks apart at most). Disappointingly, the intro is shorter and Sancious-less; without the rocket boost provided by the earlier performance’s introduction, this performance is slower and more of a straight-up rocker.
Comparing the two contemporaneous performances gives us a pretty good idea of how loose and improvisational those early shows were.
As for Bruce’s lyrics, there’s not much to analyze here–this is Bruce in pop mode. Still, there a few early instances of what would shortly become early Springsteen trademarks: the internal rhymes, the alliteration, and of course the totemization of the guitar:
I been looking, I been searching, I been like a buzzard perching on a branch
I been stopping, I been hopping, I been bopping, I been running out of gas
Tonight I’m gonna go to the ranch
And I’m looking for love, trying for sweet romance
But I know what you’re gonna do
Cause all I wanna do is dance
Well I been learning, I been burning, I been running on my midnight lamp
I been escaping, I been aching, I’ve been scraping up to buy me an amp
Well Friday night I go to the hop
My feet they move so fast that they just can’t stop
Child, what’ve I gotta do now, tell me
Cause all I wanna do is dance with you
Oh baby you know that I need you and I know that you need me
I’ll learn to play guitar for you, woman I’ll be a star for you
Well look out Mama, cause I’m taking over
Oh step back kids, let the music roll you over
I can do anything, anything that you wanna do
That’s alright with me, girl
Ah won’t you come on through and ??? wanna do
Yeah, come on babe, let me see you ???
Before long, Bruce would turn his attention to more serious subjects, but in 1971 and 1972, The Bruce Springsteen Band was often just focused on providing a good dance party. (Besides “All I Want to Do Is Dance,” the band’s repertoire also included Springsteen originals like “Dance Dance Dance” and “When You Dance.”)
If Bruce ever surprises us with an archive series document of one of these early shows, we’re in for a treat.
All I Want to Do Is Dance
Never recorded
Never released
First performed: February 4, 1972 (Richmond, VA)
Last performed: February 26, 1972 (Richmond, VA)
Looking for your favorite Bruce song? Check our full index. New entries every week!
