Special treat today, folks! We’re taking another trip back to the Bruce Springsteen Band era, and this one’s a personal favorite.
Presented here for your listening pleasure: a fifty-year-old never-recorded, extremely rare (performed only once that we know of) lost Springsteen original, “You Better Be Nice to Me, Baby.”
Don’t confuse this with the lost Bruce Springsteen Band original we listened to last week. That one was “I’ve Got to Have You, Baby,” and it’s a completely different song (although Bruce played them back-to-back in a baby-centric set on September 1, 1971).
If you thought “I’ve Got to Have You, Baby” was a fun listen, though, you’ve got a treat in store when you hear this one.
Both songs delight, but if the former song is a bluesy jam, “You Better Be Nice to Me, Baby” is light on its feet, carried by a terrific David Sancious performance that would have been right at home in a late-night jazz club. In fact, with the possible exception of “Kitty’s Back,” this is as close to jazz as you’ll ever hear Bruce get.
As we can hear, both songs feature rare spotlight solos for Steve Van Zandt as well.
Lyrically, we’re listening to Bruce at his braggadocious best. (I laugh out loud every time I hear him sing, “I can make Lawrence Welk go rock and roll!”)
Like much of The Bruce Springsteen Band’s repertoire, “You Better Be Nice to Me, Baby” doesn’t require any lyrical analysis; this song is one hundred percent swagger. It’s also so rare that there’s not even an entry for it (yet) on Springsteenlyrics.com, so here are what I’m 98% certain are Bruce’s lyrics:
Got a good woman, yeah she was looking pretty fine
Yeah, we’re gonna sing the same song, mama, if we’re gonna get along
There’s just one thing I gotta say…
I can make rain fall from a cloudless sky
I can make a bluebird forget how to fly
I can call up a river to flood your home
I can make a good girl go wrong
So you better be nice to me baby
You better be nice to me baby
You better be nice to me baby
So I’ll be nice to you
I can kill at a distance of forty feet
I can steal the honey from a honeybee
I can stop a train dead with a look in my eye
I can make a grown man fall to his knees and cry
So you better be nice to me baby
You better be nice to me baby
You better be nice to me baby
So I’ll be nice to you
[David Sancious solo]
[Steve Van Zandt solo]
I can turn desert land into a paradise
I can take a thorny girl and I can make her nice
I can steal all the lightning from the sky above
I can make anyone fall right in love
I can swim the ocean in one week flat
I can climb a mountain with a hand behind my back
I can make a millionaire throw his money away
I can hide that cargo to Bombay
I’ll put you out on an eagle into outer space
I’m one man and I won the human race
I can shake you with love right down to your soul
I can make Lawrence Welk go rock and roll
I can make a whole army turn around and run
I can bend the barrel of my dad’s shotgun
I can do most anything I set my mind to
And honey, I’m setting my mind to you
So you better be nice to me baby
You better be nice to me baby
You better be nice to me baby
So I’ll be nice to you
(That’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had deciphering and transcribing lyrics from one of Bruce’s early songs.)
If you enjoyed this little road trip in the wayback machine, you’ll be happy to know we’ve got at least one more return visit ahead of us later this summer. And if not, never fear–we’ll be back in Bruce’s officially released catalog in just a few days.
You Better Be Nice to Me, Baby
First performed: September 1, 1971 (Long Branch, NJ)
Last performed: September 1, 1971 (Long Branch, NJ)
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