I know we’ve been spending a lot of time in the pre-Street past lately, and we’ll return to Bruce’s modern era shortly. But first, take fifteen minutes and listen to this entire 1970 performance, because it is remarkable—in ways both jaw-dropping and cringe-inducing.
As I often do with Bruce’s early material, I feel compelled to emphasize Bruce’s tender age of twenty on the date this was recorded. Usually, I do that to underline how impressive and accomplished his performances were; this time it’s also a reminder that we’ve all said things at that age that we’re fortunate were never captured on tape for posterity.
If our spotlight on “You Better Be Nice to Me” a few days ago featured Bruce at his jazziest, today’s entry features Bruce at his bluesiest.
“Girlfriend Blues” hails from a full year earlier than “You Better Be Nice to Me, Baby,” which places us in Bruce’s late Steel Mill period during the summer of 1970.
On stage with Bruce are Steve Van Zandt (on bass), Vini Lopez, and Danny Federici, and all four players are clear and prominent in this astonishingly clear mix–so clear that you’ll have to keep reminding yourself that this recording is fifty-one years old.
Bruce fashioned “Girlfriend Blues” in the classic blues mold and “my girl done left me” theme, and his lyrics clearly drew inspiration from Richard Fariña’s Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me, which captivated the countercultural imagination upon its publication four years earlier. Bruce had undoubtedly read it by this time, as he acknowledges it post-song when an audience member catches the lyrical reference.
Been down so long
I cannot look back up to me
I’ve been down so long
I cannot look back up to me
Since my honey left me
I’ve been so sad as any poor boy would be
She said that I treated her mean
She said I got too many women on the side
She said that I treated her mean
She said I got too many of them young girls on the side
(Oh she’s sweet sixteen)
Said honey it don’t mean a thing to me
Oh you’re the best woman that I’ve ever seen
It made me feel so good when you love me
I just gotta let you know all about it
Bruce and the band are channeling a tremendous groove here. This is a seriously and confidently powerful performance for such a young band. But what truly makes this performance so significant is Bruce’s mid-song story.
Now, it’s amazing simply to hear such an early example of Bruce’s on-stage storytelling craft at all, let alone in such clarity. What really raises eyebrows, though, is the story itself and the circumstances surrounding it.
Bruce begins:
So I figured: to make up with her, I was gonna have to take her out. So I took her to the boardwalk. This happened about in the middle of last week some time. [laughs]
Bruce laughs at his own cleverness at this point, and without historical context we might wonder why. But this performance is from Steel Mill’s gig at Asbury Park’s Sunshine In on July 17, 1970, and we know exactly what was going on in Asbury Park the week prior.
So I took her on down the boardwalk, and we got about in the middle of town and all of a sudden–out in front of our car jumps 30 state troopers and 67 Asbury policemen with the helmets on and the big long sticks and the guns on their side and they’re aiming a shotgun in my window.
And this is when we realize that Bruce’s story is set right in the midst of Asbury Park’s race riots that rocked the seaside town to its core from July 4th through the 10th of that year and brought Asbury Park to the attention of the national news media.
The video below includes real footage from Tuesday, July 7th (“the middle of last week”), the events that served as the backdrop for Bruce’s story.
That week of civil unrest caused more than five million dollars in property damage and injured 180 people, many of whom were African-American members of the community who were attempting to de-escalate the situation, only to be forcibly beaten and arrested by local police officers.
Let’s let Bruce continue:
“Let me see your driver’s license and registration.” I said, “You don’t have to point that shotgun at me and jump out with all them 30 state troopers to see my license and registration, especially since I wasn’t driving.”
So anyway, we’re sitting there in the middle of the street, with the 30 state troopers and everybody, and they’re making all kind of cracks at us and stuff. So I said, “What’s going on?” You know, me being all unaware of the situation. So anyway, they let us ride through town.
From what I’ve seen, there must’ve been a bargain sale in Asbury. You know: run in as fast as you can, take what you can get, and split!
Oof. That may be Bruce Springsteen’s single cringiest on-stage moment ever.
There’s really no defending such disingenuousness and insensitivity, so I’m not even going to try. (And I’m certainly not going to touch Vini’s “Hey, anybody want a television? We got a TV in the bathroom now!” aside). I’ll simply point out that he was a 20-year-old white boy who almost certainly didn’t consider himself privileged but who obviously was. He’s more than made up for it since through awareness, art, and activism, and that’s about as much as we can ask of anyone.
Now let’s set that aside and get back to the music, which resumes with a very impressive guitar solo by Bruce. When his vocals resume, we thankfully flash forward in time. His girlfriend is long gone, and our narrator obsesses over how much he misses her.
Oh you know I couldn’t take her on down to the boardwalk
So she decided to just cut on out of town
Oh, I sure miss that woman
She sure made me feel down
And I’ve been down so long
You know it looked like up to me
But wait–there might yet be hope for our lovers’ reconciliation! All our narrator has to do to earn his girl back is one little favor. What could it be?
She said, “you know, I just might forgive you honey
But please: won’t you do me a favor?
Won’t you do me a little favor first?
I said, won’t you do me a favor?”
I said, “what do you want from me?”
She told me that if I get into town…
Oh no. Don’t do it, Bruce. Don’t go there.
See if I can pick her up a color TV!
Sigh. Oh, Bruce…
For more information on the Asbury Park riots of 1970, watch the excellent documentary, Asbury Park: Riot, Redemption, Rock ‘n’ Roll — available to stream now.
(h/t to Eddy at Springsteenlyrics.com for his great work transcribing and documenting this one)
Girlfriend Blues
Never recorded
Never released
First performed: July 17, 1970 (Asbury Park, NJ)
Last performed: July 17, 1970 (Asbury Park, NJ)
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