It showed up for the first time in a Bruce Springsteen Band set list, but one listen to “Do It With a Feeling” is all it takes to convince that Bruce wrote it for Steel Mill.
The Bruce Springsteen Band debuted “Do It With a Feeling” only twelve days into the band’s young life (as far as we know at least–set list details are sketchy from that era). As prolific as Bruce was at the time, though, this is clearly a Steel Mill song. (For a long time, the audio above was even believed to be a Steel Mill performance.)
It’s heavy, bordering on plodding (poor David Sancious is given little room to stretch) with spare lyrics that serve mostly to frame extended instrumental jams.
I wanna tell you something
Yeah now I’m talkin’ tonight on the Bible
I’m sure you all know just what it says
Well how ya can’t do this, and ya can’t do that
There’s no messin’ round, or playin’ about on Sunday
Yeah now I got as much religion
As any man’s got, ain’t no doubt
But there’s a few commandments I’ve made up myself
That the Lord don’t know nothin’ about
That’s if you’re gonna do it
I said do it with a feeling
Do it till you hit the ceiling
Do it with a feeling
But if you’re gonna do it
Ah, do it with a feeling
Now once I thought I had a good woman
But Mama much to my surprise
She was playin’ around with each and every boy in town
Lord but she could get around some
Ah tell me can I get a witness
Cause I loved her just as much as I can
Well ??? that I’m her only man
???
Do it with a feeling
Do it till you’re rockin’ and reeling
Do it with a feeling
But if you’re gonna do it
Do it with a feeling
Ah won’t you come with me Mama
I’m going, won’t you get on board
My train it leaves in an hour
You gotta pay your witness to the Lord
If it sounds like I’m throwing shade at the Steel Mill sound, I’m not–songs like this were made for bands like that. “Do It With a Feeling” is just ill-suited to the light-on-its feet Bruce Springsteen Band.
Still, it strikes a theme so Springsteenian that it’s practically his mission statement: never phone it in. And if you squint at that bridge, it sounds an awful like our narrator is idling his engine in front of Mary’s house, ready to pull out of there to win.
Even for a Bruce Springsteen Band fan like myself, “Do It With a Feeling” is forgettable, but it demonstrates that Bruce’s early band eras weren’t as distinct as we might otherwise think.
Do It With a Feeling
Never recorded
Never released
First performed: July 22, 1971 (South Amboy, NJ)
Last performed: October 23, 1971 (Richmond, VA)
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