Roll of the Dice: Southern Sun

Everyone needs  a change of scenery once in a while, even aspiring songwriters.

Bruce Springsteen’s early material drew heavily on the people and places that surrounded him. When he wanted more exotic inspiration, his imagination tended to travel west.

Bruce often speaks of his lifelong love affair with the American West–an infatuation that started long before he ever visited it. As a boy, he was fascinated with Western movies and books, and their imagery populated many of his early, pre-label songs.

But like I said, everyone needs a change of scenery once in a while. Maybe that’s why for at least one song in 1972, he let his mind wander deep into the American South.

Bruce wrote “Southern Sun” in a period of prolific songwriting following a cross-country road-trip with Tinker West during the 1971 holiday season. (This wasn’t the road trip he speaks of in his Broadway show. That one was a year earlier.) While I’ve never read any detail of their route, I’d wager it took them through the southern states, inspiring this ballad.

Bruce performed it a least a couple of times with The Bruce Springsteen Band in early 1972, and when his new manager Mike Appel got him an audition with John Hammond at Columbia Records, “Southern Sun” was one of the songs Bruce demoed with Hammond the following day. Take a listen to that recording; you’ll hear Hammond introduce it below.

Although he recorded it, Hammond wasn’t particularly impressed with “Southern Sun.” That’s understandable, since it’s not a particularly impressive song.

“Southern Sun” is based on the premise that people and places don’t always live up to our romanticized notions of them. It’s the story of a northern city boy with a streak of southern heritage via his grandmother (on which side, Bruce never makes clear), who regales him with tales that inspire his imagination.

Born on the Hudson twenty-two years gone
Bred and raised in the city
From my daddy’s knee I learned the Union songs
But Grandma sang lullabies of Dixie
And though the northern winter fills my heart with joy
It’s a southern sun that shines down on this Yankee boy

Although he loves the north, our narrator dreams of the south. He imagines escaping there someday, although he recognizes and accepts it may never happen, just as his mother dreams of starting a new life in Paris.

Mama dreamed of Paris nights and boatin’ on the Seine
She said, “we’re gonna make it there too soon as Papa comes home again”
And she’d speak to me in broken French, dressed like a painting of Lautrec’s
In the night she’d clutch me to her breast and say, “we’ll make it outta here yet”
And though the Parisian women strut so fine down the Eiffel mall
It’s a southern one I sing my songs for

When he does escape, our narrator heads west, with companions that sound suspiciously like a travelling band. Their route appears to take them through the south, where he has a brief dalliance with a local girl that doesn’t seem to end well.

With a local bunch of do-good boys and an old man from the West
We crossed the land in a caravan, yes, we traveled with the best
With circus acts and vaudeville hacks and a Mississippi Delta Queen
She told me the news and sold me the blues in an alley in New Orleans
And though the western plains are still stained with the blood of great cowboys
It’s a southern sun that shines down on this Yankee boy

But our narrator wears his broken heart as a badge of honor, and he refuses to let one sour romance ruin his infatuation with the South of his imagination.

How rooted in actual events was “Southern Sun”? Did Bruce really meet his Delta Queen en route to California in the winter of 1971? I suppose only Bruce or Tinker can answer that, and I doubt either have ever been asked about it.

“Southern Sun” is a slight song, and it’s easy to see why Hammond wasn’t fond of it given the other songs Bruce demoed that day: “Growin’ Up,” “If I Was the Priest,” It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City,” just to name a few.

Still, Bruce took another crack at recording the song a few weeks later. This is a more confident performance, but the song itself is no stronger.

By now, I should know not to make absolute statements–after all, “If I Was the Priest” eventually saw the light of day–but I’ll go out on a limb and predict we’re not likely to hear any official studio or live recording of “Southern Sun” any time soon.

Southern Sun
Recorded: May-June 1972
Never released
First performed: February 5, 1972 (Richmond, VA)
Last performed: February 17, 1972 (Freehold, NJ)

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