Autumn starts tomorrow, but today it’s still summer. And if it’s still summer, it’s a good day for The Bruce Springsteen Band.
Even though this recording is from a February 1972 gig, something about the Bruce Springsteen Band sound has always screamed summer to me, and this little gem is a great example.
“Make Up Your Mind” is an end-of-summer breakup song with a twist. Bruce’s narrator is the older, worldly suitor; the offscreen love interest is the younger-than-she-looks but older-than-her-years schoolgirl who calls the shots in their zero-sum relationship until she tires of him and moves on.
In the first verse, our narrator appears to hold the upper hand: he wants the girl, he gets the girl, and when the girl falls for him (or so he thinks) and demands a commitment, we feel his lone wolf spirit start to slip away.
Hey now baby, when I walk with you
Aw you make me feel just fine
Yeah and Darlin’ when I talk to you
Oh Child, I could not read between your lines
Oh how was I to know you were just a lonely teenager
It didn’t show, nah, it didn’t show
And like a man on the hunt
I was trying to cage her
But she wouldn’t go, she couldn’t go
And after she told me how she loved me so
Said you’d better make up your mind, babe
You’d better do it in time, babe
It’s me or you, you got to choose
Somebody’s got to lose
That last line raises a flag: she seems less interested in monogamy than in victory. Sure enough, once she has her man captive, she loses interest. Her professions of love were only a tactic in a game, and our narrator realizes that at about the same time he realizes he’s head over heels for her.
Bruce flips the chorus, and when it’s delivered by the narrator it lands as a desperate plea rather than an ultimatum.
Baby when you smile at me
Well, it make me feel so good inside
When you walk and you talk and you while away your time with me
Ah you know that’s what I like
Well you look so soft but you talk so loud
Oh you were a young girl, just out of school
And when you walked away, you walked so proud
I had to guess that was your ruling
Well how was I to know that all the time I loved ya
You were only fooling
Well you gotta make up your mind, girl
You’d better do it in time, babe
It’s me or you, you got to choose
Somebody’s got to lose
We take an instrumental break here, because this is The Bruce Springsteen Band, and every BSB song must have a Sancious keyboard solo and a Springsteen guitar solo–a good thing in almost any situation, but it works especially well here as a way to hold the listener’s suspense before Bruce finally reveals the fate of our lovers.
It doesn’t end well, of course.
Hey baby when I walk with you
Ah you make me feel just fine
But when I talk to you
I can’t read between your lines
Well how was I to know you were just a lonely teenager
You were a young girl just out of school
And I was like a man on the hunt
Yes I tried to cage her
But you said no, I guess I wasn’t worth it
And when you walked away
I knew you weren’t fooling then babe
Ah you gotta make up your mind
You gotta do it in time
It’s me or you, make up your mind, babe
Do it for me in time
You got to choose
Somebody’s got to lose
Bruce reminds us of the age difference and power imbalance before giving his narrator his just desserts as the girl accepts his ultimatum, makes up her mind, and walks away.
“Make Up Your Mind” appeared only briefly in Bruce’s sets. As far as we know the band played it only during their month-long residency in Richmond in February 1972.
Both musically and lyrically, it stands alone (except for that “talk so loud/walked so proud” couplet, which would make its way onto Bruce’s second album the following year), a brief dalliance that was nice while it lasted–just like those summer romances.
Make Up Your Mind
Never recorded
Never released
First performed: February 4, 1972 (Richmond, VA)
Last performed: February 25, 1972 (Richmond, VA)
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