Somewhere in the vast recesses of Bruce’s vault, there may reside a legendary “lost” follow-up album to Born to Run.
Bruce started compiling songs for his fourth studio album not long after the release of his third, and an album sequence exists that shows a couple of old friends and several unfamiliar faces:
| 1. | Dawn Patrol |
| 2. | House On Eden Street |
| 3. | House On the Edge Of Dawn |
| 4. | Frankie |
| 5. | Walking With The Man |
| 6. | Texas Drive In |
| 7. | Darkness On The Edge Of Town |
| 8. | Drifter’s Barrio |
| 9. | You’re Gonna Cry |
We only know of this planned album thanks to Christopher Sanford’s book, Springsteen: Point Blank, which refers to several of the songs being cut as demos. Additionally, it would seem (according to the fine folks at Springsteenlyrics.com) that the song sequence could be found on the hand-written cover essay Bruce wrote for Southside Johnny’s debut album.
And that might have been the end of the story for a rumored track like “Texas Drive In” if Bruce hadn’t released a reproduction of his songwriting notebook in the box set for The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story box set in 2010.
Because that notebook included a page with the “Texas Drive In” title, and even though we aren’t treated to a full song, we can clearly see at least one verse that Bruce presumably intended for it.
It’s just a set up, merely a stage setting, but it gives us a taste of what the actual song might have been like:
A night when the stars crack
And slip from above
The engine heat warms your back
In a Texas drive-in with a secret love
Did Bruce ever finish the song? Presumably, since it was on the lost album sequence. Did he ever record it? Someday, maybe, we’ll know for sure.
Texas Drive In
Never released
Never performed
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