Roll of the Dice: I’m Gonna Rock (The Pee Pee Song)

It happens to us all.

We’re on stage in an arena surrounded by 18,000 adoring fans, right in the middle of a three-hour plus set of hard-driving rock and roll.

We’re getting close to the end of our first set. There’s an intermission in sight, but we’ve got to get through three more songs to get there.

And nature is calling.

We’ve all been there, right? Most of the time, we grit our teeth, clench our bladder and soldier through.

But sometimes… we just can’t.

That’s what happened to Bruce Springsteen on December 8, 1992, when he just couldn’t hold it anymore. After finishing a rousing rendition of “Living Proof” (dancing a little more stiffly than usual), he sidled over to the microphone, excused himself, and made a mad dash backstage to micturate.

While he was gone, Roy Bittan vamped with some New Orleans-style honky-tonk.

When he returned to the stage (with an audible sigh of relief), a much happier Springsteen improvised some lyrics on the spot:

I’m gonna rock all night long, I’m gonna rock
I’m gonna rock all night long, I’m gonna rock
I’m gonna rock all night long, I’m gonna rock, baby ’til it comes the dawn

Not the deepest lyrics in his songbook, but they did the trick and kept the crowd’s energy level up until he was ready to resume the set with “Leap of Faith.”

As far as I know, those lyrics have never appeared anywhere else in his catalog, making “I’m Gonna Rock (The Pee Pee Song)” a bona fide original Springsteen song.

He hasn’t performed it since, but I bet he’s glad he hasn’t had to.

I’m Gonna Rock (The Pee Pee Song)
Never recorded
Never released
First performed: December 8, 1992 (Philadelphia, PA)
Last performed: December 8, 1992 (Philadelphia, PA)

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