Roll of the Dice: All That Heaven Will Allow

It was a tale of… well, if not forbidden then at least frowned-upon love.

The year was 1955, and the film was All That Heaven Allows. Directed by Douglas Sirk, the film starred Jane Wyman as Cary, a wealthy widow, and Rock Hudson as Ron, her gardener turned suitor.

Cary and Ron fall in love and plan to marry, but Ron’s social status gets in the way–as do Cary’s children, who plead with their mother to reject Ron’s proposal and preserve their family home. She does, only to find that her kids soon leave the nest (as kids do). Cary finds herself alone and ruing her decision.

I won’t spoil the rest for you, in case you haven’t seen it. Let’s just say it’s a little, um, rockier than the Springsteen song it inspired.

Bruce is notorious for borrowing film titles for his songs, but rarely do the songs fit their namesakes as snugly as “All That Heaven Will Allow.” (Bruce slightly retitled for flow.)

“All That Heaven Will Allow” is one of the brighter songs on Tunnel of Love–perhaps the brightest. It’s a poppy, treacly, light-on-its-feet smile of a song that defies any attempts at analysis by dint of its unabashed  newly-in-love lyrics.

If we pay attention though, Bruce gives us just enough context clues to establish that the link to Sirk’s 1955 film is more than just titular.

I got a dollar in my pocket, there ain’t a cloud up above
I got a picture in a locket that says baby I love you
Well if you didn’t look then boys then fellas don’t go looking now
Well here she comes a-walking, yeah all that heaven will allow

Say hey there mister bouncer now all I wanna do is dance
But I swear I left my wallet back home in my working pants
C’mon Slim slip me in, man, I’ll make it up to you somehow
I can’t be late I got a date with all that heaven will allow

Our narrator has a dollar in his pocket–a modest sum signifying a man of modest means. Whatever other money he may have is in his working pants, a detail meant to paint him as a laborer like Hudson’s character in All That Heaven Allows.

Bruce’s character is a bit more carefree, though. He’s in love, and while there’s nothing explicitly stated in Bruce’s lyrics that establishes his love interest in a higher social stratum, he certainly signals his awareness that the road ahead for them is not a smooth one:

Rain and storm and dark skies, well now they don’t mean a thing
If you got a girl that loves you and who wants to wear your ring
So c’mon Mister Trouble, we’ll make it through you somehow
We’ll fill this house with all the love and all that heaven will allow

If it was just the bridge’s reference to dark skies and Mister Trouble, we might assume that Bruce is simply referring to the inevitable travails that life throws any couple’s way, but the last verse takes a strange turn.

Now some may wanna die young, man, young and gloriously
Get it straight now, mister, hey buddy that ain’t me
‘Cause I got something on my mind, yeah, that sets me straight and walking proud
And I want all the time, yeah all that heaven will allow

Bruce swiped that first couplet from his Darkness outtake “City of Night.” He certainly could have written new lyrics if he’d wanted to, so we have to assume he raided his notebook for those specific lines for a reason.

It might be another hat tip to the movie, as Hudson’s character faces mortal peril towards the film’s conclusion. (No spoilers!) More likely, though, it’s a deliberate page turn from Bruce’s earlier live-hard, drive-fast, take-your-stand songwriting to a more mature protagonist who leaves that life behind and looks forward to a life of love and companionship.

Musically, “All That Heaven Will Allow” is a solo number. With the exception of Max Weinberg on drums (although it sounds more like he’s playing the drumsticks), Bruce plays every instrument on the track. In concert, though, the feel-good song came alive in a full-band arrangement that stretched more than ten minutes, although most of that time belonged to a charming scene between Bruce and the Big Man (who gets some fine solo time), and a brief snippet of “Here She Comes Walking.”

“All That Heaven Will Allow” was a nightly staple throughout the Tunnel of Love Tour but promptly disappeared when the tour ended, save for a unique Asbury Park cameo in 1996, when Bruce performed it acoustically accompanied only by Soozie Tyrell on violin and Richard Blackwell on percussion. (It’s my favorite version.)

“All That Heaven Will Allow” made its next proper tour appearance in 2005, showing up frequently in the set list throughout the summer and fall–this time a true solo performance on the electric piano.

“All That Heaven Will Allow” showed up a few more times since then, the most recent of which was a 2013 pre-show performance in Oslo…

…but even though it’s made fifteen appearances since the Tunnel of Love era, the E Street Band hasn’t had a crack at their 1988 set piece in almost 35 years. Will we see an encore appearance for “All That Heaven Will Allow” on stage next year? Only time will tell.

All That Heaven Will Allow
Recorded: January – April 1987
Released: Tunnel of Love (1987)
First performed: February 25, 1988 (Worcester, MA)
Last performed: April 29, 2013 (Oslo, Norway)

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