Roll of the Dice: The Time That Never Was

It’s so obscure you practically have to spelunk to find it.

It’s never been played live, appears on no studio album, has never circulated on any bootleg, and is buried deep on a box set bonus disc of outtakes we’d already had for years on Tracks or bootlegs.

Other than a studio log that referenced its title, no one even knew it existed until it showed up one day in The Ties That Bind: The River Collection.

But oh, was it ever worth the wait.

“The Time That Never Was” is classic Darkness/River-era Springsteen. Lyrically, it explores the same themes as “The River,” but it’s paired with a lush, romantic backing track that would be right at home on The Promise (or the soundtrack to Eddie and the Cruisers, which is what this song constantly evokes for me).

The narrator of “The Time That Never Was” could easily be the same narrator of “The River,” in fact. Bruce’s lyrics take that final, immortal line of “The River” (is a dream a lie of it don’t come true, or is it something worse? ), and he answers it with a narrator who can’t help but look back on a youthful past that never lived up to its promise, even at the time.

Sometimes I wake up in the morning and it cuts me like a knife
I come face-to-face with my longing for another world, another life
And a time that never was

We drove on, fueled not by the future but by a past we could never touch
Forced to run head-on collisions till we vanished in the dust
Of a time that never was

So kiss me once more baby, one more kiss baby you must
Don’t ever let me forget, girl, a time that never was
A time that never was

Bruce’s lyrics are spare but cutting. It’s one thing to live in the past, constantly reliving one’s glory days. It’s another to reach life’s late stages and realize those glory days never came at all. Our narrator had a dream and a promise, but they never came true.

But  it’s the backing track that elevates “The Time That Never Was” to true hidden gem status, from Max’s girl group drum beat to the Four Seasons-esque backing vocals by Stevie, Clarence, Bruce, and Roy, to that gorgeous, swoony Big Man sax solo.

Not only do we hear the E Street Band at the peak of their power, “The Time That Never Was” may be a contender for the finest band arrangement and mix on record. We easily hear each band member’s contributions, and each gets a chance to shine. Even Garry is unusually prominent in the bass-driven mix, a treat we don’t often get to experience.

The 2016 River Tour was a missed opportunity to give “The Time That Never Was” the concert debut it deserves. Maybe we’ll yet see it, but there’s something perfectly fitting about a song that sounds like classic E Street with a title like “The Time That Never Was” remaining forever unplayed.

The Time That Never Was
Recorded: June 27, 1979 – March 16, 1980
Released: The River: Outtakes (2015)
Never performed

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