Roll of the Dice: Hearts of Stone

“Hearts of Stone” is a hard song to write about.

In part, that’s due to its provenance: there are two very different official studio versions out there, and each can lay claim to being the original Springsteen studio recording.

And also, neither can.

Bruce first recorded “Hearts of Stone” with the E Street Band during the Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions in a less adorned take (Clarence Clemons was the only horn player present) than would ever see official light of day. Upon deeming it unsuitable for the album that was taking shape, Bruce donated the track to his friend Southside Johnny Lyon.

Not the song, mind you, but the entire studio track.

The version of “Hearts of Stone” that is widely considered to be one of the finest tracks ever recorded by Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes is in reality a performance by Southside Johnny and the E Street Band.

Steven Van Zandt produced that track, subtly layering The Miami Horns beneath the band, and swapping out Bruce’s lead vocal for Southside’s.

And oh, what a vocal! I’m nothing approaching a Southside scholar, but if there’s a more tender, emotional, heartbreaking vocal performance by Lyon anywhere on record, I haven’t heard it.

Lyon’s performance (released as the title track to his seminal 1978 album) was so outstanding that there was really no point in releasing Springsteen’s own version–at least not until Bruce curated the collection of outtakes that would comprise his 1998 box set, Tracks.

Like Southside and Stevie twenty years earlier, Bruce added a modern horn section to his original recording, with Ed Manion and Richie “La Bamba” Rosenberg having the distinction of performing on both the 1978 and 1998 tracks. The horns are more pronounced in the later version–particularly underneath Clarence’s saxophone solo–but we can still easily discern the identical underlying band recording.

For years, fans have debated over which version is the superior one, and it inevitably comes down to a comparison of the lead vocals. Bruce’s haunted, impassioned version stands up well next to Southside’s. So similar are their versions, in fact, that one could mix the two seamlessly to create a faux duet–as one enterprising fan unofficially did. Take a listen below.

So which version should we think of as the true original “Hearts of Stone?” Take your pick. They’re both built on the same original E Street Band performance, and they both have additional elements.

But DNA typing isn’t the only challenge we’re presented with when analyzing “Hearts of Stone,” because lyrically we’re listening to one of the coldest, most emotionally brutal songs in Springsteen’s catalog. You wouldn’t realize it from listening to the painfully exquisite end result though, because both Bruce and Southside deliver their vocals with soulful tenderness and empathy that belie the song’s actual content.

“Hearts of Stone” is an affair song. Or rather, a post-affair song, sung by the one who returns to his partner, to the paramour who still pines for him. And it’s hard to work up sympathy for him.

You stare in the mirror at the lines in your face
And you try to see, girl
The way things were when we were at your place
In the days it was just you and me, girl
And you cry because things ain’t like before
Well don’t you know they can’t be that way anymore
But don’t worry baby

But I can’t talk now, I’m not alone
So put your ear close to the phone
‘Cause this is the last dance
This is the last chance for hearts of stone

We’re given to think that this is not a young couple. The unnamed, offscreen woman that Bruce sings to stares at the wrinkles on her face, as aware of her advancing age as she is of her loneliness.

She’s lost in the past and in her tears, unable to move forward from their affair, and all Bruce’s narrator has to offer is a “sorry, but that’s the way it is” and a blithely clever Beach Boys callback–even though for the woman at least, it seems that things most assuredly won’t turn out alright.

Even when she just wants to hear his voice, our narrator warns her: Don’t call me again. This is the last time we’ll talk.

Hearts of stone, indeed.

The title plays on the different kind of mettle required by each ex-lover: he feels the need to be stoic if not cold in order to make their finality definitive; she needs to harden her heart to protect herself from heartbreak.

Bruce softens his narrator a bit in the second verse, his veneer cracking a bit as he almost pleads with her to understand. He doesn’t accept responsibility, though, and he urges her to take solace in her vivid memories of their time together.

If there was something, baby, that I could do
Something that would last, honey, I would
But we all know, girl, especially you do
How you can’t return to your past, no
So girl close your eyes and I’ll be there
Hold me once more and we can go anywhere
Ah, we could babe

I imagine she takes very little comfort from that, but if there’s any to be found at all, it’s in The Big Man’s swooningly soulful sax solo. If your heart doesn’t break a bit when listening to it, it’s probably made of, well, stone.

“Hearts of Stone” doesn’t resolve. There’s no ending or epilogue to be found, happy or otherwise. We’re left at the moment of peak heartache for both participants.

This song is about the armor it requires to move on from a situation that was very likely destined for a painful conclusion from the start. It may be cold in parts, but it’s also honest. Some fans and critics have called it too heartfelt for the dour Darkness, but I’d argue the reverse: Bruce’s fourth album is a collection of songs rooted in resistance, persistence, and defiance. “Hearts of Stone” delivers a much simpler and starker message: It’s over.

Given how wholly and completely Southside made “Hearts of Stone” his own, its no surprise that Bruce steered far clear of it in concert for almost four decades. He only performed it once during the twentieth century, and only as a surprise guest star during Southside’s San Francisco performance in November 1988.

Unfortunately, that debut performance kind of sucked.

The blame can’t be placed with Bruce, though: the fault lies with Southside, who so thoroughly and completely forgets the lyrics that it’s painful to listen to. (I suppose we could blame Bruce for not coming to his buddy’s rescue sooner.)

It would take a full quarter-century after that before Bruce would attempt “Hearts of Stone” on his own. That moment came during a surprise pre-show in Limerick during the Wrecking Ball Tour, when Bruce thrilled early-arriving fans with his first-ever live solo performance (acoustic, too!) of “Hearts of Stone.”

It was a thrilling moment for those in the know enough to understand the history being made, but it lacked the all-important sax solo. Bruce rectified that when he played it for the second time ever, at Light of Day 2014, with Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers as his backing band.

Bruce gave “Hearts of Stone” its E Street stage debut the following year on the High Hopes Tour, with a pair of outings in Sunrise and Uncasville, with Ed Manion (who played on both original studio recordings) doing the honors on the saxophone.

Since then, “Hearts of Stone” has made a few more appearances at benefit performances with Joe Grushecky, but it missed the last E Street Band tour entirely.  It’s one of the songs I’m hoping to hear again at least once more on the next tour, though, because it’s too strong a song to stay unsung.

Hearts of Stone
Recorded: October 14, 1977, 1998
Released: Hearts of Stone (1978) (Southside Johnny vocal); Tracks (1998) (Bruce Springsteen vocal)
First performed: November 26, 1988 (San Francisco, CA)
Last performed: January 17, 2015 (Asbury Park, NJ)

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(Thanks to friend of the blog Joseph Richardson for the setting me straight on the lead guitarist on the Southside version)