In a parallel universe, Bruce Springsteen released every song he ever wrote and holds the record for most pop hits by a single artist.<\/p>\n
In this universe, however, Springsteen discarded or stashed away bona fide power pop gems that other artists would have sold their soul to have written, because they didn’t fit the message he was trying to communicate at the time.<\/p>\n
The time was 1977, and Bruce was recording a group of songs for that would rank among his most timeless: “Prove It All Night,” “The Promised Land,” “Racing in the Street,” “Adam Raised a Cain,” and the rest of the fierce, fueled collection that would become\u00a0Darkness on the Edge of Town<\/em>.<\/p>\n But while Bruce was writing and recording his most serious and mature music to date, he was also prolifically penning pop songs with a more romantic vibe: “Spanish Eyes,” Rendezvous,” “Breakaway,” “The Little Things (My Baby Does)” and more. Bruce wasn’t ready to express that side of himself publicly, so those songs sat in the vault for over 30 years, until they were finally released on\u00a0The Promise<\/em> in 2010.<\/p>\n And then there was “I Wanna Be With You.” First recorded in June 1977, the lyrics had the desperation of\u00a0Darkness<\/em> paired with a simple guitar riff that grabbed you from the first and an ambling E Street band that couldn’t quite match the fervor of the song’s protagonist. It too went into the vault, but\u00a0 you can hear that first never-released Darkness-era recording here:<\/p>\n