The Promise

It has nothing to do with a lawsuit.

Nothing. Do you hear me? Nothing...to do...with a....lawsuit.

A "false" Promise that those who love you will not disappoint you, but they do and then:

When the promise is broken you go on living
But it steals something from down in your soul
Like when the truth is spoken and it don't make no difference
Something in your heart goes cold

Like clean coal.

AH, The Promise. thanks again Hey Eddie. you saved me my friend. i will never ever forget it.

thank you.
Ofer

The Lawsuit song.

how does it relate to the lawsuit?i dont get it.

Ofer

The promise was broken?

The Promise was written as a follow up to Thunder Road. Bruce has vehemently denied that it had anything to do with the Mike Appel lawsuit - but to such a degree that his words sound a little bit too unconvincing. At least to my ears.

Lawsuit or not, the lyrics quoted above by Q are the centerpiece of the song - a little piece of your soul gone cold after being lied to by someone you love. Not just because he/she lied to you, but that his/her love lied to you. And that is what you believed in, heart and soul. It makes you question love, as an entity, itself.

Thunder Road...baby, you were so right. There's something dying out on the highway tonight....

There once was a time when Bruce Springsteen could write the most beautiful songs on the planet. It was from about 1974-80. Sometimes people scratch their heads and wonder how a Republican could ever hang with a guy like Springsteen after his last decade (plus) of open liberal politics. It's because within him, he has this gift, shown in The Promise, to write the very words on our souls, to describe exactly how we've felt (all of us) when something like a betrayal has happened to us. Every so often he still surprises me with a treasure of a song (Streets of Philadelphia comes to mind...I tear up every time I hear the song when played in the movie...makes me glad I had the sense to say "thanks" to him for writing that song, the one time I met him). He doesn't write so much from his soul anymore. He writes more of a reflection of what he sees around him. And that's ok too. But it's not "The Promise".

you are so right.you wrote it very nice.

TIA
Ofer

There was a promise in the voice of the young Elvis Presley or Bob Dylan - and to a lesser degree in other artists. Elvis ended up fat and dead and Bob turned into a zombie, Mick became an entertainer, Paul got silly and John got shot. Bruce thought about this (not John being shot a couple of years later of course) after his break through with Born To Run, wrote this song and then dug his heels in and made "Darkness on the Edge Of Town".

Maybe he REALLY slept in the back seat of a borrowed car.

While listeing to E Street Radio last night a 76 show from Univ of Miami was playing. The Promise came on and I have to say this song was way, way, way ahead of its time but also gave us a peek into what Bruce would evolve into.

Definitely seems to be out of place on the heels of the success of BTR.

I don't know about out of place. There is some triumph in Thunder Road, but some sadness too. It's a town full of losers...some of them didn't get out.

As incredible as Darkness is, I'm still stunned by the body of work left off of it. The Way....this song, to this day, still blows me away.

This is one of my favorite Springsteen songs all time. The sound on the Lost Masters version hails back to Thunder Road and this would have been the perfect book-end to the Born to Run album.

It is a crying shame Bruce never released the full band (non-plodding) version. As much as I love Darkness, there are a number of outtakes that would have improved the album (Promise, Frankie, Because, Fire) to make this the best Bruc album ever.

Sorry to bump this but i had to. I just heard the full band version of this a few days ago for the first time. Simply an amazing take on the song. It really is a sin the full band take was not released officially.

Where did you find the full band version?

The original, full band "The Promise" is one of the best things he's ever put on record.

Supposedly, he didn't like the vocal on the original take.

Instead, we get a throwaway version on 18 Tracks that sounds like he recorded it while he was waiting for the cable guy to show up.

The full band version of the song is the definitive version, I agree.

But, I don't know that you can possibly have a bad version of that song.

It really is a pivotal moment in Bruce's songwriting.

It is one of the first and best moments, where the youthful and boundless innocence and optimism of his Rock-n-Roll dreams are laid to waste.

And, the reality of where those dreams can lead is exposed.

It's brilliant(period).

Now get off my lawn!

True, it was a very pivotal moment. The moment when he stopped writing about what was happening on the boardwalk, and instead, what was happening in the adult world.

I wish he would have another pivotal moment.

now he's writing about whats happening in the grocery store

Well, certainly on the better parts of Magic, he's addressing some rather serious matters. But, yes this album is mostly love songs. Not very deep lyrical content, I agree.

It could be as simple as, once you've written it all, as Bruce has, what's there left to write about?

In response to Easilyfound(from Brucebase). My favorite version is V2, V3 is too heavy on drums & bass and probably rejected because of that for Tracks/18 Tracks. Try to find the "Lost Masters" somewhere.

THE PROMISE ? V1 5:35 WAY
THE PROMISE ? V2 5:25 Lost Masters-2 / DDO / PROM
THE PROMISE ? V3 7:11 Down Deep In The Vaults

Note: V1 is from June or July 1977. V2 is from August 1977, both from Atlantic Studios. Both feature slightly different lyrics. V3 is probably from The Record Plant in the Sept-Oct 1977 and is the completed recording?and the one Bruce rejected for TRACKS, instead opting to record a new version (issued on 18 TRACKS) that pales in comparison to the stunning V3.

You'd think they don't have original master tapes of V3? or even EQ they could use. I think the V3 was rejected because there are few spots where vocals are messed up a bit. Fixing those parts is much harder than instrument balance.

Well, there's no shortage of interesting/historic things going on in the world...right now.

Yet Bruce decides to take this opportunity to venture into Luther Vandross territory. Love songs. The most overplowed piece of musical ground in history.

To me, that's what is so disappointing about WOAD.

Just found my copy of Lost Masters, Vol. 2, "One Way Street," "Darkness Masters Vol. 1." Is that what you're talking about? It is track 12, and 5:31 long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL0D1piuU7I

This is a nice version, but not what (I think) is considered the "classic" version (which is on Lost Masters).

As the man himself said, "it dragged on" or something like that. But that was back when he took many years between records and all of that shit.

when he took many years...and the records were great.

Lost Masters Vol 2, song 12, you're right, it runs 5:31.

I may have to go find that Lost Masters Vol. In that pile of boots, somewhere.

THanks for checking that out. Nice version, although the vocals fade or dip out one point early in the song as I recall.

It's a pretty good version on the Live in New York City DVD too!!

The DVD was the first version of the song that I heard. It's definitely a much better performance than what's on 18 Tracks.

I think Bruce said they couldn't find the master tapes. However, even if they did have them my feeling is that they're not going to put out every great song on Tracks because they're fully aware there's another album to come out. Put all the great stuff on the first one and that makes the second one a poorer album. So some songs are held back.

Evacuation of the West
The Promise
Klansman
If I Was the Priest
Tokyo
Losin' Kind
Unsatisfied Heart
Southern Son
Prodigal Son
Architect's Angel
Delivery Man
Follow That Dream
Fugitive's Dream
Preacher's Daughter

I could go on. These could all have fitted on to Tracks. Expect some of them on Tracks II which according to the voices in my head is to be releaseed imminently. lol

Two things--

We asked for this album--all that complaining we all did about him working so slow, now he puts out whatever is laying around. Queen of the Fuckin' Supermarket? Christ.

The full band studio take of The Promise is better than any solo version he's done on the last few tours, or the unforgivable solo studio version, but the definitive version of that song is still the 78' solo piano one from LA Forum with the "my Daddy taught me how to walk quiet" lyric instead of the "hit the coast" lyric. It was booted to death back in the day.