Bruce Springsteen: Winter Song (Unreleased 1973 piano)

Beautiful (& haunting) solo piano demo from 1973. Piano intro is very similar to NYC Serenade from "Wild & Innocent".

Lyrics here:

From their northeast source the sour wind roars
Bear gifts fresh from the valley waters
Hollow echoes strip Pennsylvania mountain walls
With their corsets and their old Betsy ruffle
And their slips with pearly white
They stand bulging up against the screen door
And bid you "good night"

Summer's sweet and she brings me water
But give me Winter, that old icy whore
While summer lies meek and follows orders
Winter cries "Me!" and pulls you through the door

The limp milk tramp cries metal flake tears
They drip like honey down soot mama's leg
He lay watching a moth, eat a hole in his cloth
He'll ask, but he don't beg
Said I'd like to see the mademoiselle
Who holds the keys to all these doors around her waist
And rings the bell

Summer's sweet and she brings me water
But give me Winter, that old icy whore
Summer lies meek and follows orders
Winter cries "Me!" and pulls you through the door

With scufflin' sound the knot voiced matron makes her rounds
Knockin' on each and every door
With a look like white heat, she sways, salty, sweet
And leads me 'cross her Persian floor
She squeezed my hand and before her I stood
I was scared, it was dark but it was good

Summer's sweet and she brings me water
But give me Winter, that old icy whore
While summer lies meek and follows orders
Winter cries "Me!" and pulls you through the door

Category:

Music

Tags:

• bruce
• springsteen
• solo
• piano
• winter
• song
• 1973
• unreleased
• outtake
• greetings

[roccobling]

Lyrics correction:  it's not "A banshee 'good night'"' it's "and bid you 'good night'", but in idiomatic speech (one of Springsteen's trademarks) it sounds like "'n bidjya 'good night'".

[Ev2clip]

Thanks, fixed it.

[yurwilakusdundur]

at 0:50 what is that gig called

[Ev2clip]

It's from "Bruce Springsteen Live 1972 at The Gaslight Club - Henry Boy", also here on youtube.

[LeprachaunXL]

still listening to this..........its just madly fantastic, it has such power, its so dark, so uh.....its just absolutely mindblowing......bruce u are nothing less than god.....

[BirminghamSteve]

Say what you want about the sound of his voice; but "uninspiring"?!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nurse, check 'em for a pulse!

[sineadc1973]

never heard this before love his dark side so haunting 

[Tunnelof]

So great

[yankeespy3]

Interesting tune. Bruce often talks about getting his first guitar at Western Auto, but I can't remember him explaining how he learned to play the piano. Anyone have insight on this?

[boo66]

@CrazyJustin2006 freecorder

[szikchillypaddeh]

Wow.. Just wow. I don't have any words. I love the lyrics, I love the piano, I love his voice... He's simply the god.

[CrazyJustin2006]

Does an MP3 of this exist somewhere? I'm starting work on a ultimate Bruce Springsteen mix CD to keep in the car and I so would like to have this one on it. Any one have an MP3?

[backinnyc2010]

@johnnyM809 couldnt agree more

[productions30]

Great stuff..

Another Lyric correction..lol

"You lay watchin' them off, eat a hole in his cloth"

Should read

"He lay watching a moth, eat a hole in his cloth"

" Around the waist " should read " Around her waist "