BLESS MY SOUL

Live Nov 1971 version


Bless my soul, mama
Mmm yeah you sure can dance
Bless my soul Mama
Oh yeah you sure can dance
I've been looking for a good loving woman to wed and ??? romance
I've danced through the city, child, and I lived sometime in the country too
I've danced through the city, child, and I lived sometime in the country too
Yes I did
There's only one way to go, you wanna do what you wanna do

Oh baby


Info

BLESS MY SOUL is an unreleased song written by Bruce Springsteen. He performed it live with The Bruce Springsteen Band in 1971 and 1972. The song is also known under the title "You Sure Can Dance", though the lyric "you sure can dance" appears only in the (circulating) 1971 version.

Live Nov 1971 version

The above lyrics are for a live performance of BLESS MY SOUL at Student Prince in Asbury Park, NJ, with The Bruce Springsteen Band. The exact date is unknown, but it's from a November 1971 show at Student Prince. Southside Johnny was a guest at this show and he can be heard playing harmonica on BLESS MY SOUL.

In a 6-song Bruce Springsteen Band soundboard recording form 1971 that has long been in circulation among collectors, Bruce Springsteen can be heard informing the audience that a gentleman named Mark Romanski is present and filming. According to Brucebase, the comments made by Springsteen regarding video footage being shot during the show positively link this audio to The Student Prince. Romanski, a friend of Steven Van Zandt, was filming as part of a course project he was taking at University. Sadly all the film footage was destroyed in the early seventies. It is believed that this filming was undertaken at one of the November 1971 shows, although the specific date has not been determined. Whenever performing THE BAND'S JUST BOPPING THE BLUES, Springsteen mentions the day of the week in the first line. The song is on the November 1971 soundboard recording and Springsteen sings "it's another Saturday night". The Bruce Springsteen Band is known to have played on the second, third, and fourth Saturdays at Student Prince in November 1971. This narrows the soundboard recording's possible dates to 13, 20, and 27 Nov 1971. Brucebase lists the recording under its 13 Nov 1971 entry.

Live History

BLESS MY SOUL is known to have been performed at least four times in Bruce Springsteen's early years (pre-October 1972). All of these confirmed performances are from between November 1971 and February 1972. Very little is known about shows from this early period, and therefore, the song may have been played on some more dates in 1971 and 1972.

  1. Nov 1971 at Student Prince, Asbury Park, NJ (with The Bruce Springsteen Band)
  2. Feb 1972 at The Back Door, Richmond, VA (with The Bruce Springsteen Band)
  3. 25 Feb 1972 at The Back Door, Richmond, VA (with The Bruce Springsteen Band)
  4. 26 Feb 1972 at The Back Door, Richmond, VA (with The Bruce Springsteen Band)

Covers

As far as it's known, no artist has recorded and released Bruce Springsteen's BLESS MY SOUL.

References

Much of the above info about the song's live history and the Student Prince recording is taken from Brucebase.

Request

If you have any additional information about this performance, or any corrections to the above lyrics, please contact me via the below form or by email: .

Available Versions

List of available versions of BLESS MY SOUL on this website:

BLESS MY SOUL [Live Nov 1971 version]
BLESS MY SOUL [Live Feb 1972 version]
BLESS MY SOUL [Live 26 Feb 1972 version]

Page last updated: 24 May 2015