I'VE GOT TO HAVE YOU BABY

a.k.a. GOT TO HAVE YOU BABY

Lyrics not available

An obscure 1956 R&B single by Jimmy Jones & The Pretenders, covered by The Bruce Springsteen Band around Jan-Feb 1972 at Challenger Eastern Surfboard Factory, Highlands, NJ, during the rehearsal sessions that were frequently conducted at the factory (read below).

From Brucebase, about The Bruce Springsteen Band sessions at Challenger Eastern Surfboard Factory:

Springsteen did not record any material in a professional recording studio during the Feb 1971 – Feb 1972 period. However "studio" (rehearsal) sessions were frequently conducted at Challenger Eastern Surfboards Factory during this period. However the primary purpose of the sessions was to prepare for live shows, not to make audio recordings. So only a fraction of this extensive body of rehearsal sessions were ever recorded - and when they were it is an unfortunate reality that the Reel-to-Reel tapes made at Challenger East were often erased and reused as part of the recording of live shows. Therefore it can be reasonably assumed that very little of these rehearsal sessions survive on tape. Fortunately live concert recordings of many of the below-mentioned songs are in circulation.

Audio of only one Challenger East session is known to exist – a continuous 6-song, 61-minute segment of a rehearsal that took place at Challenger Eastern Surfboard Factory, Highlands, NJ, circa Jan or Feb, 1972. Engineered and produced by Carl "Tinker" West. The session lineup was Bruce Springsteen, Steve Van Zandt, David Sancious, Gary Tallent, and Vini Lopez.

- DON'T YOU WANT TO BE AN OUTLAW [6:57]
- IT'S ALL OVER NOW, BABY BLUE [11:30]
- WHEN YOU DANCE [13:35]
- LOOK TOWARDS THE LAND [9:50]
- I'VE GOT TO HAVE YOU BABY [5:39]
- FUNK SONG [6:25]

The original tape notes the audio as emanating from 1972, but does not mention the exact date. However this session is most definitely from very early in the year, prior to Springsteen's March 1972 contract signing with Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos. Bearing in mind that The Bruce Springsteen Band had been idle for over a month due to Springsteen's trip to California, it's likely this rehearsal took place in order to prepare for the numerous shows scheduled for late Jan thru early Mar. Indeed, the arrangements of these songs are remarkably similar to those that have surfaced from live gigs during this specific period.

In addition to the 55 minutes of music noted above, there are nearly 7 minutes of fascinating between-song studio chat, much of it between Springsteen and sound recorder Tinker West, who Bruce refers to as "Stinky". The discussions seem to indicate that the primary intent of the session is for rehearsing, not recording, with the recording merely being done because Tinker wants to test some new recording equipment. The sound quality is uniformly excellent. Although all the audio is from the same night, it is evident from the discussions that the rehearsals had been going on for some hours before the recording starts. It should be noted that this is not Challenger's more famous Wanamassa, NJ factory location, the one that Springsteen had lived and rehearsed in during the 1969–1971 Child-Steel Mill era. Tinker West had relocated that factory to Highlands, NJ in mid-1971 and had then constructed a more professional rehearsal room (which included a control room like a normal studio) for the various bands he managed.

Sound quality of the songs from the private CD-R source (which is in extremely limited circulation) is uniformly outstanding. The gem here is WHEN YOU DANCE. Although rough sound quality live renditions exist, here we are treated to a stunning rendition, with the finest Springsteen-Van Zandt dual lead guitar interplay that's ever circulated on any recording. Noteworthy as well is FUNK SONG (also known as FUNK SAYS RIGHT ON), a Springsteen instrumental played live often during the fall of 1971. There are no live renditions of FUNK SONG from this period circulating, however Bruce surprisingly resurrected it during a few shows early on the Born To Run tour. In addition to the Bob Dylan song IT'S ALL OVER NOW BABY BLUE, there is also a cover of I'VE GOT TO HAVE YOU BABY, an obscure 1956 R&B single by Jimmy Jones and The Pretenders.

The complete 62 minutes of audio is currently only in very limited circulation. However two of these six recordings have been in mainstream collector circulation since the mid-late 1990's. LOOK TOWARDS THE LAND first surfaced on the Bound For Glory bootleg (Flamingo Records), albeit in vastly reduced sound quality to that found on the master tape. DON'T YOU WANT TO BE AN OUTLAW (also known by the titles JESSE JAMES or BILLY) first surfaced on the Deep Down In The Vaults bootleg (E Street Records). The sound quality on this boot is only slightly reduced from the master tape quality.