SECRET GARDEN

Album's version

She'll let you in her house
If you come knockin' late at night
She'll let you in her mouth
If the words you say are right
If you pay the price
She'll let you deep inside
There's a secret garden she hides

She'll let you in her car
To go drivin' 'round
She'll let you into the parts of herself
That'll bring you down
She'll let you in her heart
If you got a hammer and a vise
But into her secret garden, don't think twice

You've gone a million miles
How far'd you get
To that place where you can't remember
And you can't forget

She'll lead you down a path
There'll be tenderness in the air
She'll let you come just far enough
So you know she's really there
And she'll look at you and smile
And her eyes will say
She's got a secret garden
Where everything you want
Where everything you need
Will always stay a million miles away

Page last updated: 22 Sep 2007

Music and lyrics by Bruce Springsteen, written around early 1994 and recorded with the E Street Band for the Greatest Hits album in 1995.

SECRET GARDEN sheet music from Warner Brothers Publications (piano - vocal - chords)

In his book Songs, Bruce Springsteen wrote that SECRET GARDEN "was cut from an unreleased album I [he] recorded in 1994." In a interview with Backstreets Magazine, Shayne Fontayne (guitarist from Springsteen's 1992-93 band) said that SECRET GARDEN and WAITING ON THE END OF THE WORLD were two of the songs they worked on for the "relationship" album in 1994. Bruce also wrote in Songs that SECRET GARDEN "was darkly erotic and centered around the mysteries that remains between partners, even the closest of relationships."

Jon Landau wasn't a fan of the project (the 1994 album), and recommended shelving it and focusing more on a "career overview"; this lead to the Greatest Hits sessions with the E Street Band in 1995. In the Blood Brothers documentary, Landau said that "SECRET GARDEN is a song Bruce's had for a year, and again it was a song that he recorded as part of a solo project. And, we talked about it and, you know, what were the songs we'd use, record with the E Street Band, and I thought this would be a good one, and, you know, he thought so also."

Bruce called the band in early Jan 1995, and they assembled for the recording sessions on 09 Jan 1995 at the Hit Factory, New York City, NY. This was their first studio reunion in 11 years (since the Born In The USA sessions) and their first ever with Nils Lofgren. The song was recorded on 11 Jan 1995 and was released for the first time on Greatest Hits in on 28 Feb 1995.

Producer/director/photographer Ernie Fritz was given complete access to the 1995 studio sessions with the E Street Band, and part of the footage was released on the documentary Blood Brothers in Nov 1996.

The documentary shows the recording of SECRET GARDEN; three takes appear: a snippet of piano instrumental, a raw full band take, and an added violins snippet. Springsteen addresses producer/engineer Chuck Plotkin, "Let me just give you an idea, show you how I was playing it." He then goes to the piano and plays the small snippet, which only is a glimpse of the way Bruce originally wrote, and possibly recorded the track in 1994.

In the documentary, Bruce tells Clarence Clemons, "Let's use the sax, man," and Clarence asks, "All through this?" Bruce answers, "Towards the end - I don't know. We'll have to see. Let's mess around with it." Before recording his part, Clarence says, "I'm about to go in there and do some sax tracks. I can't wait to put them down 'cause I'm like on the edge, and it's driving me nuts and I'm just anxious to put it down on the horn now, you know." He adds, "You know, a song like this, I just pick the horn up, I stand in front of the mic, and it comes out. You know, you can't make a plan. It's something that's been written many years ago, and it's just floating in the atmosphere. And it just comes together right now because the time is right, the rhythm is right, the harmonics are right, everything's right, and it just flows. You get that cosmic flow, and that's what's going to happen with the solo. I'm just excited as anybody else to see what comes out, you know." In the liner notes of Greatest Hits, Bruce praises Clarence's contribution as "the Big Man sweeter than ever." Clarence ends the song with an excellent 1-minute sax solo.

Mixing engineer Bob Clearmountain says, "This is a song that was cut before and they redid it with the E Street Band who've done quite a nice job of it, and then they had this guy David Kahne come in and do a sort of orchestral arrangement on synthesizer." Bruce was very pleased when he listened to Clearmountain's new arrangement, and he said, "Get this man a beer! Holly smokes!"

The last thing they had to decide is whether to include strings or not in the arrangement, and Bruce hands out a torn-up pieces of paper so that the band and studio personnel can anonymously vote for or against the inclusion of string arrangements. The "strings" version lost, and the "no-strings" version was included on Greatest Hits.

The "strings" version is a special remix with effective synthesizer string arrangements by David Kahne and extra percussion added to the regular Greatest Hits LP version. Mixing engineer Bob Clearmountain says about the "strings" arrangement that it's "beautiful, but parts of it tend to draw you attention away from the song and lyric and what the song's all about."

The quite brilliant "strings" arrangement was included on a bonus CD-5 with the Blood Brothers video (VHS format).

The later-released The Complete Video Anthology / 1978-2000 DVD includes the video of SECRET GARDEN (that was also released before on the Blood Brothers video as bonus). However, it also contains the previously unreleased video of the "strings" version; but it is only the audio that differs on this one.

Filmed in March 1995 in Los Angeles Director: Peter Care Producer: Howard Woffindon Director of photography: Salvatore Tonino Editor: Sloane Klevin [Click on the below thumbnails to enlarge]

The first take recorded on 11 Jan 1995 appears on Deep Down In The Vaults (E Street Records) and The Genuine Tracks (Scorpio) bootlegs. It is a full band take that is very close to the official one, with a different mix. Check out take #1.

When it was first released as a single (Spring 1995), the song peaked at #63 only on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in Apr 1995.

The song became a huge international hit when it was featured as the love theme for Cameron Crowe's 1996 film Jerry Maguire [read about the movie below]. It became a radio hit when a disc jockey mixed in bits of dialogue ("You had me at hello") from the movie (check out the Z100 Jerry Maguire Mix). There was renewed interest in the song, which went higher in the charts than it did in its initial release two years earlier. It vaulted into the Top 20 in the Spring of 1997 (#19 in the US charts and #17 in the UK charts).

Cameron Crowe is obviously a big Bruce fan, as evidenced by the inclusion of this song in the movie. Also at the end montage of his movie Vanilla Sky, along with the cover image from The Freewheeling Bob Dylan, is the cover of Bruce's The River.

The song was included on the soundtrack of the movie, and the remix that incorporated dialogue from the film appeared in 1997 on a US-only various artists compilation titled The Morning Zoo Bootleg and on a 1-track promotional single. Check out the Z100 Jerry Maguire Mix for more details.

The song was also included on the Jerry Maguire: Audio Press Kit, a very rare 1997 France-only promotional CD, catalogue # COL 040. The CD features radio spots for the movie plus interviews with its stars, Tom Cruise and Ren�e Zellweger, as well as director Cameron Crowe. Colour picture insert sporting same front artwork as the regular soundtrack album.

The song made it's first live appearance on 05 Apr 1995 at Ed Sullivan theatre, New York City, NY, when Bruce was promoting his Greatest Hits album with the E Street Band during "The Late Show With David Letterman". Bruce and the band also performed the song the same day during a concert for Sonny executives at Sony Music Studios, New York City, NY. Check out the live 05 Apr 1995 version.

The song was reported to be rehearsed for the Reunion tour in Mar 1999 in Asbury Park, NJ. It was sound-checked on 11 Apr 1999 at Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, Spain, but not played during the show. The only on-tour performance was on 22 Jun 2000 at Madison Square Gardens, New York City, NY, and that was the last ever known performance of SECRET GARDEN. Check out the live 22 Jun 2000 version.

In Jul 2006, Bruce Springsteen contributed the string version of SECRET GARDEN to SERVE, a various artists benefit CD sponsored and released by Hard Rock International and Sony/BMG. The long out-of-print track was the opener of the album whose net proceeds will go to support the World Hunger Year (WHY) program Artists Against Hunger & Poverty (AAHP).

SECRET GARDEN appeared on 5 Bruce Springsteen tribute albums (scans and info taken from the Nebraska website):

Studio 99 / Born In The USA: Springsteen - A Tribute CD - Going For A Song (GFS402) - UK - 2001

Richard Coleman / I Can't Believe It's Not ..... Bruce Springsteen CD - Pegasus (ICBINCD047) - Germany - 2001

Various Artists / Light Of Day: A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen 2-CD - Schoolhouse Records (SHR0022-2) - USA - 2003 SECRET GARDEN is performed by Tom Cochrane & Damhnait Doyle Though this album was also released in Spain (Good Sounds - DM 797-02) and the UK (Revolver - REVXD 244), this track is only available on the USA release.

New Jersey All Stars / A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen CD - Cedar (1402) - Europe - 2004

The Voices On Tour / The Music Of Bruce Springsteen CD - Price Size / Promo Sound LTD (PS 1723) - Germany - 2006

The song was also covered by several other artists, including:

• Apotheosis on the album Five Seconds To Spare
• Clark Bars on the album It's Been...
• The Dartmouth Aires on the album Interplanetairey

The above lyrics refer to the album's version. Check also the Z100 Jerry Maguire Mix, take #1, the live 05 Apr 1995 version, and the live 22 Jun 2000 version. Similar lyrics.

Most scans and info for the SECRET GARDEN singles are taken from the Lost In The Flood website.

Track credits:
Roy Bittan: piano
Clarence Clemons: saxophone, percussion
Danny Frederici: electronic keyboards
Nils Lofgren: guitar
Bruce Springsteen: vocal, guitar
Garry Tallent: bass
Max Weinberg: drums
Produced by Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin
Recorded by Toby Scott
Mixed by Bob Clearmountain
Mastered by Bob Ludwig

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Liner notes by Bruce Springsteen in the Greatest Hits booklet:

... men + women... + the Big Man sweeter than ever.

Info about the motion picture Jerry Maguire:

Jerry Maguire is a man who knows the score. As a top agent at Sports Management International, Jerry is unquestionably master of his universe. Trouble is, Jerry's mind, mouth and soul are usually on automatic pilot. He's good at friendship, but (as his numerous ex-girlfriends testify) bad at intimacy. Still, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Jerry that a sudden dose of failure can't cure. A week after spontaneously writing a stirring, visionary mission statement for SMI entitled "The Things We Think And Do Not Say: The Future of Our Business," he's unceremoniously fired. Stripped of his job and a good measure of his identity, the tenacious but hanging-by-a-thread Jerry is forced to start from scratch. He's joined on his journey to redemption by two unlikely allies: Rod Tidwell, a second-tier wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals; and Dorothy Boyd, a wistful 26-year-old single mother who departs her accountancy position with SMI for a very uncertain future with her new boss. Starring: Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renee Zellweger, Kelly Preston, Jerry O'Connell Directed by: Cameron Crowe Produced by: James L. Brooks, Laurence Mark, Richard Sakai US theatrical release date: 13 Dec 1996