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SHOOTOUT IN CHINATOWN 
Lyrics not available
Page last updated: 01 Jun 2011
Info
According to
Brucebase, SHOOTOUT IN CHINATOWN is
a rumoured Bruce Springsteen song from the The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street
Shuffle period (fall 1972 to fall 1973). It was a candidate track for the Born To Run
album, as evidenced in a Springsteen handwritten list titled "Album #3". The list most
probably dates from 1974. In the second edition (1992) of his book Backstreets: Springsteen,
The Man And His Music, Charles R. Cross listed SHOOTOUT IN CHINATOWN under "Other Songs
1972 to 1975".
Allegedly, SHOOTOUT IN CHINATOWN is an alternate title for
BALLAD OF THE SELF-LOADING PISTOL, a song
recorded in early 1973. However, "shootout in Chinatown" doesn't occur anywhere in the
song's lyrics. It's more plausible that SHOOTOUT IN CHINATOWN was a different song that later
evolved into
BALLAD OF THE SELF-LOADING PISTOL.
Unknown Songs from 1972-1975
Bruce Springsteen often creates song titles first and then attempts to write
words and music around it, so the existence of a song title is no guarantee that a song was ever
created. From the early 1972 to early 1975 period, there are many titles garnered from completed
lyric sheets, partially completed lyric sheets, or documents in Springsteen's handwriting
containing song titles but no lyrics. There is as yet no evidence that these were completed songs
(both words and music) and no evidence that they were recorded during any of the first three
albums' studio sessions. If they do exist as recordings, then they would most likely be either as
work-in-progress home cassette recordings or from the little known about 1974 sessions at 914
Sound Studios in New York.
Most of these titles came to light in the second edition (1992) of Charles R.
Cross book Backstreets: Springsteen, The Man And His Music. Very few were mentioned in
the first edition (1989), but the second edition was more accurate and more detailed of the two
versions of Cross's book. The primary reason for the flood of new and previously undocumented
information in the second edition book is that soon after the first edition was published, Cross
was granted quality interview and research time with Mike Appel at Appel's office. And as part of
that, he was allowed to go through Appel's files of surviving Laurel Canyon-related documentation,
which included inventory lists and some lists of song titles. At the time, Appel did not have any
transcription/lyric sheets (or photocopies of them) in his possession because they had been handed
over to Springsteen as part of terms and conditions of the 1977 legal settlement.
There was also an untitled list of about a dozen titles in Appel's files dated
to spring 1975. Cross included them in his book as song titles, but it was later confirmed through
Appel that this list was not of song titles, but rather potential album titles for the
work-in-progress 3rd album and not song titles.
In an interview with Mark Hagen published on Mojo magazine in January
1999, Springsteen implied that the only unreleased song from the Born To Run sessions
that is complete and in release-quality and not included on the Tracks box set was
WALKING IN THE STREET. This means that it is
highly unlikely that any of the titles from late 1973 to early 1975 was recorded in a complete
form and is ready for release.
[Click here
to display/hide detailed list of unknown songs from 1972-1975]
References
Some of the the above info is taken from
Brucebase.
Request
If you have scans or photos of the lists that were on display at the Rock And
Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum in Cleveland, OH, or any other Springsteen sheet that mentions this
title, or just any additional information about this song, please contact me via the below form or
by email: . You will be credited.
Thanks in advance.
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