SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL^©

[Instrumental]

Page last updated: 19 Feb 2008

SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL is an instrumental composed by Bruce Springsteen and donated to Clarence Clemons & The Red Bank Rockers who recorded it and released it as a b-side in 1983. It was also recorded and released by Killer Joe on their 1991 album The Scene Of The Crime.

As far as it's known, Bruce Springsteen has never played the tune live, or even recorded it. However, Max Weinberg writes that "The E Street Band played [it] but never recorded it." See Max Weinberg's liner notes below.

Early Title

Originally, this instrumental was a song with lyrics called NOW AND FOREVER that Springsteen recorded in the Apr-Jun 1983 period at The Hit Factory, New York City, NY, during during the Born In The USA recording sessions. Unfortunately, there is no recording or lyrics of this song in circulation. Springsteen would scrap the lyrics and re-title the song SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL, donating it to Clarence Clemons & The Red Bank Rockers.

In the U.S. and Australia, Clarence Clemons & The Red Bank Rockers' recording of SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL was the b-side for their recording of A WOMAN'S GOT THE POWER. Curiously, SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL was issued under the title "Now And Forever" when the single was released in 1983 in Australia.

This matter was chased up by a Springsteen fan in Australia back in 1983. This made CBS Australia check with Jonathan Music, Springsteen's song publisher in Australia and New Zealand. Jonathan Music replied that the title "Now And Forever" was not a typo, but rather the original working title of the song that had been changed to "Summer On Signal Hill" when it became an instrumental. Springsteen's organization had inadvertently sent one of its overseas publishers the wrong title info, and Jonathan Music passed on the wrong title info to CBS Australia and that's why the Australia 7-inch single was pressed in 1983 as "A WOMAN'S GOT THE POWER / NOW AND FOREVER".

Signal Hill

"Signal Hill" is the name for several communities and geographical locations in the U.S. and abroad. Springsteen's "Signal Hill" is most probably the small city in Los Angeles County, CA.

Curiously, when BROTHERS UNDER THE BRIDGES ('83) appeared for the first time on the Tracks box set in 1998, it contained the lyrics "[...] Tonight up on Signal Hill, I watch a young man in a red shirt walking through a night so still [...]". The song, which had never leaked out before its release on Tracks, is also a Born In The USA outtake, recorded at The Hit Factory, New York City, NY -- the official Tracks take was recorded on 04 Sep 1983. Note that this is the only known song in the Springsteen repertoire that mentions Signal Hill -- it's very doubtable that this is only a coincidence.

Clarence Clemons & The Red Bank Rockers' version

Bruce Springsteen donated his instrumental SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL to Clarence Clemons & The Red Bank Rockers. They recorded it and released it in Oct 1983 as a B-side to A WOMAN'S GOT THE POWER in the U.S. and Australia and SAVIN' UP in the U.K. and Holland. It was also reissued in 1986 as a B-side to Clarence Clemons' I WANNA BE YOUR HERO worldwide. For more details, see the list of releases below.

Both A WOMAN'S GOT THE POWER and SAVIN' UP are from Clarence Clemons & The Red Bank Rockers' 1983 album Rescue which was recorded in late summer 1983 at The Record Plant, New York City, NY. SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL must've been recorded during those same sessions.

The recording of SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL was seemingly produced by Springsteen -- it says "Produced by Bruce Springsteen'' on the Dutch pressing of the 7" single. It also said the same thing in some ADs for the single that were in some trade magazines at the time. Springsteen does not appear to play on the recording. Yet when the same recorded track was re-issued in 1986, the production credit on the 7" single changed to "Produced by Bruce Springsteen & Ralph Schuckett". So there remains this still-outstanding point of confusion about which credit is right -- whether Bruce Springsteen produced or co-produced the track.

When SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL was first released in 1983, it was speculated that it was the E Street Band in disguise -- understandable too, as it sounds like them. It was Charles Cross that wrote in issue #9 of Backstreets Magazine a piece speculating that it might be Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. However, biographer Dave Marsh saw the Cross article and wrote a friendly letter to the editor that appeared in the next issue of the magazine. Marsh wrote in that letter that it is Clarence Clemons & The Red Bank Rockers playing, not The E Street Band. The ripping lead guitar solo heard in the recording is not Springsteen's; it's David Landau's (Jon Landau's brother) who was then the lead guitarist for the Red Bank Rockers. Marsh offers pretty compelling evidence in his letter - including a conversation with the parties involved.

Clarence Clemons' official releases

• Clarence Clemons & The Red Bank Rockers -- "A WOMAN'S GOT THE POWER / NOW AND FOREVER"
  7" promo single - Australia, 1983 - CBS, catalogue # BA 223129
   
• Clarence Clemons & The Red Bank Rockers -- "A WOMAN'S GOT THE POWER / SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL"
  7" single - USA, 1983 - Columbia, catalogue # 38-04359
  
  
   
• Clarence Clemons & The Red Bank Rockers -- "SAVIN' UP / SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL"
  7" single - UK, 1983 - catalogue # CBS A 3928
   
• Clarence Clemons & The Red Bank Rockers -- "SAVIN' UP / SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL"
  7" single with picture sleeve - Holland, 1983 - CBS, catalogue # A 3928
  
  
   
• Clarence Clemons -- "I WANNA BE YOUR HERO / SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL"
  7" single - USA, 1986 - Columbia, catalogue # 38-05795
   
• Clarence Clemons -- "I WANNA BE YOUR HERO / SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL"
  7" single - Canada, 1986 - Columbia, catalogue # 38 05795
   
• Clarence Clemons -- "I WANNA BE YOUR HERO / SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL"
  7" single - Australia, 1986 - catalogue # CBS BA 3410
   
• Clarence Clemons -- "I WANNA BE YOUR HERO / SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL"
  7" single with picture sleeve - Spain, 1986 - CBS, catalogue # CBS A 6863
  
  
   
• Clarence Clemons -- "I WANNA BE YOUR HERO / SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL"
  7" single with picture sleeve - Holland, 1986 - CBS, catalogue # CBSA 6863
   
• Clarence Clemons -- "I WANNA BE YOUR HERO / SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL"
  12" single - Holland, 1986 - CBS, catalogue # CBSA 12.6863

Killer Joe's version

When Bruce Springsteen temporary disbanded The E Street Band in 1989, drummer Max Weinberg decided to enter law school, following in his father's career footsteps. "All I had was an advanced degree in Bruce Springsteen music, and the market for used drummers was slim," he said at the time; still, he made it into law school but didn't stay long.

In 1990, Weinberg started his own record label, the New Jersey based Hard Ticket Entertainment. The following year he produced and drummed on the label's first title, Scene Of The Crime, an album by Killer Joe, a New York group Weinberg put together. This was the only album the group ever released, and it featured two rare tracks written by Bruce Springsteen: the instrumental SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL (only otherwise released by Clarence Clemons in 1983) and CLUB SOUL CITY (only otherwise released by Gary U.S. Bonds in 1982).

The Killer Joe band consisted of "Killer" Joe Delia, Max Weinberg, Jimmy Vivino, Haywood Gregory, David Keyes, Mark "Love Man" Pender, Jerry Vivino, Bob Smith, and Erik Lawrence. Their version of SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL featured a large cast of guests: Liz Mann (flute), Steven Van Zandt (guitar solo), Jon Bon Jovi (acoustic guitar), Branford Marsalis (tenor sax), Benmont Tench (Hammond organ), The Beach Boys' Carl Wilson, Al Jardine, and introducing Matt Jardine (vocal harmony), and The Orchestra of St. Luke's under the direction of Julius Rudel.

Max Weinberg's liner notes from the Scene Of The Crime album:

Bruce wrote Summer On Signal Hill which the E Street Band played but never recorded. I always wanted to cut the tune, so the Killer Joe band did, with guest shots from Little Steven, Branford, Jon Bon Jovi, Benmont Tench from Tom Petty's band, the Heartbreakers, the Beach Boys (who I saw for the first time in 1963), and the wonderful musicians of the Orchestra of St. Luke's under the direction of Julius Rudel. This song brought together people from varied musical orientations to benefit the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America organization. On behalf of the boys and girls and BB/BSA we thank you for your support.

Killer Joe's official releases

In addition to Killer Joe's album Scene Of The Crime, both SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL and CLUB SOUL CITY were included on Haywood Gregory's (Killer Joe band member) album The Haywood Gregory Collection that was released in June 2005.

• Killer Joe -- Scene Of The Crime
  CD album - USA, 1991 - Hard Ticket Entertainment, catalogue # 01612-65069-2
   
• Haywood Gregory -- The Haywood Gregory Collection
  CD album - USA, 2005 - Gregota Music, catalogue # 49004

Killer Joes also released SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL as a single in 1991:

• Killer Joe -- "SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL / BUSTED"
  7" single - USA, 1991 - Hard Ticket Entertainment, catalogue # 01612-65501-4
   
• Killer Joe -- "SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL / BUSTED"
  Cassette single - USA, 1991 - Hard Ticket Entertainment, catalogue # 01612-65501-4
   
• Killer Joe -- Summer On Signal Hill
  Promo CD single - USA, 1991 - Hard Ticket Entertainment, catalogue # 01612-65502-2

Credits / References

Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake from BTX and Greasy Lake) for the help on this page. Info about some of the above official releases are taken from the Nebraska website.

Request

I need complete scans for the all the releases mentioned on this page, and most importantly the "A Woman's Got The Power / Now And Forever" 1983 Australian 7-inch. I also need scans for the articles regarding SUMMER ON SIGNAL HILL in Backstreets Magazine issues #9 and #10. Any additions, comments, or corrections to this page are welcome. You can contact me via the below form or by email: . You will be credited. Thanks in advance.