UNTITLED #01

Oh when the night grew fear
And the jungle grew near
It was so dark I couldn't talk at all

I was a hunter in the midst of civilisation
In some bombed out music hall

There was some... funky junk on the juke box
But I didn't know how to turn it on

There were some dudes at the door givin' trouble
There was a lady at the bar giving hope

Page last updated: 22 Nov 2009

Intro

This is an untitled lyrics fragment apparently written by Bruce Springsteen circa 1972. The fragment in taken from the last page of the fifth and last volume of the "Songs To Orphans" lyrics file (read below). Under the lyrics is written "(UNTITLED FRAGMENT: SIOUX CITY MUSIC © 1972)". Sioux City Music was the publishing company of Mike Appel (Springsteen's former manager) and Jim Cretecos (Springsteen's former co-manager) to which Springsteen signed his first recording contract.

Source

When asked about the source of this lyrics fragment, Dan French, the man who created the "Songs To Orphans" lyrics file, told this website in November 2009 that he doesn't remember from where the lyrics actually came from. He said that most likely it came from a page of one of Springsteen's notebooks on display in the Asbury Park Rock And Roll Museum which he photographed back in the late 80's. He then checked with the museum curator Steve Bumball, but unfortunately Bumball couldn't verify that idea after all this time either.

French said that the fragment "definitely wasn't from any audio source that I have or heard of, so it may only exist in written form, literally just a fragment like that which may never have been developed into a full song."

The last two lines in this lyrics fragment were apparently were used in the unreleased Born To Run outtake LONELY NIGHT IN THE PARK (first two lines in the second verse).

Songs To Orphans Lyrics File

"Songs To Orphans" is the first Bruce Springsteen lyrics file that was produced. It consisted of 178 pages published in 5 sections over the course of a couple of years in the early 80's. It was published as a fanzine type venture over several issues, the last of which in around 1984. Meticulous and detailed, it was the first of its kind and contained lyrics to every known unreleased Springsteen song at the time, and lyrics to the songs he 'gave away'. The whole project was overseen by Dan French, the editor of the UK fanzine Point Blank, and the actual transcribing work was done by three of Point Blank's regular contributors, Mary Speed, Alma Cooper, and Wendy King.

Credits / Reference

Thanks Paul (Promise61 from Greasy Lake) and Dan French (wildandinn from Greasy Lake) for the help.

Request

Some Springsteen handwritten lyrics sheets containing untitled lyrics fragments were auctioned by Backstreets Magazine in the past, and scans of several of those were printed on the magazine's auction catalogs. If you have any of these catalogs, or if you have any corrections or additional info to this page, please contact me via the below form or by email: . You will be credited. Thanks in advance.

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