Album version
I don't remember how I felt, I never thought I'd live
To read about myself in my hometown paper
How my brave young life was forever changed
In a misty cloud of pink vapor
Darling give me your kiss, only understand
I am the nothing man
(I am)
Around here everybody acts the same
Around here everybody acts like nothing's changed
Friday night, the club meets at Al's Barbecue
The sky's still the same unbelievable blue
Darling give me your kiss, come and take my hand
I am, the nothing man
(I am)
(Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo)
(Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo)
(Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo)
(Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo)
You can call me Joe, buy me a drink and shake my hand
You want courage, I'll show you courage you can understand
The pearl and silver resting on my night table
It's just me Lord, I pray and I'm able
Darling with this kiss, say you understand
I am the nothing man
I am the nothing man
(Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo)
(Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo)
(Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo)
(Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo)
(Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo)
(Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo)
(Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo)
(Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo)
NOTHING MAN is a song written by Bruce Springsteen and released on his 2002 album The Rising. The above lyrics are for Bruce Springsteen's album version of NOTHING MAN as released in 2002.
Though not confirmed, it's likely that Bruce Springsteen wrote NOTHING MAN in early 1994. He initially recorded the song in the spring of 1994 with recording engineer Toby Scott, who assisted with programming drum and loops, at a house in Los Angeles that Scott rented. The finished recording was mixed by Bob Clearmountain and selected for an album that was ultimately shelved. See the "Unreleased 1994 Album" section below for more details.
NOTHING MAN was re-recorded with the E Street Band in early 2002 at Southern Tracks Studio in Atlanta, GA. It is that 2002 recording that was released on The Rising.
Track credits:
Bruce Springsteen: lead vocals, acoustic guitar, lead guitar
Roy Bittan: keyboards, synthesizer
Clarence Clemons: saxophone, background vocals
Danny Federici: organ
Nils Lofgren: background vocals
Garry Tallent: bass guitar
Steven Van Zandt: background vocals
Max Weinberg: drums
Patti Scialfa: background vocals
Brendan O'Brien: producer, mixing engineer
Billy Bowers: additional engineer
Nick DiDia: recording engineer
Karl Egsieker: assistant recording engineer
The Rising is Bruce Springsteen's 12th studio album, released on 30 Jul 2002 on Columbia Records. It's Springsteen's first studio album in seven years and his first with the E Street Band in 18 years. The album was produced and mixed by Brendan O'Brien and recorded with the E Street Band between January and March 2002 at Southern Tracks in Atlanta, GA. It won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in 2003, and was also nominated for the Album Of The Year award.
The album features 15 new Springsteen compositions and clocks at 72:52.
SECTION NOT YET COMPLETED
Other versions of NOTHING MAN were also officially released.
In early 1994, Bruce Springsteen reportedly stated that he was writing new songs for a new album to be released in 1995 and followed by a world tour. This was reported in German teen magazine Bravo and could not be considered reliable news. However, we knew that he did record a complete album with members of the 1992-1993 touring band in 1994. His manager Jon Landau wasn't a fan of the project and recommended shelving it and focusing more on a career-overview release. This lead to the Greatest Hits sessions with the E Street Band in January 1995. The 1994 album remained unreleased until its inclusion on the Tracks II: The Lost Albums box set in 2025.
"After STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA I spent the better part of [1994] in Los Angeles trying to come up with an album in that vein," Springsteen wrote in his 2016 autobiography Born To Run. "It was an album centering on men and women and it was dark. I'd just made three of those records, varying in tone, in a row. The last two had been met with not indifference, but something like it. I was feeling a faint disconnect with my audience. [...] This would've been my fourth record in a row about relationships. If I could've felt its fullness, I wouldn't have hesitated to put it out. But a not-fully-realized record around the same topic felt like one too many. I had to come to terms with the fact that after my year of work writing, recording, mixing, it was going on the shelf. That's where she sits."
"I've been listening to that for almost 20 years," Springsteen told Andy Greene in a December 2013 interview for Rolling Stone. "There was something at the time that was missing, but sometimes somebody comes along and plugs in that missing piece, or I'll pick it out sometimes every two or three years, and I'll see if I have any fresh insights. And if not, I put it away, and if I do I may work on it a little bit."
According to Brucebase, Springsteen recorded three or four new songs in March 1994, accompanied by a three-man backup band consisting of 1992-1993 touring band members Roy Bittan on keyboards, Tommy Sims on bass, and Zach Alford on drums. He also recorded seven or eight new songs in October-December 1994, accompanied by a three-man backup band consisting of 1992-1993 touring band members Shane Fontayne on guitar, Tommy Sims on bass, and Zach Alford on drums.
In an interview published in the Fall/Winter 2003 issue (#78) of Backstreets magazine, Shane Fontayne confirmed that the album had been sequenced and was ready for release, but was eventually shelved. He only mentioned one song from those sessions, and that was WAITING ON THE END OF THE WORLD. He also said that it was going to be the title of the record. About the album and the sessions, he recounted:
"I came out, and the record was largely recorded. It was as yet unmixed, but as I say, [Springsteen] had a sequence in mind, which I know for him had been such a crucial thing with any records that he made. [...] So I came in, and he wanted me to play on a couple of tracks ─ a couple of tracks turned into four or five, then there were more and more. I spent several days recording with him, with Chuck Plotkin and Toby Scott, while mixing was going on for some of the other stuff across town with Bob Clearmountain. [...] We were recording at his house in L.A. and a little bit at the Record Plant, too, I think it was."
"They had a deadline they were trying to meet. And so there was this frantic, frantic activity, where Bruce was trying to get the recording finished. I mean, I was playing guitar on stuff, trying different ideas, trying stuff with Chuck Plotkin (and getting on great with Chuck); Bruce would come in and would want to try some other stuff, and we'd keep recording; I did some backing vocals... and in the end, this was the record that was going to be coming out."
"It had a hip-hop edge to it. And I thought the material was great. Aside from the rush of recording with him, it also was just a great-sounding record. When I've talked to him about it over the years, he always brings it up and says that he still thinks about releasing it. But at the time, I heard that Jon Landau had felt that lyrically it 'wasn't there.' That's what I seem to remember. Meaning what, I'm not sure. But that seemed to be what the emphasis was about: was this the next statement that was going to be made? 'I'm not sure...'"
"[...] So at that point, yeah, it seemed a surprise. It was a shock ─ because there was a deadline being met, mixes were being done and recording was being done, and then it was shelved. And that's when Greatest Hits replaced it ─ presumably they wanted some new Bruce record to come out."
Until 2025, we knew only of five titles that were recorded during these sessions. BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH and BLIND SPOT never leaked and remained unreleased until 2025. MISSING was used on the soundtrack of a film in 1995 and released as a single the following year. A 2002 re-recording of NOTHING MAN with The E Street Band was released on The Rising album, but the 1994 version never leaked and remains unreleased. A 1995 re-recording of WAITING ON THE END OF THE WORLD with The E Street Band leaked in 1998 when it was released on a bootleg, but the 1994 version never leaked and remains unreleased. Three of those five recordings (the first two and the last one) plus seven more would eventually be released in 2025 on the Tracks II: The Lost Albums box set in 2025.
With the release of the Tracks II: The Lost Albums box set in 2025, more information came to light about the 1994 album when an article about the "Streets Of Philadelphia Sessions" was published on Springsteen's official website.
Written on the heels of its Oscar-winning namesake, "Streets of Philadelphia Sessions" found Springsteen exploring an interest in the rhythms of mid-1990s contemporary music, and particularly West Coast hip-hop. Initially pouring over CDs of drum samples at his home in Los Angeles, Springsteen began making his own loops with engineer Toby Scott — which formed a rhythmic base he'd build on with keyboards and synthesizers. Both a revelation and departure in his home recording, Springsteen is the primary instrumentalist throughout most of "Streets of Philadelphia Sessions" — with some assists from his 1992-1993 touring band as well as Patti Scialfa, Soozie Tyrell and Lisa Lowell.
Fully completed, mixed and slated for a spring 1995 release, "Streets of Philadelphia Sessions" was ultimately put aside — as Springsteen decided to reunite with The E Street Band for the first time in seven years. "I said, 'Well, maybe it's time to just do something with the band, or remind the fans of the band or that part of my work life,'" he remembers. "So that's where we went. But I always really liked 'Streets of Philadelphia Sessions'... during the Broadway show, I thought of putting it out [as a standalone release]. I always put them away, but I don't throw them away."
SECTION NOT YET COMPLETED
SECTION NOT YET COMPLETED
SECTION NOT YET COMPLETED
At least 3 artists have recorded and released Bruce Springsteen's NOTHING MAN.
List of available versions of NOTHING MAN on this website:
NOTHING MAN [Album version]
