Official studio version
The rains and the field covered with tar
Can't get a price to see my way clear
I'm sitting down at the Sugarland bar
You might as well bury my body right here
Tractor and combines out in the cold
Shed's piled high with the wheat we ain't sold
Silo's filled with last year's crop
If something don't break here we'll all gonna drop
My wife's got another coming in July
She's just laying up and all she does is cry, cry, cry
"Tommy, oh, Tommy, I'm so alone,
Tommy, oh, Tommy, oh, won't you stay home"
Pa don't say nothing except when it rains
He sits by the window listening to the sound of passing trains
Going out at night, carrying an empty load
We got a whole lot of grain and ain't got nowhere to go
Well if them prices don't get no higher
I'll fill this duster with gas and set these fields on fire
Sit up on the ridge where the bluebirds fly
And watch the flames rise up against the Sugarland sky
Whoaaa...
SUGARLAND is a song written by Bruce Springsteen and released on the Tracks II: The Lost Albums box set in 2025. The above lyrics are for Bruce Springsteen's official studio version of SUGARLAND as released in 2025.
The song was planned for release in 1983 had an album seen the light that year. See the "Unreleased 1982 and 1983 Albums" section below for more details. It was also considered for release on the Tracks box set in 1998 but was ultimately rejected.
The song appeared in a 2022 filing at the United States Copyright Office. See the "Copyright Filings" section below for more details.
SUGARLAND was likely written in 1982 or early 1983. According to Sony's logs of Bruce Springsteen's studio sessions, the song was recorded on 18-19 and 30 Jan 1983 and on 07-08, 14, and 17 Feb 1983 at Thrill Hill West, Springsteen's home studio in Los Angeles, CA. Springsteen recorded more than an album's worth of songs by himself during this period. He played all the instruments himself, with the help of a drum machine only, and overdubbing was used to create the final product. Four studio takes of SUGARLAND from these Jan-Feb 1983 sessions at Thrill Hill West are in circulation, all of which have been released on bootlegs long before the release of Tracks II: The Lost Albums in 2025.
These versions have very minor lyrical differences. The very different arrangements of the same song are just examples of how varied Bruce Springsteen can make his music. See each version for more details.
According to Sony's logs of Bruce Springsteen's studio sessions, SUGARLAND was also recorded on 25 May 1983 and on 01 Dec 1983 (not confirmed) at The Power Station in New York City, NY, and there are fourteen takes of the song from the 25 May 1983 session. No version from these sessions at The Power Station has ever surfaced. In his 2012 book E Street Shuffle: The Glory Days Of Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Clinton Heylin wrote that the fourteen takes from 25 May 1983 "probably merely applied E Street embellishment" to one of the versions Springsteen recorded solo at Thrill Hill West earlier in the year.
Track credits:
Bruce Springsteen: vocals, drum programming, all instruments
Mike Batlan: drum programming
Bruce Springsteen: producer
Ron Aniello: producer
Mike Batlan: recording engineer, mixing engineer
Bob Ludwig: mastering engineer
Rob Lebret: mastering engineer, additional engineering
Bruce Springsteen recorded a bulk of solo demoes at his Colts Neck, NJ home studio in early January 1982. His intention was to demonstrate them to The E Street Band when they enter the studio later that month so that the recording sessions for their next album would progress faster. These studio sessions came to a halt in May when Springsteen decided to release Nebraska, an album consisting of the original solo demoes without the band treatment.
For the next month or two the focus turned to overseeing final preparations of Nebraska. However, Springsteen had already made up his mind that a few of the January home demoes should be on an E Street Band album, in addition to some more songs he recorded with the band when they were in studio. Mixing of the band material continued through June, alongside the Nebraska tracks. In fact, Springsteen even considered putting both albums out as a double record. "I had these two extremely different recording experiences going," Springsteen told Mark Hagen in an interview for Mojo magazine published in January 1999. "I was going to put them out at the same time as a double record. I didn't know what to do."
In his 2012 book E Street Shuffle: The Glory Days of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Clinton Heylin revealed that the track sequence for the band album was compiled (see list below). These tracks were all recorded with the E Street Band between January and May 1982 at The Power Station and The Hit Factory in New York City, NY.
Side 1:
Side 2:
In early October 1982, soon after the release of Nebraska, Springsteen moved to Los Angeles where he spent much of the following five months. He had recording engineer Mike Batlan install a home recording studio at his house in Los Angeles where he recorded more than an album's worth of songs over the early months of 1983, playing all the instruments himself except for a drum machine.
According to Brucebase, Springsteen has mentioned that sometime in early 1983 he also gave consideration to releasing the best of the Los Angeles home studio recordings as a thematic follow-up to Nebraska. This album concept is not known to have ever been given a working title because Springsteen quickly abandoned the concept.
A document from around March 1983 reveals that at the time Springsteen briefly considered releasing an album tentatively titled "Murder Incorporated" and consisting of eleven tracks. The document also lists six additional tracks that apparently were selected for B-sides. All these tracks were cut during two phases of recording sessions, the early 1982 sessions with the band and the early 1983 solo sessions.
Album:
B-sides:
Springsteen disregarded the album and opted for another round of recording session. These sessions took place between April and June 1983 at The Hit Factory in New York City, NY, and featured the E Street Band, apparently minus Steven Van Zandt who was busy at the time recording his second solo album and touring with his own group. Following this third phase of recording sessions major mixing sessions took place and some in CBS were talking of a possible of a pre-Christmas release. In his book, Clinton Heylin revealed a track sequence for a band album that was compiled on 26-27 Jul 1983 (see list below). This new track sequence comprised of three songs carried over from the 1982 sequence, four from the early 1983, sessions and five from the recent E Street Band sessions.
Side 1:
Side 2:
As had been the case in March, Springsteen disregarded the album again and opted for another round of recording session. This final round was scattered from autumn 1983 to the early months of 1984.
In 2022, a "Recorded Document" consisting of 539 Bruce Springsteen "musical works" was filed at the United States Copyright Office. The two filings are related to Springsteen's late 2021 deal with Sony Music in which he sold the masters of his entire catalog and the coinciding music publishing rights. They show the transfer of the songs from Bruce Springsteen to Thrill Hill Music LLC and then from Thrill Hill Music LLC to Sony Music Publishing (US) LLC and Asbury Boss LLC. Thrill Hill Music LLC and Asbury Boss LLC are limited liability companies incorporated in September 2021 and October 2021 respectively and likely created for the deal.
Copyright entry #1:
Type of Work: Recorded Document
Document Number: V15007D317
Date of Recordation: 2022-05-13
Entire Copyright Document: V15007 D317 P1-13
Date of Execution: 01Nov21; 01Mar22
Title: 100 Miles From Jackson & 538 other titles; Musical Work.
Notes: Assignment.
Party 1: Bruce Springsteen
Party 2: Thrill Hill Music LLC
Links: List of titles
Names: Springsteen, Bruce | Thrill Hill Music LLC
Copyright entry #2:
Type of Work: Recorded Document
Document Number: V15007D318
Date of Recordation: 2022-05-13
Entire Copyright Document: V15007 D318 P1-14
Date of Execution: 22Nov21; 22Nov21
Title: 100 Miles From Jackson & 538 other titles; Musical Work.
Notes: Exhibit 10.1 Assignment
Party 1: Thrill Hill Music LLC
Party 2: Sony Music Publishing (US) LLC; Asbury Boss, LLC
Links: List of titles
Names: Thrill Hill Music LLC | Sony Music Publishing (US) LLC | Asbury Boss, LLC
Tracks II: The Lost Albums is Bruce Springsteen's follow-up to his 1998 box set Tracks, released on 27 Jun 2025. The box set consists of seven "lost albums" recoded between 1983 and 2018, totaling 83 songs, of which 74 have never been officially released in any form. The seven albums are: L.A. Garage Sessions '83, Streets Of Philadelphia Sessions, Faithless, Somewhere North Of Nashville, Inyo, Twilight Hours, and Perfect World.
Tracks II: The Lost Albums, along with its companion Lost And Found: Selections From The Lost Albums, was officially announced on 03 Apr 2025 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time (1:00 p.m. GMT). The announcement was accompanied by a "trailer" for the upcoming set, posted on Bruce Springsteen's YouTube channel and other online services. The previous day, Springsteen released a teaser on his social media accounts, linking to a new website, lostalbums.net, created for the two upcoming releases.
The box set is available in limited edition as a seven-disc CD set and a nine-disc LP set, as well as digital download and streaming. The physical releases will include original packaging for each of the previously unreleased records, with a 100-page cloth-bound, hardcover book featuring rare archival photos, liner notes on each lost album from essayist Erik Flannigan and a personal introduction on the project from Springsteen himself.
Disc 1: (LA Garage Sessions '83)
Disc 2: (Streets Of Philadelphia Sessions)
Disc 3: (Faithless)
Disc 4: (Somewhere North Of Nashville)
Disc 5: (Inyo)
Disc 6: (Twilight Hours)
Disc 7: (Perfect World)
Side 1: (LA Garage Sessions '83)
Side 2: (LA Garage Sessions '83)
Side 3: (LA Garage Sessions '83)
Side 4: (LA Garage Sessions '83)
Side 5: (Streets Of Philadelphia Sessions)
Side 6: (Streets Of Philadelphia Sessions)
Side 7: (Faithless)
Side 8: (Faithless)
Side 9: (Somewhere North Of Nashville)
Side 10: (Somewhere North Of Nashville)
Side 11: (Inyo)
Side 12: (Inyo)
Side 13: (Twilight Hours)
Side 14: (Twilight Hours)
Side 15: (Twilight Hours)
Side 16: (Twilight Hours)
Side 17: (Perfect World)
Side 18: (Perfect World)
SUGARLAND was performed twice during the Born In The U.S.A. Tour (156 dates, June 1984 to October 1985), in November 1984, appropriately in Ames, IA, and Lincoln, NE. The song was played in a stripped-down full-band arrangement. Springsteen dedicated the song at both shows to the local farmers who were "having a hard time." See the live 16 Nov 1984 version and the live 18 Nov 1984 version.
At least 2 artists have recorded and released Bruce Springsteen's SUGARLAND.
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List of available versions of SUGARLAND on this website:
SUGARLAND [Official studio version]
