The Promise

When I bought Springsteen's The Darkness on the Edge of Town I was about 12. Born in the USA had just come out, I was in love with his sound and wanted to hear more. I actually bought the album from my pocket money at my parents' book club, and could not wait to get home and play it.
Darkness was quite a different album. Dark (duhh!) gloomy, rough. Not something an early teen would normally listen to. But I loved it, even if I had no idea what Candy was doing inviting so many boys to her room... ;) Gradually I learned English listening to Springsteen albums, dictionary in hand to figure out line by line what he meant.

Today, Tye bought me a copy of The Promise - 21 newly released recordings from the Darkness session. It's all those songs that didn't make it to the album, or slightly different versions of songs that did make it. It's so strange, to hear familiar lines used in other songs, or combined with ones that I haven't heard before. It's like they're brand new and I'm 12 years old again, trying to figure out what it all means.

And Clarence's sax still makes me cry.