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Live 20 Sep 1969 version
Sister Theresa, golden hair, all tucked away
Sister Theresa, dressed in black
With rosary beads strung 'round her neck
What you need's a man to love
Can you tell what I'm thinking of
Sister Theresa, feeling her way back home
Sister Theresa, up in the morning saying her prayers
Sister Theresa, revealing herself to the midnight air
You say you're married to Jesus Christ
And that he's in your bedroom every night
Why is he so hard, why's he treat you so cruel
Is he jealous, or just a fool
Sister Theresa, come with me for a while
I promise I'll make you smile
Mother Superior, come and see
Sister Frances, come and see
Mother Superior, come and see
Sister Frances, come and see
She is gone, she is gone
Sister Theresa, I've given you my heart
Oh yeah-yeah
Oh-oh yeah
Oh yeah
Shh
SISTER THERESA is a song written by Bruce Springsteen. He performed it live with Child and Steel Mill in 1969 and 1970.
Steel Mill may have recorded SISTER THERESA at Challenger Eastern Surfboards in Asbury Park, NJ. The surfboard factory was also Springsteen's home from late 1969 thru late 1970, and a makeshift studio environment of sufficient standard to produce reasonable quality recordings. Although the song might have been recorded as part of ongoing rehearsals at Challenger Eastern Surfboards, none of these 1969 and 1970 recordings is currently in circulation. Due to financial restrictions the reel-to-reel tapes were often reused. Consequently there is a distinct possibility that much of what was recorded at Challenger no longer survives, even in Springsteen's personal archive.
The above lyrics are for the live 20 Sep 1969 performance of SISTER THERESA at Free University in Richmond, VA. The flute-like sound heard on this track is a recorder being played by Vini Lopez.
Child performed two shows at Free University in Richmond, VA, on 19 and 20 Sep 1969. As its name states, this was indeed a free university. It was more of a hippy adventure campus with no tuition necessary and, obviously, not accredited. The shows were held indoors at The Center For The Performing Arts, commonly known as "The Center", which was a big open space on the second floor that held about 500 people. When the university closed, "The Center" was sold in March 1970 and was revamped and re-opened under private ownership in May 1970 as "The String Factory". When Child was renamed Steel Mill, it performed more shows at The Center and at The String Factory.
A 62-minute fair-quality audience recording that circulates among collectors is believed, based on some evidence, to be from one of the two September 1969 shows at Free University. This would make it the earliest known Child/Steel Mill audio in circulation. Brucebase lists the recording under its 20 Sep 1969 entry. There are discernible edits between tracks and this is not the complete show, which is likely to have lasted about 90 minutes and included two or three additional songs.
SISTER THERESA is known to have been performed at least twice in Bruce Springsteen's early years (pre-October 1972). Very little is known about shows from this early period, and therefore, the song must have been played on some more dates.
Some of the above info about the 20 Sep 1969 audio recording is taken from Brucebase.
If you have any comments, additions, or corrections, please contact me via the below form or by email: .
List of available versions of SISTER THERESA on this website:
SISTER THERESA [Live 20 Sep 1969 version]