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Unofficial studio version
One, two, three, four
One two three four
For one deadly love like a disease
I came to you crawling on my knees
Your eyes filled with rain
I can feel poison running through my veins
I'm waiting
I'm waiting
I'm waiting, waiting on the end of the world
I'm waiting
I'm waiting
For one deadly kiss what would we give
Your skin trembling 'neath my fingertips
All I know is someday
For love, baby, everybody pays
I'm waiting
I'm waiting
I'm waiting, waiting on the end of the world
I'm waiting
I'm waiting
Hey!
We hide from truth in our hearts
Like one look and everything will fall apart
Here in your arms, soft decay
I can feel myself wasting away
[Saxophone solo]
Yeah!
Will you meet me in the halls
Where light scatters and darkness falls
Here in this feast of friends
To break and we begin again
I'm waiting
I'm waiting
I'm waiting, waiting on the end of the world
I'm waiting
I'm waiting
I'm waiting, waiting on the end of the world
I'm waiting
I'm waiting
I'm waiting, waiting on the end of the world
I'm waiting
I'm waiting
I'm waiting, waiting on the end of the world
Hey!
WAITING ON THE END OF THE WORLD is an unreleased song written by Bruce Springsteen. The above lyrics are for the only circulating studio version of WAITING ON THE END OF THE WORLD, recorded in 1995 with the E Street Band.
WAITING ON THE END OF THE WORLD was first recorded in 1994 with Shane Fontayne and other members of the 1992-1993 touring band. The song was going to be the title track of an album that eventually was not released. See the below section for more details. It remains unknown whether WAITING ON THE END OF THE WORLD was recorded during the March 1994 sessions or during the October-December 1994 sessions, but Shane Fontayne's guitar parts were recorded during the latter.
The song was recorded again in January 1995 at The Hit Factory in New York City, NY, with the E Street Band. It is that version that can be found on bootlegs.
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 cannot be considered reliable news. However, we do know 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". This lead to the Greatest Hits sessions with the E Street Band in January 1995. The 1994 album remains unreleased.
"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."
None of the material from the 1994 album has yet leaked out. However, we know of five titles that were recorded during these sessions: BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH, BLINDSPOT, FATHER'S DAY, NOTHING MAN, and WAITING ON THE END OF THE WORLD.
This unofficial studio version of WAITING ON THE END OF THE WORLD can be found on the Deep Down In The Vaults (E. St. Records) [disc 3, track 09] bootleg.
As far as it's known, Bruce Springsteen has never performed WAITING ON THE END OF THE WORLD live.
As far as it's known, no artist has recorded and released Bruce Springsteen's WAITING ON THE END OF THE WORLD.
List of available versions of WAITING ON THE END OF THE WORLD on this website:
WAITING ON THE END OF THE WORLD [Unofficial studio version]