FOR NEVER ASKING^©

1. CLOUDS [2 pages]
2. CRYSTAL [2 pages]
3. THE WAR SONG [2 pages]
4. THE WINDOW [2 pages]
5. A WINTER'S REVELATION (IN 9 ILLUSIONS) [3 pages]
6. THE VIRGIN FLOWER [3 pages]
7. FOR NEVER ASKING [3 pages]
8. UPON THIS DAY (EURYDICE) [2 pages]
9. UNTIL THE RAIN COMES [3 pages]
10. INSIDE THE CASTLE WALLS [3 pages]
11. DEATH OF A GOOD MAN [2 pages]
12. ALONE [2 pages, lyrics by Norman Luck]
13. NEW YORK MORNING LOVE [2 pages]
14. SLUM SENTIMENTS [2 pages]
15. SUNLINE [2 pages]
16. MISSISSIPPI [2 pages]
17. untitled [1 page]
18. LOVE CYCLE [3 pages]
19. THE WIND AND THE RAIN [2 pages]
20. untitled [1 page]

Notes:

The first page of the notebook is a "contents page" listing the first 15 songs.

Songs #1 to #4 were transcribed on 26 Apr 1968. Songs #5 to #7 were transcribed on 29 Apr 1968. Songs #8 to #11 were transcribed on 30 Apr 1968. These songs (#1 to #11) appear to have been transcribed into the notebook in a tidy fashion in three batches over a five day period. Same pen and writing style. These are likely to represent writings that Bruce had accumulated over some time in late '67 or early '68, and then shifted into the newly purchased writing notebook.

There is no transcription date noted for songs #12 to #15. The writing style is more rushed and multiple pens have been utilized (both on the individual songs and in the "Contents Page" listing). These 4 songs may have been transcribed at separate times into the notebook over a more scattered timeframe after April 1968 (perhaps summer or fall 1968).

Items #16 to #20 are undated and show much more "work-in-progress" characteristics. Various pens were used. These are likely to date from fall 1968 to late 1968 to possibly (in the case of #19 and #20) the early months of 1969.

It certainly appears that the notebook (in total) has Springsteen writings spanning the entire year of 1968.

Song #17 seems to be too short to be a completed song, and is most probably just a work-in-progress idea. Lyrics are (check scan here):

Jesus Mary and Joseph
Can you help a lost sheep please
Won't you show me the way
Cause I got more confused each day and
I got calluses on my knees

Song #20: This appears to be merely an "lyrics ideas" sheet, with no song really formulated yet (check scan here). The first two paragraphs are in completely different ink than the final (longer paragraph). The first two paragraphs seem to have been written at the same time and seem to relate to each other. The final (longer paragraph) seems unrelated to the first two, and contains lyrics from the 1969 Child's song RESURRECTION.

Several of the first 15 song titles, or slight variations of the titles, (particularly those from the first batch of 11 titles in the book) have been known about (in vague terms) for many years via the recollections of some people who actually saw Springsteen play solo at the time - including unpublished interview comments by the late Curt Fluhr (of the Castiles).

Jeannie Clark, who performed solo shows with Bruce at the Off Broadstreet Coffee House, Red Bank, NJ, in mid 1968 (she even performed once at the time with The Castiles in place of vocalist Paul Popkin), recalled several of the song titles years ago and has recalled that Bruce had a repertoire of about 10-20 self-penned songs at the time. But nobody had ever seen any setlist or lyrics (or audio) to back up Jeannie's (or others) memory. For this reason, this notebook is such an important historical find.

Norman Luck, co-writer of ALONE, vaguely recalls some of the other song titles in the notebook, and recalls them as being from the late 1967 to spring 1968 period.

According to Brucebase, the first of the above 15 songs were performed in May 1968 at The Off Broad Street Coffee House, Red Bank, NJ, which opened in May 1968 to cater for the acoustic orientated, singer/songwriter music scene then taking hold in the area. The club provided "open mike and hoot nights" for aspiring young songwriters to perform. Springsteen was among the first to take advantage of the opportunity and is known to have given at least two solo performances in May and several others during the summer. These performances included an impressive array of folk-orientated songs Bruce had written in recent months - material that didn't fit into the rock setlists performed by The Castiles. The above-mentioned 15 songs (all Springsteen originals) represent most of his original solo-oriented music repertoire played at these shows during May-Aug 1968. One of these songs, ALONE, was co-written by Springsteen and Norman Luck (leader of the band Purpul Dyneste). The Springsteen songwriting style of this mid 1968 period bears similarities to the lyricism displayed in his 1972 solo demos and was strongly influenced by Tim Buckley, Leonard Cohen, Donovan and Dylan - and these four artists songs were often intermingled with Springsteen's originals during the solo shows.

For additional information, read the notes about this item as published on the It's Only Rock 'N Roll auction page (note that there are some minor mistakes/inaccuracies).

The bid on this item started at $5,000.00, and reached $57,706.61. The auction also included many other lyrics sheets and setlists from the late '60s or early '70s, which included additional songs, most of which were also unheard-of: WE'VE GOT TO DO IT NOW, SOME TIMES AT NIGHT, IF YOU WANT TO GET HIGH, OH NO NO NO, SPANISH DREAMS, GYPSY RIDER, SHE'S GOT THE LORD, and others... We don't know if all of these songs are original compositions or covers.

The collector who purchased the notebook in the late 1980's never gave out any information about it. So we are lucky this was a public auction sale, or else we may have never seen the contents.