GIVE THE GIRL A KISS

Tracks version

Alright boys! One, two

Well now I ain't lookin' for excitement
Baby that's just a fact
If you want to get to her heart
You better let her know just where you're at

Well I say It ain't written in the sky above
Well no fortune-teller told me this
You gotta tell her that you love her
Tell her that you need her
And give the girl a great big kiss
Alright, give the girl a great big kiss

Now if you're such a fool you think
It don't matter, baby, what you say
Maybe you better tell her how you're feelin'
It ain't gonna happen any other way

'Cause darlin' it ain't written in the sky above
Well don't you tell her who told me this
You gotta tell her that you need her
Tell her that you love her
And give the girl a great big kiss
Yeah you better give the girl a great big kiss

Now baby all I wanna do
Is darlin' make sweet love to you

Danny!
Boss time!

Now I don't know what the meanin' is
Why you wanna hide the things you feel and say
But baby it's just a natural fact
Love was never meant to be that way

And darlin' it ain't written in the sky above
Well no fortune-teller told me this
You gotta tell her that you need her
Tell her that you love her
And give the girl a great big kiss
I say give the girl a great big kiss
Repeat that!
I say give the girl a great big, great big, great
Now give the girl a great big, great big
You gotta give the girl a great big, great big
You gotta give the girl a great big kiss

Well now darlin' all I wanna do
Is darlin' make sweet love to you

Give the girl a great big, great big, great big
Give the girl a great big kiss
Give the girl a great big, great big, great big
Give the girl a great big kiss
Give the girl a great big, great big, great big
Give the girl a great big kiss
Give the girl a great big, great big, great big
Give the girl a great big kiss
Give the girl a great big, great big, great big
Give the girl a great big kiss
Give the girl a great big kiss

A Darkness On The Edge Of Town outtake recorded on 10 Nov 1977 at The Record Plant, New York City, NY, and published later on Tracks (read below).

The song appeared first during a warm up rehearsal show for the Reunion tour on 19 Mar 1999 at the Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ [read below]. Reported to be sound-checked on 23 May 1999 at Earls Court, London, UK, but not played during that show. Played later during the 29 Jul 1999 show at the Continental Arena, East Rutherford, NJ, and that was the last known performance of the song.

Covered by The Sensational Epics on their 2002 album Been There... Ain't Done Yet!.

The above lyrics refer to the Tracks version. Check also the live 29 Jul 1999 version.

From the interview with Mark Hagen on MOJO Magazine, Jan 1999:

So this long period went, and then when I went in to make Darkness I had very specific ideas of the record I wanted to make. I'd bring the band in and say, "OK, tonight we do Give The Girl A Kiss"... or So Young And In Love - anything to break the tension in the studio. You're still learning how you sound and how to use the studio. So a lot of different kinds of music occurred. I edited Darkness very, very tightly and specifically for that particular emotional tone and a very hard focus on what I wanted to write about. So, a lot of music I put to the side.

Basically the second half of the first CD of Tracks were all things that occurred off the Darkness On The Edge Of Town. There were things that might have fit but we didn't have the time, and other things that were just terrific but would have been very out of context on that particular record, like to Give The Girl A Kiss or So Young And In Love, which were great bar party songs. I didn't even know that Give The Girl A Kiss existed - wow that's pretty, that's fun... And So Young And In Love - a full band, beautiful ensemble club playing, very exciting. Meant to blow your head off.

...There were some things that I forgot I'd done - Give The Girl A Kiss, which was a big sort of party tune, I had forgotten.

From Backstreets Magazine # 62, page 39:

[During the warm up rehearsal for the Reunion tour on 19 Mar 1999 at the Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ] GIVE THE GIRL A KISS was introduced as "something silly... We cut this for Darkness On The Edge Of Town. Now you're gonna see why we didn't use it." It went off without hitch, though, Bruce running along the apron, and the crowd loved it. As for the silly part, in a sketch at the end of the song Patti caught Bruce making out with his guitar.