Unofficial studio version
One, two, three, four
I want a little house on a little hill
I wanna settle down, yeah I think I will
Settle down and find a little love that's true
Settle down with a girl like you
Seen a lot of girls, had a lot of fun
Ran around a lot, now my running's done
Honey all I want, wanna be running to
Is the arms of a girl like you
You start living life like you just don't care
You done everything, you been everywhere
But what I done ain't nothing to what I wanna do
When I find a little girl like you
We'll get married in a church down at Wynan Bay
Tell a lot of jokes, have a lot of laughs
Do whatever it is that we wannna do
Long as I do it with a girl like you
Hey little stranger walking down the street
You're the only one could make my life complete
I got a plan but it's made for two
So I need a little girl like you
Yeah hey I need a little girl like you
Oh honey I need a little girl like you
Well baby I need a little girl like you
Well baby I need a little girl like you...
[Fades out]
LITTLE GIRL LIKE YOU is an unreleased song written by Bruce Springsteen. It was considered for release as a B-side in 1983 had an album seen the light that year. See the "Unreleased 1982 and 1983 Albums" section below for more details. The above lyrics are for the only studio take of LITTLE GIRL LIKE YOU in circulation.
The song appeared in a 2022 filing at the United States Copyright Office. See the "Copyright Filings" section below form more details.
According to Sony's logs of Bruce Springsteen's studio sessions, LITTLE GIRL LIKE YOU (referenced as "Little Girl (Like You)") was recorded on 20 Jan 1983 at Thrill Hill West, Springsteen's home studio in Los Angeles, CA. The studio take in circulation was most probably cut on 20 Jan 1983.
Springsteen recorded more than an album's worth of songs by himself during this period. He played all the instruments himself, with the help of a drum machine only, and overdubbing was used to create the final product.
Bruce Springsteen recorded a bulk of solo demoes at his Colts Neck, NJ home studio in early January 1982. His intention was to demonstrate them to The E Street Band when they enter the studio later that month so that the recording sessions for their next album would progress faster. These studio sessions came to a halt in May when Springsteen decided to release Nebraska, an album consisting of the original solo demoes without the band treatment.
For the next month or two the focus turned to overseeing final preparations of Nebraska. However, Springsteen had already made up his mind that a few of the January home demoes should be on an E Street Band album, in addition to some more songs he recorded with the band when they were in studio. Mixing of the band material continued through June, alongside the Nebraska tracks. In fact, Springsteen even considered putting both albums out as a double record. "I had these two extremely different recording experiences going," Springsteen told Mark Hagen in an interview for Mojo magazine published in January 1999. "I was going to put them out at the same time as a double record. I didn't know what to do."
In his 2012 book E Street Shuffle: The Glory Days of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Clinton Heylin revealed that the track sequence for the band album was compiled (see list below). These tracks were all recorded with the E Street Band between January and May 1982 at The Power Station and The Hit Factory in New York City, NY.
Side 1:
Side 2:
In early October 1982, soon after the release of Nebraska, Springsteen moved to Los Angeles where he spent much of the following five months. He had recording engineer Mike Batlan install a home recording studio at his house in Los Angeles where he recorded more than an album's worth of songs over the early months of 1983, playing all the instruments himself except for a drum machine.
According to Brucebase, Springsteen has mentioned that sometime in early 1983 he also gave consideration to releasing the best of the Los Angeles home studio recordings as a thematic follow-up to Nebraska. This album concept is not known to have ever been given a working title because Springsteen quickly abandoned the concept.
A document from around March 1983 reveals that at the time Springsteen briefly considered releasing an album tentatively titled "Murder Incorporated" and consisting of eleven tracks. The document also lists six additional tracks that apparently were selected for B-sides. All these tracks were cut during two phases of recording sessions, the early 1982 sessions with the band and the early 1983 solo sessions.
Album:
B-sides:
Springsteen disregarded the album and opted for another round of recording session. These sessions took place between April and June 1983 at The Hit Factory in New York City, NY, and featured the E Street Band, apparently minus Steven Van Zandt who was busy at the time recording his second solo album and touring with his own group. Following this third phase of recording sessions major mixing sessions took place and some in CBS were talking of a possible of a pre-Christmas release. In his book, Clinton Heylin revealed a track sequence for a band album that was compiled on 26-27 Jul 1983 (see list below). This new track sequence comprised of three songs carried over from the 1982 sequence, four from the early 1983, sessions and five from the recent E Street Band sessions.
Side 1:
Side 2:
As had been the case in March, Springsteen disregarded the album again and opted for another round of recording session. This final round was scattered from autumn 1983 to the early months of 1984.
In 2022, a "Recorded Document" consisting of 539 Bruce Springsteen "musical works" was filed at the United States Copyright Office. The two filings are related to Springsteen's late 2021 deal with Sony Music in which he sold the masters of his entire catalog and the coinciding music publishing rights. They show the transfer of the songs from Bruce Springsteen to Thrill Hill Music LLC and then from Thrill Hill Music LLC to Sony Music Publishing (US) LLC and Asbury Boss LLC. Thrill Hill Music LLC and Asbury Boss LLC are limited liability companies incorporated in September 2021 and October 2021 respectively and likely created for the deal.
Copyright entry #1:
Type of Work: Recorded Document
Document Number: V15007D317
Date of Recordation: 2022-05-13
Entire Copyright Document: V15007 D317 P1-13
Date of Execution: 01Nov21; 01Mar22
Title: 100 Miles From Jackson & 538 other titles; Musical Work.
Notes: Assignment.
Party 1: Bruce Springsteen
Party 2: Thrill Hill Music LLC
Links: List of titles
Names: Springsteen, Bruce | Thrill Hill Music LLC
Copyright entry #2:
Type of Work: Recorded Document
Document Number: V15007D318
Date of Recordation: 2022-05-13
Entire Copyright Document: V15007 D318 P1-14
Date of Execution: 22Nov21; 22Nov21
Title: 100 Miles From Jackson & 538 other titles; Musical Work.
Notes: Exhibit 10.1 Assignment
Party 1: Thrill Hill Music LLC
Party 2: Sony Music Publishing (US) LLC; Asbury Boss, LLC
Links: List of titles
Names: Thrill Hill Music LLC | Sony Music Publishing (US) LLC | Asbury Boss, LLC
This version of LITTLE GIRL LIKE YOU can be found on several bootlegs, including The Lost Masters Vol. 16 (Labour Of Love) [track 03], The Lost Masters Vol. 17 (Labour Of Love) [track 10], and The Lost Masters Essential Collection Vol. 2 (Labour Of Love) [disc 2, track 16].
The mix found on The Lost Masters Vol. 16 (and The Lost Masters Essential Collection Vol. 2) is different from the one found on The Lost Masters Vol. 17. The former features double track vocals.
As far as it's known, Bruce Springsteen has never performed LITTLE GIRL LIKE YOU live.
As far as it's known, no artist has recorded and released Bruce Springsteen's LITTLE GIRL LIKE YOU.
If you have any corrections, additions, or comments, please contact me via the below form or by email: .
List of available versions of LITTLE GIRL LIKE YOU on this website:
LITTLE GIRL LIKE YOU [Unofficial studio version]
