Album version
On the road to Basra stood young Lieutenant Jimmy Bly
Detailed to go through the clothes of the soldiers who died
At night in dreams he sees their souls rise
Yeah like dark geese into the Oklahoma skies
Well this is a prayer for the souls of the departed
Those who've gone and left their babies brokenhearted
This is a prayer for the souls of the departed
Now Raphael Rodriguez was just seven years old
Shot down in a schoolyard by some East Compton Cholos
His mamma cried "My beautiful boy is dead"
In the hills the self-made men just sighed and shook their heads
This is a prayer for the souls of the departed
Those who've gone and left their babies brokenhearted
Young lives over before they got started
This is a prayer for the souls of the departed
Yeah tonight as I tuck my own son in bed
All I can think of is what if it would've been him instead
I want to build me a wall so high nothing can burn it down
Right here on my own piece of dirty ground
Now I ply my trade in the land of king dollar
Where you get paid and your silence passes as honor
And all the hatred and dirty little lies
Been written off the books and into decent men's eyes
SOULS OF THE DEPARTED is a song written by Bruce Springsteen and released on his 1992 album Lucky Town. The above lyrics are for Bruce Springsteen's album version of SOULS OF THE DEPARTED as released in 1992.
SECTION NOT YET COMPLETED
The Human Touch recording sessions were completed by early 1991 and the album was planned to be released in the spring of that year. However Bruce Springsteen decided to hold off the release and he continued to write more songs during the spring and summer of 1991. The recording sessions for what later became Lucky Town spanned a period of about five months, from late summer 1991 to very early 1992. It would appear that they began in September 1991 at Springsteen's Los Angeles home studio and were then augmented at A&M Studios later in 1991. Chuck Plotkin has implied that about 15 songs were complete during this session period, which means there are likely only a handful of undocumented songs from these sessions still in the vaults. These mid to late 1991 sessions were not originally intended to produce a stand-alone album — the songs were meant to be added to the ones recorded in 1990 and then the complete body of material would be sieved to produce one album. However, Springsteen unusually decided to release two different albums, Human Touch and Lucky Town, at the same time.
Lucky Town was recorded between September 1991 and January 1992 at Thrill Hill West (Springsteen's home studio in Los Angeles, CA) and A&M Studios in Los Angeles, CA. The album was recorded by Toby Scott, mixed by Bob Clearmountain, and mastered by Bob Ludwig. It was produced by Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, and Chuck Plotkin. Roy Bittan is credited as a fourth co-producer of tracks 05, 06, and 07. Lucky Town was released on Columbia Records on 31 Mar 1992, the same day as Human Touch.
Lucky Town features 10 tracks and clocks at 39:38.
SECTION NOT YET COMPLETED
Other versions of SOULS OF THE DEPARTED were also officially released.
SECTION NOT YET COMPLETED
At least one artist has recorded and released Bruce Springsteen's SOULS OF THE DEPARTED.
List of available versions of SOULS OF THE DEPARTED on this website:
SOULS OF THE DEPARTED [Album version]
