03 May 1972 demo version
[Male voice (spoken):] "Two Hearts In True Waltz Time", Bruce.
The first frame finds her running but the night pushes her deep within the tunnel
She camouflages herself in dayglo paint and sings her love songs through a funnel
And she clings to the walls like a cat who calls the shots for life and for death
Wearing nothing but the make-up she uses to try and cover up for herself
Whoa, but she can't hide her sword
She gives no terms for surrender because she's living the Third World War
The tunnel police, they steadily increase the search for where she hides her kids
She swings on a vine across the State Line, they measured the length of her skid
She never goes back to do something she didn't or undo something she did
Smoke steams from the street and the night is complete with a long and fiery belch
She's just another Orphan Annie cartoon and a Raquel Welch
She rides like Caesar, brandishing a whip on the hood of his squad car
As the siren wails, she silently sails leaving footprints in the tar
Oh, she breaks with the dawn and by morning she's gone leaving nothing but another night
She returns to her home like a dog returns to a bone, another unsatisfied wife
And there's little Booth secure from the truth, he wants her more than he's got the guts to say
Because as she needs to be real, he needs to conceal the realness of his place
So he sings a little song and in a chiffon sarong she performs a black ballet in space
But she's just another flop with a fancy name and he's just another cop with a pretty face
So together they commit the ultimate crime, two hearts locked in true waltz time
The above lyrics are for the demo of TWO HEARTS IN TRUE WALTZ TIME that was recorded during Springsteen's first studio audition session for CBS Records. The recording took place on 03 May 1972 at CBS Studios in New York City, NY. It features Springsteen solo on vocals and acoustic guitar. See the studio version for more details about the song and the events surrounding this audition.
Bruce Springsteen's first "formal" studio audition for CBS took place on 03 May 1972 at CBS Studios in New York City. Produced by John Hammond and engineered by Phil Giambalvo, the session consisted of 12 songs (two of them played twice, making a total of 14 tracks); session log information survives and it has been verified that the below-listed recordings encompass the complete session. This so-called "John Hammond Demo Session" was assigned the job number 79682; Hammond's voice is heard on the recording of the audition reading off the session number, "Bruce Springsteen, Columbia Pop audition, job number 79682, Mary Queen Of Arkansas, take 1".
The master Scotch magnetic tape reels from the audition were on display as part of the From Asbury Park To The Promised Land exhibition at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum in Cleveland, OH, along with boxes labeled with running orders:
| On the first reel: | |
| Mary Queen of Arkansas | (see MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS [take #1] and MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS [take #2]) |
| Saint in the City | (see IT'S HARD TO BE A SAINT IN THE CITY) |
| Jazz Musician | (see JAZZ MUSICIAN [take #1] and JAZZ MUSICIAN [take #2]) |
| If I Was a Priest | (see IF I WAS THE PRIEST) |
| Arabian Nights | (see ARABIAN NIGHTS) |
| On the second reel: | |
| Growin' Up | (see GROWIN' UP) |
| Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street? | (see DOES THIS BUS STOP AT 82ND STREET?) |
| Two Hearts in True Waltz Time | (see TWO HEARTS IN TRUE WALTZ TIME) |
| Street Queen | (see STREET QUEEN) |
| Angels | (see THE ANGEL) |
| Southern Sun | (see SOUTHERN SUN) |
| Cowboys of the Seas | (see COWBOYS OF THE SEA) |
Four tracks from the "John Hammond Demo Session" that were previously officially released in other versions were included on the Tracks box set in 1998. These are: MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS [take #2], IT'S HARD TO BE A SAINT IN THE CITY, GROWIN' UP, and DOES THIS BUS STOP AT 82ND STREET?.
In his 2012 book E Street Shuffle: The Glory Days of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Clinton Heylin wrote that over the years Hammond would come to insist that their demo was "better than any tape Bruce has made since, because Bruce is [now] so uptight about perhaps overshadowing somebody else in the band." In 1981, he would send Springsteen a copy of the tape as a reminder of what might have been. Springsteen's response was Nebraska.
This 03 May 1972 demo version of TWO HEARTS IN TRUE WALTZ TIME has been circulating on several bootleg releases, including The Early Years Volume Two (Bagel Boys Records) [track 10] and The Unsurpassed Springsteen Volume 3 (Yellow Dog Records) [track 08].
List of available versions of TWO HEARTS IN TRUE WALTZ TIME on this website:
TWO HEARTS IN TRUE WALTZ TIME [Studio version]