Studio version
One, two,
[Spoken:] Keyboard down
...three, four
Sir I am a pilgrim, a stranger in this land
Once I had a home here, my salvation was at hand
I lived in a house of gold, yeah, on a far hillside
I had two beautiful children and a kind and loving wife
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
One day a man came to town with nothing and nowhere to go
He came to me and he mentioned something I'd done a long time ago
I allowed him into my home on his vow that secret wouldn't see the light
At night I'd lay awake in my wife's arms, she'd sigh, "George, you alright?"
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Day after day, time, yeah, time passed on by
But I could feel myself changing, yeah, changing deep inside
One night I woke up and as my wife did sleep
I got dressed in the darkness and I fled into the street
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Well, night after night the same dream keeps coming 'round
I'm standing high in the green hills on the outskirts of town
Night air fills my lungs and rustles my shirt
I can see the house where we lived, the building where I used to work
As I draw near the town's lit by a red summer moon
I feel your arms around me, I wake up in this room
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
Can you live with an unsatisfied heart
UNSATISFIED HEART is an unreleased Bruce Springsteen song. The above lyrics are for the only known studio take of the song.
UNSATISFIED HEART shares some lyrics with another outtake from the same period, FUGITIVE'S DREAM. In his 2012 book E Street Shuffle: The Glory Days of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Clinton Heylin wrote: "There is a distinct possibility that the transition from 'Fugitive Dream' to 'Unsatisfied Heart' occurred between takes on March 24."
According to Sony's logs of Bruce Springsteen's studio sessions, UNSATISFIED HEART was recorded on 24 Mar 1983 and 16 Apr 1983 at Thrill Hill West, Springsteen's home studio in Los Angeles, CA, and on 13 Jun 1983 at The Hit Factory in New York City, NY. One take of UNSATISFIED HEART is in circulation among collectors, and most probably it was cut during one of two sessions at Thrill Hill West. The above lyrics are transcribed from that circulating studio version of UNSATISFIED HEART. 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 to create the final product.
This version of UNSATISFIED HEART can be found on several bootlegs, including The Lost Masters Vol. 17 (Labour Of Love) and The Lost Masters Essential Collection Vol. 1 (Labour Of Love).
As far as it's known, Bruce Springsteen has never performed UNSATISFIED HEART live.
At least one artist has recorded and released Bruce Springsteen's UNSATISFIED HEART.
Thanks Serge Zehnder for the help.
List of available versions of UNSATISFIED HEART on this website:
UNSATISFIED HEART [Studio version]
