Why is early Springsteen the best Springsteen? Because he was just tossing away little joys like this as outtakes. This is a stupid-simple song. But by the time it swings out of that middle eight you ARE cruising up & down the main drag in a seaside town.

We're taping the first half of our Springsteen episode tomorrow, and it's probably going to be a lot weirder than you might expect...I'm far more interested in what he DIDN'T release after 1973 or so than what he did.

Let's put it this way: I've been combing through at least three alternate unreleased versions of "Zero And Blind Terry" in the past few days. Yes, that's APART from the one released on TRACKS. I got a live version that will wreck your face.

A preview of my opinions (which anyone following me long enough already knows): THE WILD, THE INNOCENT & THE E STREET SHUFFLE is easily the best Springsteen album, better than BORN TO RUN or DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN or THE RIVER or whatever. Van Morrison on the Jersey Shore.

The second half of WIESS is perfect, Springsteen's best-ever side of vinyl. The first side is great too, except for the fact that "Wild Billy's Circus Story" wandered in from a different album (namely, the early GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK sessions, which is where it hails from).

Springsteen was never as exciting live as he was in the pre-BORN TO RUN era. You'd go to see him in 1974 and he'd randomly just bust out old-school obscurities like this and turn them into comedy/musical classics:

It's downright sad how much better the early version of "She's The One" was than the neutered final version that made it onto BORN TO RUN. Spot the lyrics that ended up in a different song!

Meanwhile, I wouldn't say that "Wings For Wheels" is *better* than what became "Thunder Road" on BORN TO RUN, but man...it's close.

"Roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair/It's like the rushing touch of dirty wings them highway angels wear/But tonight we're gonna find out how it feels/We're gonna trade in these wings for wheels" -- that's as good as any lyric that made it to the final song.

Fun fact: "Born To Run," pretty obviously the most iconic song Bruce Springsteen will ever write, didn't even make it into the Top 20 on the Billboard Singles chart. Now I have a lot of Bruce-skeptic hottakes to be fair, but c'mon: that's a load of bullshit right there.

I've grown tired of the self-consciously 'mythologizing' Springsteen, but you'd have to have a heart made out of polyurethane not to be stirred by "Born To Run." It's fun to hear all of the bootleg alternate mixes to realize just how much they worried over it to get it PERFECT.