Be True
"Be True" | |
---|---|
Single by Bruce Springsteen | |
A-side | "Fade Away" |
Released | 1981 |
Recorded | July 18, 1979 |
Studio | Power Station, New York City |
Genre | Pop rock[1][2] |
Length | 3:43 |
Label | Columbia |
Songwriter(s) | Bruce Springsteen |
Producer(s) | Jon Landau, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt |
"Be True" is a song by Bruce Springsteen. It was recorded on July 18, 1979 at The Power Station in New York in one of the early recording sessions for Bruce Springsteen's album The River. It was not released on the album, but in 1981 it was released as the B-side to the single release of "Fade Away", a song taken from The River album. According to Springsteen, "Be True" was left off The River album in favor of the song "Crush on You", a decision he has a hard time understanding in retrospect.[3] Springsteen was already second guessing his decision to exclude "Be True" from The River before the album was even released.[4]
Composition
"Be True" is a mid-tempo pop rock song.[2][1] It had been slated to be included on The Ties That Bind, a single album Springsteen had submitted to his record company in 1979 but then pulled back to be replaced by The River.[5] Music critic Clinton Heylin considers it one of the "centrepieces" of the would-be album.[4] AllMusic critic Mark Deming notes that unlike many songs in which movies are used "as a symbol of people’s hopes and dreams," in "Be True" those dreams "stand in the way of a better reality."[6] Its lyrics, which "contrast the romance of life in movies with the loneliness of real life" fit with one of the major themes of The River, that of the "conflict between dreams and reality."[5] According to author Jane Skinner Sawyers, the lyrics of the refrain. "You be true to me/And I'll be true to you" ""sum up Springsteen's philosophy."[1] Sawyer considers that its sweetness and tenderness would have made it a top hit had it been released in the 1960s.[1]
Recording history
"Be True" went through several versions before its final incarnation.
Release history
In France, it was released as the B-side of the "
Personnel
According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon:[10]
- Bruce Springsteen – vocals, guitars
- Roy Bittan – piano
- Clarence Clemons – saxophone, tambourine
- Danny Federici – organ, glockenspiel
- Garry Tallent – bass
- Steven Van Zandt – guitars, vocal harmonies
- Max Weinberg – drums
References
- ^ ISBN 9780825634703.
- ^ a b "Zambo's Place: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN the Ties That Bind: The River Collection". 24 November 2015.
- ^ "Setlists: 2009 (Back in the U.S.A.) August 19 / Comcast Theatre / Hartford, CT". Backstreets.com. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
- ^ ISBN 9781780335797.
- ^ ISBN 978-0275989385.
- Allmusic. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
- ^ "Bruce Springsteen: Cadillac Ranch". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
- ^ "Bruce Springsteen: Sherry Darling". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
- allmusic. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
- ISBN 978-1-78472-649-2.