01/05/2025
Johnny Bye-Bye- Derived in part from the lyrics to the Darkness on the Edge of Town outtake “Let’s Go Tonight.” Although it was officially released with this title, it was originally titled “Bye-bye Johnny”. Chuck Berry also has a song of that same title that does share the same first two lines. On a break from The River tour during March 1981, Bruce recorded a rough demo of the song in a very different rock version. The song made its live debut on May 13, 1981 at the Apollo Theater in Manchester, England. It was played frequently throughout the rest of The River tour. Recorded on a 4-track cassette tape machine in Bruce’s new Thrill Hill “garage studio” in the last three months of 1981. In January of 1982, Bruce mixed the tape down as a demo. He writes of the song in a note to Jon Landau, very simply (and spelled incorrectly), “no explanation neseccary (sic).” A band recording of the song was recorded at The Power Station on April 27, 1982. In January of 1983, at his new 8-track Los Angeles home studio, Bruce recorded the song with a finalized lyric, in arrangements the same as the future released version as well as a slow acoustic version, which included an overdub of crickets. In the following months, Bruce records other similar takes of the song. In 1984, the tape from January 1983 is taken into the studio where it seems Max Weinberg over-dubs a simple drum part, replacing the drum machine on the original recording. This is the recording that will eventually be the b- side to “I’m On Fire.” It’s played at nearly all shows from November ‘84 to January ‘85. Released on February 4, 1985 as the b-side to the “I’m On Fire” single. Also released on the UK “I’m On Fire,” 12” single. That 12” single was also included in the Born in the USA Singles Collection box. Played only a few more times with its final performance being on April 3, 1985 at the Showgrounds in Melbourne, Australia. Rehearsed during soundcheck for shows at the Capitol Center in Landover, MD at the beginning of April of 1988. Released in 1997, under the original title, by Joe D’Urso & Stone Caravan in what they call the alternate Cajun version, as an extra track on Kurt Neumann’s “Atlantic City” EP. In this take of the song, the lyric is re-written, so Kurt Cobain takes the place of Elvis as the dead rock star. In 1998, the song was released on Tracks. Surprisingly, the overdubbed drums are mixed out and replaced with the original drum machine. The original count in was put back into the mix, and the keyboard and guitar overdubs that appeared at the end of the b-side release, have been removed. Due to adding and removing at the beginning and end, the track lengths only vary by one second; 1:50 b-side, compared to 1:49 on the Tracksset. Strangely, after being released as a b-side and on the Tracks set on June 27, 2025, yet another release of the song on Tracks II: The Lost Albums.
Hopefully, it will be this extended version, with an extra verse, or another unheard take of the song that is released. Notice on this recording, the crickets in the background.
The Lost Masters Essential Collection - Vol 1 - Disc 2 Pink CadillacBaby I'm So Cold (Turn The Lights Down Low, early version of Follow that Dream) Glory Da...
