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STOLEN CAR

SON YOU MAY KISS THE BRIDE

Tracks version

Well I found me a little girl and I settled down
In a pretty little house in a pretty little town
We got married and promised never to part
Then little by little we drifted from each other's hearts
Now I'm drivin' a stolen car on a pitch-black night
And I'm doin' my best to make it through

Well I'm just sittin' down here at the Stanton light
I wanna get caught but I never do
At first I thought it was just restlessness
That would fade as time went by and our love grew deep
But in the end it was something more, I guess
That tore us apart and made us weep
And I'm drivin' a stolen car waitin' on that little red light
I keep tellin' myself everything's gonna be alright
But I ride by night and I travel in fear
That in this darkness I might just disappear

She asked if I remembered the letters I wrote
When our love was young and we were bold
She said last night she read those letters
And they made her feel a hundred years old

There's a river that runs by that little town
Down into the sea
It was there in the shade I laid my body down
As she flowed on so effortlessly
Now there's a party tonight out at County Line
There'll be dancing down at Seven Trees
From these banks I can see those party lights shine
Maybe she's there, maybe she's looking for me

Last night I dreamed I made the call
I swore to return and stay forevermore
Once again we stood on the wedding steps at Victory Hall
And walked arm in arm through the chapel door
I can remember how good I felt inside
When the preacher said "Son, you may kiss the bride"
But as I leaned over to touch here pretty lips
I felt it all slip away through my fingertips
And I'm driving a stolen car through a pitch-black night
I keep tellin' myself everything's gonna be alright
But I ride by night and I travel in fear
No matter what I do or where I drive
Nobody ever sees me when I ride by

This is an early take of STOLEN CAR and was known as SON YOU MAY KISS THE BRIDE, but was published on Tracks under the name STOLEN CAR. It was recorded at the Record Plant on 26 July 1979.

Many other versions also exist: The River version, outtake version 1, outtake version 2, outtake version 3, outtake version 4, outtake version 5, outtake version 6, outtake version 7, outtake version 8, outtake version 9, and the harmonies version.

Available on:

  1. The River (disc 2- track 5)
  2. Tracks (disc 2- track 14)
  3. Tribute 1997: One Step Up / Two Steps Back: The Songs Of Bruce Springsteen (disc 2- track 4), performed by Elliot Murphy

Liner notes from the One Step Up / Two Steps Back: The Songs Of Bruce Springsteen tribute booklet:

I first heard this long version of "Stolen Car" on a bootleg of Bruce outtakes called (I think) Son You May Kiss The Bride, and the song just haunted me for some time after so I started fooling around with it during soundchecks in Europe, which is where I live and mostly perform these days. So often, I'd be out there on the road alone covering the distance between shows in sleepy trains or speeding rental cars and like most songwriters passing those lost hours in my own private world, not really depressed but just, you know, sort of existing until the next show and trying not to worry too much about that other world I had left at home in Paris, the world of my wife and son, anxious that it would all be there when I returned. And "Stolen Car" so perfectly reflected all of that and (as great songs do) it often helped to release me from the bonds of my own emotional prison. So pretty soon it became as cherished a member of my repertoire as any as of my own songs.

You see, Bruce and I were born nearly equidistant from New York - him in New Jersey and me out on Long Island - and at one point we seemed to have shared a similar alienation from the suburban landscape we should have by all rights felt so at home in. Maybe Bruce conquered his demons by embracing them in his songs, but my own tendency was to keep moving, running as far away as I could until finally I reached that no man's land where I find myself today, that of an expatriate, in a place I can finally call home. Many times when I sing that line about "...driving a stolen car on a pitch black night... telling myself everything's gonna be alright" it has nearly brought the tears to my eyes - but not tears of sadness, just those of a soulmate's identification with a beautiful, undeniable truth: that life is for all of us at some time just like a ride in a stolen car, same thrills, same fear, same loneliness. It is a testament of Bruce's genius that he is able to carry home such profound truths in such everyday images as these. And for that I will always be grateful to him.

-Elliot Murphy