Bruce Springsteen: Fugitive's Dream (1983)

Not really pulled from our vaults because this was only recently pulled from Springsteen's. It has been released on the box set Tracks II: The Lost Albums.

That sequel to the 1998 box set Tracks collects seven unreleased and complete albums (more correctly six discrete albums and one collection of sessions).

It is like a slightly alternative journey through Springsteen's career: there are synth ballads on the Streets of Philadelphia Sessions (1993-'94), country-rock on Somewhere North of Nashville ('95) and he heads down to the borderlands for the album Inyo ('95-'97).

We've already thrown attention on the Streets of Philadelphia Sessions so this song is pulled from the album of 18 demos under the title LA Garage Sessions '84.

These songs were recorded between the spare Nebraska and the more bombastic Born in the USA.

This song – in two versions – is an eerie piece: a man is confronted by a stranger and a secret from his past which gnaws at him, so he abandons his wife and children and flees. A man haunted by the unstated and unknowable.

Could have easily been on the excellent Nebraska but here stands alone.

Twice, and different each time.

Here is the second version.

Fugitive's Dream (Ballad)

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For more oddities, one-offs or songs with an interesting backstory check the massive back-catalogue at From the Vaults.