CINDY

Official studio version

I pick you up with flowers when you get off of work
It's like you don't even care, it's like I'm some kind of jerk
I take you out on a date and then you won't even kiss me
Boy, when I ain't around I'll bet you don't even miss me

I don't know why, I love you like I do
I try and try, you treat me like a fool
It makes me wanna cry, it makes me feel so blue
But I just do, baby, I just do

I call you up just to pass the time
Soon as you hear my voice you disconnect the line
And when I call you back your mother says you ain't home
Cindy I know that's you on the other end of this phone

Now in this world there ain't another like you
My little candy girl, so hard-hearted and cruel
I think that's what keeps me coming back
I'm a fool for you Cindy and I like it like that

I came to get you last night, Cindy, at quarter to six
Your daddy came to the door, he said Cindy got sick
She got sent home from work with a note from the nurse
And that my very own presence would make your condition worse

But it ain't your health, 'cause honey you sure look fine
Little girl it's something else that's on my mind
But whatever you've got, well you can give it to me
'Cause if it's good enough for you, it's good enough for me

I don't know why, I love you like I do
You make me cry and feel like such a fool
I guess I like it when you hurt me this way
You dish it out and I just put it away

Info

CINDY is a song written by Bruce Springsteen and released on his The Ties That Bind: The River Collection box set in 2015. The above lyrics are for Bruce Springsteen's official studio version of CINDY as released in 2015.

CINDY was recorded during The River sessions and was planned for release on Springsteen's 1979 album had it seen the light. See "The Ties That Bind" section below for more details.

Studio Recording

According to Sony's logs of Bruce Springsteen's studio sessions, CINDY was recorded on 16-17 Jul 1979 and 11-12 Apr 1980 at The Power Station in New York City, NY. Two studio takes of the song are in circulation, both from the 16-17 Jul 1979 sessions. The official studio version was released in 2015 and is the one that was planned for releases in 1979. The unofficial studio version is circulating on bootlegs in two different mixes. Both are finished takes, so the song was likely mixed or overdubbed (not recorded again) during the 16-17 Jul 1979 sessions.

The Ties That Bind

Bruce Springsteen wrapped up the Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour on the first day of 1979. For the next few months, he altered between composing and practicing solo demos at his home in Holmdel, NJ (between January and June 1979), rehearsing with the band at his Telegraph Hill Road property in Holmdel, NJ (between March and May 1979), and recording in studio at The Power Station in New York City, NY (from late March to late August 1979).

By early August 1979, enough quality material had been recorded at The Power Station. According to The Ties That Bind documentary, a total of twenty-four songs had been recorded. According to Clinton Heylin's 2012 book It was looking like Springsteen's fifth album might be released in Christmas 1979. E Street Shuffle: The Glory Days of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Springsteen's initial track sequence for the album was as follows:

By mid-September 1979, Springsteen replaced RICKY WANTS A MAN OF HER OWN, LOOSE ENDS, and THE MAN WHO GOT AWAY by CINDY and THE RIVER. Soon after, he removed RAMROD, restored LOOSE ENDS, and added YOU CAN LOOK (BUT YOU BETTER NOT TOUCH). A title, "The Ties That Bind", was selected for the album and wheels put in motion to produce artwork for the cover. Around September, at least ten tracks were mixed to completion. On 04 Oct 1979, the ten selected tracks were dubbed to two half-track reel-to-reel tapes at The Power Station, and labeled "side one" and "side two". As written on the reels, the producer was Jon Landau and the engineers were Neil Dorfsman and Bob Clearmountain, assisted by Jeff Hendrickson. The new track sequence for the album was as follows:

Bruce Springsteen -- The Ties That Bind (reel #1, front)

Bruce Springsteen -- The Ties That Bind (reel #2, front)

Mock covers with "The Ties That Bind" title were roughed out early in the planning. The cover shot was to be a picture of Bruce Springsteen in front of a barn, with the back cover being a shot of his face behind a screen door. In late September 1979, The Ties That Bind single album was scrapped as Springsteen's writing process continued.

The Ties That Bind: The River Collection

The Ties That Bind: The River Collection is a Bruce Springsteen box set released in 2015 on Columbia Records to celebrate the 35th anniversary of The River album. The 10"x12" box set contains four CDs, two Blu-Ray discs or three DVDs, and a hardcover 148-page coffee table book featuring 200 mostly unseen studio and live photographs, pages from Springsteen's notebooks, single covers, images and outtakes from the original album package, and other memorabilia documenting the album, plus a new essay by Mikal Gilmore. The box set was announced on 16 Oct 2015 and released to retail on 04 Dec 2015.

The Ties That Bind: The River Collection (box set cover art)

The first two discs consist of the 2014 remastered version of The River album. The third disc contains The River: Single Album, a 10-track album originally planned for release in 1979, under the title "The Ties That Bind". "The songs lacked the kind of unity and conceptual intensity I liked my music to have. So we went back in the studio," Springsteen wrote in his 1998 book Songs. He scrapped the project and went on to rework some of the songs and write and record some others, leading to the double-disc release the following year. All but one of these ten tracks were previously released.

The fourth discs contains The River: Outtakes, a 22-track album collection consisting of outtakes from the 1979-1980 sessions that didn't make the cut for either the single- or double-album versions of The River. The CD is divided into two parts, "Record One" (the first 11 tracks) and "Record Two" (the remaining 10 tracks). The former consists of unreleased songs while the latter consists of previously released songs.

The fifth disc contains the 60-minute documentary, The Ties That Bind, produced and directed by Grammy and Emmy-winning filmmaker Thom Zimny. The documentary features an intimate interview with Bruce Springsteen as he reflects on writing and recording of The River. The film transitions between Springsteen telling the stories behind the music ─ and illustrating them with solo acoustic guitar performances ─ interspersed with period concert footage and rare photos of him and the band in and out of the studio.

The sixth disc (on the Blu-Ray release) or sixth and seventh disc (on the DVD release) feature(s) The River Tour, Tempe 1980, a new professionally shot film consisting of 24 songs from Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band's 05 Nov 1980 concert at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. The film uses four cameras and is recorded in multitrack audio and clocks at 2 hours and 40 minutes. The tapes were edited by Thom Zimny and the audio was mixed by Bob Clearmountain and mastered by Bob Ludwig.

The last disc also contains The River Tour Rehearsals, which consists of a 5-song 20-minute bonus footage from Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band's private rehearsals in late September 1980 at Clair Brothers Audio in Lititz, PA. Springsteen and the band can be seen working through live arrangements of what was then unreleased material from the upcoming album.

Bootleg Releases

Prior to its release on The Ties That Bind: The River Collection, this official studio version of CINDY appeared on several bootlegs, including The Ties That Bind (unknown label) [track 02] and The Definitive River Outtakes Collection Volume 2 (E. St. Records) [disc 1, track 04].

Bruce Springsteen -- The Ties That Bind (unknown label)

Bruce Springsteen -- The Definitive River Outtakes Collection Volume 2 (E. St. Records)

Live History

As far as it's known, Bruce Springsteen has never performed CINDY live.

CINDY was reportedly sound-checked prior to the 18 Jan 1985 show in Greensboro, NC, (as far as it's known) but it was not performed on any of the Born In The U.S.A. Tour's regular shows.

Covers

At least 3 artists have recorded and released Bruce Springsteen's CINDY.

Lorenzo Bertocchini -- Hearts Of Stone: Some Bruce Springsteen Songs

CD - no label (GOMB 16) - Italy, 2009

This is a Bruce Springsteen tribute album.

Sergio Gisbert -- Loose Ends: A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen's 78-80 Era

CD - no label (no catalog number) - Spain, 2014

This is a Bruce Springsteen tribute album.

Giusey And The Springtones -- One Night Only

Digital album - no label (no catalog number) - Germany, 2020

This is a download-only digital live Bruce Springsteen tribute album, recorded at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ.

References

Some of the above info about the studio recordings is taken from Brucebase.

Available Versions

List of available versions of CINDY on this website:

Page last updated: 06 Dec 2015