Live Feb 1972 version
[Spoken intro:] This is something for all you people who've been — come down to listen to us ???.
One, two, three.
Well you can come by in the morning, baby, and that'll be alright
That's alright
Well if you wanna stop by this evening I'll be home about nine
Well but don't you come around if you're gonna act strange
No don't do it to me
Because I just can't change, babe
I just can't change
No matter how I try, child
I just can't change
Well you tell me how much you miss me, girl, well I miss you too
Yes I do
And it's been so long since you kissed me, don't you think I'm about due
Oh-oh-oh
But don't you, don't you be coming around if you're gonna try and rearrange
No don't do it to me
Because I just can't change, girl
I just can't change
No matter how I try, child
I just can't change
Yeah well you come around whenever you want to
And don't you know I want you to because you're so fine to see
And you tell me how you've got the love
Yes I know you've got a lot of love and you wanna give it to me
But sometimes you make me crazy trying to put them chains on me, babe
No not me, babe
And she calls so sweetly, so discreetly on the telephone
And she says, "how you been, babe, are you busy and are you alone"
And I tell her, "Well if you've got the money then something can be arranged, child"
Oh I just can't change
No I just can't change
No matter how I try, honey
I just can't change
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Yeah girl I just can't change
Oh you gotta take me as I am, babe
Yeah you gotta take me as I am
Because I just can't change, baby
No I just can't change
I JUST CAN'T CHANGE is an unreleased song written by Bruce Springsteen. He performed it live with The Bruce Springsteen Band in 1971 and 1972. The song was written in 1971; it appears on a 1971 table mat puzzle produced by the Student Prince club.
The Bruce Springsteen Band performed frequently at Student Prince in Asbury Park, NJ, between mid-November and mid-December 1971. A table mat puzzle was produced by the club for use during this month-long residency. The goal is to find the eleven hidden Bruce Springsteen Band song titles, and the first five patrons to find all of them would win free passes for the next show at the club. The eleven song titles are: COWBOYS OF THE SEA, DOWN TO MEXICO, FUNK SONG, I REMEMBER, I JUST CAN'T CHANGE, LIKE A STRANGER, MAGIC LOVING, MAKE YOUR MIND UP, MARIA, NO WAY, and WHEN YOU DANCE. These songs range from Steel Mill-era creations to recently written material. Two of them however, MARIA and NO WAY, are not known from any circulating audio.
The above lyrics are for a live performance of I JUST CAN'T CHANGE at The Back Door in Richmond, VA, with The Bruce Springsteen Band. The exact date is unknown, but it's from the February 1972 residency at The Back Door (see section below).
The Bruce Springsteen Band played nine shows at The Back Door in Richmond, VA, during three of the four weekends of February 1972 (04, 05, 06, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, and 27 Feb 1972). They played one show each night and they were the sole act on the bill. Soundboard and audience recordings from these shows circulate among collectors.
Soundboard recordings for 8 tracks, taken directly from Tinker West's original reel tapes, are in circulation. The exact dates for the 8 tracks are not known but it is more likely that all of them come from the same show, probably from the final weekend of the residency. Audience recordings for 13 more tracks are also in circulation. The exact dates are not know but it is more likely that most of them come from the final weekend's performances. A soundboard recording consisting of 14 more tracks is currently in very limited circulation. The recording comes from the 25 Feb 1972 show and is likely the complete show. An audience recording consisting of 5 more tracks is also in circulation and, according to Brucebase, can be identified with some confidence to date from the 26 Feb 1972 show.
A reel-to-reel tape containing the soundboard recording of the 25 Feb 1972 show was auctioned in June 2014 on Sotheby's (see photo below). According to the auction house, the tape comes directly from the collection of John Hammond, "perhaps requested in an attempt to ascertain if the performer that he was so taken by as a solo acoustic act could similarly engage a live audience fronting an electric band." The tape features a printed label with hand-written setlist, but some of the songs are misidentified.
I JUST CAN'T CHANGE is known to have been performed at least once in Bruce Springsteen's early years (pre-October 1972). Very little is known about shows from this early period, and therefore, the song must have been played on some more dates in 1971 and 1972.
As far as it's known, no artist has recorded and released Bruce Springsteen's I JUST CAN'T CHANGE.
Much of the above information about the 1972 residency at The Back Door is taken from Brucebase.
If you have any additional information about this performance, or any corrections to the above lyrics, please contact me via the below form or by email: .
List of available versions of I JUST CAN'T CHANGE on this website:
I JUST CAN'T CHANGE [Live Feb 1972 version]
