Live 04 Apr 2005 version
[Spoken intro:] Alright. Uh... Alright let me do this. How are you guys making out back there, can you hear what I'm saying? Alright, that's cool. Monty, give me a little bit more piano, man. That's too much. Now bring it back where it was. Decisions, decisions. Alright. Uh...
Well Jesus
[Spoken:] (he started to play the song then realized he forgot to put the harmonica on). Ah wait a minute, I'm fucking around. I knew that was there for a reason. About the same look over me ???. Hm, I wonder why that's there. Hold it, wait a minute. Oh oh. Ah. It's good to be amongst friends, alright? Alright, here we go. Alright, ??? kissing up to me ???. He we go.
Well Jesus was an only son
As he walked up Calvary Hill
His mother Mary walking beside him
In the path where his blood spilled
Jesus was an only son
In the hills of Nazareth
As he lay reading the Psalms of David
At his mother's feet
A mother prays, "Sleep tight, my child, sleep well
For I'll be at your side
That no shadow, no darkness, no tolling bell
Shall pierce your dreams this night"
In the garden at Gethsemane
He prayed for the life he'd never live
He beseeched his Heavenly Father to remove
The cup of death from his lips
Now there's a loss that can never be replaced
A destination that can never be reached
A light you'll never find in another's face
A sea whose distance cannot be breached
Well Jesus kissed his mother's hands
Whispered, "Mother, still your tears
For remember the soul of the universe
Willed a world and it appeared"
[Spoken:] Thank you. Thanks. I'm gonna try that one again too. Uh, this is a song from "Devils & Dust". I'll tell you about it in a minute. I'll work on my piano chops, here we go. Professor Bittan rolling over ??? out there in California right now. Alright.
Well Jesus was an only son
As he walked up Calvary Hill
His mother Mary walking beside him
In the path where his blood spilled
Jesus was an only son
In the hills of Nazareth
He lay reading the Psalms of David
At his mother's feet
A mother prays, "Sleep tight, my child, sleep well
For I'll be at your side
That no shadow, no darkness, no tolling bell
Will pierce your dreams this night"
In the garden at Gethsemane
He prayed for the life he'd never live
He beseeched his Heavenly Father to remove
The cup of death from his lips
Now there's a loss that can never be replaced
A destination that can never be reached
A light you'll never find in another's face
A sea whose distance cannot be breached
Jesus kissed his mother's hands
Whispered, "Mother, still your tears
For remember the soul of the universe
Willed a world and it appeared"
[Spoken:] Well that's, that's a song that uh... starts from the premise, from the premise that everybody knows what it's like to be saved. That's ??? your premise than the, than the other one, you know. Uh, on "Devils & Dust" I wrote several songs about mother and, and sons and, uh, this was, this is really one of them. I had second thoughts about it today when I was behind a car with a bumper sticker said "Drive carefully, my mommy is in this car." Uh, and I was moved to hit the gas and rear-end her, it was one of those old cars. Uh... but it's a, something I haven't written about a whole lot before, and, and I was kind of interested in the relationship between parent and child, because... uh, which is why Mary figures so prominently in the song. I, I, I felt if I approached the song from the secular side that uh, the rest of it would come through.
[Spoken:] Uh, just start with the title.
Je─ Jesus was an only son
[Spoken:] Now of course Jesus had uh... That's my main metaphor. Jesus, Jesus had earthly brothers and sisters and, but not on this, not on this particular day. This day he was, he was singular.
As he walked up Calvary Hill
[Spoken:] Well that's his proving ground. That uh... that's uh, "Darkness On The Edge Of Town", it's "Darkness On The Edge Of Town". That's uh, once you're uh, a Catholic, there's no getting out. That's about all there is to it. Keeps coming up. Uh...
His mother Mary walking beside him
[Spoken:] There she would be.
In the path where his blood spilled
[Spoken:] That is the, the path of consequence. And we all have one of those. Uh...
Jesus was an only son
In the hills of Nazareth
As he lay reading the Psalms of David
At his mother's feet
[Spoken:] Well I wanted an image of parental love and, and, and nurturing and uh, and of life and of promise and of peace before what was to come.
A mother prays, "Sleep tight, my child, sleep well
For I'll be at your side
That no shadow, no darkness, no tolling bell
Will pierce your dreams this night"
[Spoken:] Well every parent wants to keep their children from all harm. It is, it's such a primal thing. I was shocked when I, when I first felt it so deep inside myself. And uh, then I had a conversation with a friend where I was afraid that my kids were gonna grow up uh... "So gee, you know, they might, they might now have to struggle, you know, like I struggled, maybe that's not such a good thing." And he said, "No, no no no, you're a parent man, you, you give them the best because the world is gonna take care of the rest." And uh... that's true. You know, the world awaits us all. And there's not much that parents can do about it.
In the garden at Gethsemane
He prayed for the life he'd never live
He beseeched his Heavenly Father to remove
The cup of death from his lips
[Spoken:] Well you have to be thinking, uh, Jesus was in that little bar in Galilee. Pretty nice little place. Weather's good down there too. I could manage the place. Mary Magdalene could tend bar. We could have some kids. And the preaching, I could do it on the weekends. You know, you don't have to give it up. You have to be thinking that. It's what we always do.
There's a loss that can never be replaced
A destination that can never be reached
A light you'll never find in another's face
A sea whose distance cannot be breached
[Spoken:] Well that verse, that verse is the finality of death. Uh, regardless of what Jesus was going to be, for Mary she was just losing her boy. And uh, we lose one another and people don't get replaced. I had a friend. My wife and I had a friend, a young lady living next door to us, and passed away at very young age, and she used to come over our house regularly every night. And there was a moment when she'd be framed in the front window just before she was gonna knock on the door. And I would look up, and she was this ??? tall and elegant, elegant lady. And uh, I still wait to see her in that window.
Jesus kissed his mother's hands
Whispered, "Mother, still your tears
For remember the soul of the universe
Willed a world and it appeared"
[Spoken:] That's transformation. Our children have their own destiny. They have their own destiny apart from us. And I think uh... my idea was uh, to try and reach into the idea of Jesus as son, as somebody's boy. Uh, because I think that uh, whatever divinity we may claim to is hidden in the core of our humanity. And we let go, when we let our compassion go, we let go of what little claim we have to a divine. Uh, so it's spooky out there sometimes. End of ceremony.
The above lyrics are for the live 04 Apr 2005 performance of JESUS WAS AN ONLY SON at Rechnitz Theater in Red Bank, NJ, during the taping of Bruce Springsteen's episode of VH1's Storytellers television series. The song was played solo on piano and harmonica. Springsteen first played the complete song twice and then played it a third time, stopping at each verse and explaining the lyrics and talking about the meaning and symbolism in each. The second and third takes of this performance of JESUS WAS AN ONLY were released on the VH1 Storytellers home video in 2005, while the first take (above parts in bold) was edited out.
Storytellers is a television music series produced by the VH1 network. In each episode artists perform in front of a mostly small and intimate live audience, and tell stories about their music, writing experiences and memories, somewhat similar to MTV Unplugged. The show started in 1996, and since then many of the performances have subsequently been released on CD or DVD.
Bruce Springsteen was booked on 04 Apr 2005 for the taping of an episode of VH1's Storytellers, as part of the promotion for his upcoming Devils & Dust album release later that month. The taping took place at Rechnitz Theater, the larger of two theaters housed in the newly opened Two River Theater building in Red Bank, NJ. Springsteen played a set of eight songs on guitar and piano. He sang and dissected his songs for meaning, sometimes line by line. A question and answer session with contest-winning audience members closed the night. The setlist selection, he later revealed, was driven by a desire to showcase the different types, styles, and moods of his songs from each stage of his career.
An edited form of the concert aired on VH1 on 23 Apr 2005. An expanded and completely re-edited version (but not the complete show) was officially released on 06 Sep 2005 on DVD. The release, titled VH1 Storytellers, has one version of each song and part of the full Q&A session.
List of available versions of JESUS WAS AN ONLY SON on this website:
JESUS WAS AN ONLY SON [Album version]
