Studio version
Johnny got an angel dancing topless at night down in Toyland
Where the blondies and the supergirls offer a sad look and soft hands
And if you're looking for someone to steal your heart
Someone tough enough to take it
Someone to keep it or to tear it apart
Someone to love you, someone to fake it
Lonely night in the park
Oh lonely night in the park
Oh lonely lonely lonely lonely night
Lonely lonely lonely lonely night in the park
Well there's some dudes at the door giving talk
There's a lady at the bar, that's right
Slip off your stool and you step through the rubble
This is your chance, you're going to take it
If she can dance, you can make it
She takes off her shoes and runs down the beach
Oh she's as soft as the night
You fall and she crawls within your reach
Let her drag you down on the sand
And try to make it all right, ohhh
Lonely night in the park
Lonely night in the park
Lonely lonely lonely lonely night
Lonely lonely lonely lonely night in the park
And the boardwalk is so quiet at three in the morning
The lonely wind breath life into a Ferris wheel
Somehow tonight this street seems so boring
Raped and ravaged, with no secrets to reveal
Ohhh watch yourself now!
Well the bars close down and the lonesome armies they run for cover
The lost boys and their pick ups, man they hate each other
Ah and you're drinking 'neath the pier with Kid Blue
And Kid gets sick and throws up on your shoes
And you're thinking of making it home
Oh but your mom can't see you like this all alone
Yeah you're walking down the street and no one knows your name
Standing on the corner looking for the light to change
Sitting on the picket, light by light, line by line
They got nothing left but time
Lonely night in the park
Lonely night in the park
Lonely night in the park
Lonely lonely night
Hey little stranger, what you doing tonight?
Lonely lonely lonely lonely night
Lonely lonely lonely lonely night
Lonely lonely lonely lonely night
Lonely lonely lonely lonely night
Lonely lonely lonely lonely night
Lonely lonely lonely lonely night
Lonely lonely lonely lonely night
Lonely lonely lonely lonely night
LONELY NIGHT IN THE PARK is a song written by Bruce Springsteen and recorded during the Born To Run sessions. The song remains officially unreleased. The above lyrics are for the only known studio version of LONELY NIGHT IN THE PARK.
Some of this song's lyrics were taken from the 1974 song ANGEL BABY. The piano break is nearly identical to Leon Russell's piano break on Badfinger's DAY AFTER DAY, a song from their 1971 album Straight Up.
According to Sony's logs of Bruce Springsteen's studio sessions, LONELY NIGHT IN THE PARK was recorded on 04-05 May 1975 at The Record Plant in New York City, NY.
The song was a candidate track for the Born To Run album, as evidenced on at least five Springsteen handwritten lists of proposed tracks for his third studio album.
The first list is titled "Album #3" and contains 12 tracks with their recording times, which indicates that the tracks where already recorded in studio. The list dates from 1974 and was written on a lined notebook page using blue and black ballpoint pens (see below scan). Springsteen wrote "8:00" as the running time for "Lonely Night in the Park", but later changed it to "4:30".
Two lists titled "New Album #3 (Songs)", one containing 10 tracks and one containing 13, were on display at the From Asbury Park To The Promised Land 2009-2010 exhibition at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum in Cleveland, OH. They date from 1974 and were written on the same notebook page, but it's unknown whether the two were composed at the same time or if Springsteen returned to the same page some time later to add the second. The below scan is taken from issue #89 (Summer 2010) of Backstreets magazine in which a typed version of the lists is reproduced. LONELY NIGHT IN THE PARK is on both of these two lists. Springsteen wrote "Lonely Night at the Beach" in the first one and "Lonely Night in the Park" in the other. Apparently "Lonely Night at the Beach" was an early working title for LONELY NIGHT IN THE PARK.
A set of two untitled lists, one containing 8 tracks and one containing 11, was auctioned online in July 2019. Springsteen wrote the two lists on an 8.25x6-inch piece of a lined notebook page using multiple ballpoint pens. He wrote the recording times next to the tracks, which means that they were already recorded in studio. This, and the fact that the three songs added to the second list using different pens were recorded late in the Born To Run sessions, indicates that these two lists likely date from around Spring 1975. Springsteen listed a song titled "Lonely Night" as the fourth track on the first list with running time of 4:30 and as the eight track on the second list with running time of 4:20. "Lonely Night" is most likely none other than LONELY NIGHT IN THE PARK.
According to Mike Appel in Down Thunder Road: The Making Of Bruce Springsteen (a book co-written by Appel), Jon Landau didn't want MEETING ACROSS THE RIVER included on the Born To Run album and suggested to use LINDA LET ME BE THE ONE and/or LONELY NIGHT IN THE PARK instead. Appel fought for MEETING ACROSS THE RIVER and got his way.
In an interview published in issue #34/35 (Fall 1990/Winter 1991) of Backstreets magazine, Mike Appel said: "Jon Landau wasn't an impediment to making the record. Not really, because I won my way on things. When he and Bruce would say 'Here's Lonely Night in the Park and Linda Let Me be the One.' They came in and they thought that was going to be a commercial song. And I won my way. I said 'These are such dogs and the lyrics are so bad.' I said just go away. I said these songs aren't staying on the record − over my dead body. I told him this stuff was "shit." And nobody today would talk to him like that. Oh, no, they sure wouldn't."
The song has long been documented, but after remaining unheard by fans for more than three decades, totally out of the blue, Sirius XM's E Street Radio channel suddenly started playing LONELY NIGHT IN THE PARK in late 2005. Of course, this quickly resulted in an mp3 recording making the rounds. The song, as aired on E Street Radio, has a running time of 4:32, with the last few seconds cut. The above lyrics are transcribed from that version.
Judging from Springsteen's weird vocal style, the overall odd lyrics and a somewhat pointless, repetitive chorus, this particular version should be considered a rough run-through take at best. It is not known if a more finished/complete take has ever been recorded.
As far as it's known, Bruce Springsteen has never performed LONELY NIGHT IN THE PARK live.
As far as it's known, no artist has recorded and released Bruce Springsteen's LONELY NIGHT IN THE PARK.
Thanks Richard for the correction. Some of the above info is taken from Brucebase.
If you have scans or photos of the lists that were on display at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum in Cleveland, OH, or any other Springsteen sheet that mentions this title, or just any additional information about this song, please contact me via the below form or by email: .
List of available versions of LONELY NIGHT IN THE PARK on this website:
LONELY NIGHT IN THE PARK [Studio version]
