SWALLOWED UP (IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE)

Album version

---

I fell asleep on a dark and starlit sea
With nothing but the cloak of God's mercy over me
I come upon strange earth and a great black cave
I dreamt I awoke as if buried in my grave

We've been swallowed up
We've been swallowed up
Disappeared from this world
We've been swallowed up

The bones of sailors from the north and sailors from the east
Lay high in a pyre in the belly of a beast
A beast should you wander in its path upon your ship and your flesh he'll sup
You'll disappear from this world 'til you've been swallowed up

We've been swallowed up
We've been swallowed up
Disappeared from this world
We've been swallowed up

Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah

We trusted our skills and our good sails
Our faith that with God the righteous in this world prevail

But we've been swallowed up
We've been swallowed up
Disappeared from this world
We've been swallowed up

We've been swallowed up
We've been swallowed up
Disappeared from this world
We've been swallowed up

Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah

---

Info

SWALLOWED UP (IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE) is a song written by Bruce Springsteen and released on his 2012 album Wrecking Ball. The above lyrics are for Bruce Springsteen's album version of SWALLOWED UP (IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE) as released in 2012.

Writing and Recording

It has not yet been revealed when SWALLOWED UP (IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE) was written or recorded, but it's probably in 2011.

The line-up on this track is Bruce Springsteen, Ron Aniello, Charles Giordano (accordion), Rob Lebert (backing vocals), Soozie Tyrell (violin and backing vocals), Patti Scialfa (backing vocals), Lisa Lowell (backing vocals), Ross Peterson (backing vocals), Cliff Norrell (tuba and backing vocals), Jeremy McCoy (bass violin), Dan Shelly (bassoon), and Mark Romatz (contrabassoon).

Wrecking Ball

Wrecking Ball is Bruce Springsteen's seventeenth studio album. It was produced by Ron Aniello with Bruce Springsteen and executive producer Jon Landau and features special guest appearances from Tom Morello and Matt Chamberlain. The album features 11 new Springsteen recordings and a special edition includes two bonus tracks. All 13 tracks are Springsteen compositions, three of which have previously been released as live versions.

In 2010-2011, before the album came together, Springsteen was originally working on another project. In a December 2013 interview for Rolling Stone, Ron Aniello told Andy Greene: "Those were about 30 or 40 songs. They were very unique for him, unlike anything I'd ever heard." It was on 09 Jan 2011 that Aniello first went to Colts Neck to help Springsteen finish arrangements for the project he was working on. Those songs would eventually become the core of Western Stars, which wasn't released until 2019.

After they had been working together for about a month, Springsteen wrote EASY MONEY which was a different style of song to what they've been working on before. He had also written JACK OF ALL TRADES, WE TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN, WRECKING BALL, SHACKLED AND DRAWN, and ROCKY GROUND. The latter two were originally written for a gospel film project he was working on and on which he spent on-and-off about a year. As Aniello told WCHR-FM's Tom Cunningham, "things just started steam rolling into this other record, you know, not sure what was going round in his mind." Springsteen was bringing in more songs, and it was evident that the direction of the music was changing. Jon Landau came in, listened to the music, and after a discussion with Springsteen they decided to do a new album. "Literally, this man bought in a new song every day. He just bulldozed us with these songs," Aniello explained.

Springsteen was coming in every morning with a new song and it would start with just him and his guitar. He would then sing a rhythm to Aniello or sit down at the drums and play a beat. Aniello was looping these drum beats – no drum machines were used on Wrecking Ball – and adding other layers, like loops of percussion, also played by Springsteen. According to Aniello, this was done just for convenience because they were alone in studio, songs were coming in quick, and there were no other musicians there. The loops stayed, and other instruments were added at later stages. "Ron brought a large library of sound that allowed me to explore – like maybe a hip-hop drum loop or country-blues stomp loop," Springsteen told Rolling Stone in 2012. "The actual drums came later. There was no preconceived set of instruments that needed to be used, I could go anywhere, do anything, use anything. It was very wide open." Everybody who was around was participating in the recording. They even jumped on pieces of plywood, built some risers to stomp on, and hit couches to makes noises.

Wrecking Ball was mainly recorded at Stone Hill Studio, Springsteen's home studio at his Colts Neck, NJ farmhouse. The album was released on Columbia Records on 05 Mar 2012 in the UK, 06 Mar 2012 in the United States, and 21 Mar 2012 in Japan.

Wrecking Ball was recorded with a large ensemble of musicians. There's a core of six musicians and the others were just guest artists. Some E Street Band members appear on a few of the tracks. According to Ron Aniello, the album credits are "a mess" and will be revised in future reissues.

• Bruce Springsteen (lead vocals, guitars, banjo, piano, organ, drums, percussion, and loops) appears on all of the album's tracks.
• Ron Aniello (guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, loops, percussion, hurdy gurdy, and backing vocals) appears on all of the album's tracks. He is also the album producer.
• Matt Chamberlain (drums and percussion) is an American musician, drummer, producer, songwriter, and session player. He appears on track 3, track 5, and track 8.
• Max Weinberg (drums) is a member of The E Street Band and appears on track 7, track 11, and track 13.
• Steve Jordan (percussion) has previously appeared on Springsteen's Devils & Dust, playing drums and percussion. He appears on track 2.
• Kevin Buell (drums and backing vocals) is Springsteen's guitar technician. He appears on track 5.
• Charles Giordano (accordion, piano, B-3 organ, and celeste) recorded and toured with The Seeger Sessions Band and became an unofficial member of The E Street Band in 2008. He appears on most of the album's tracks.
• Marc Muller (pedal steel guitar) is a multi-instrumentalist who mainly plays string instruments. He plays pedal steel guitar on track 3.
• Tom Morello (electric guitar) appears on track 4 and track 6.
• Greg Leisz (banjo, mandola, and lap steel) is a multi-instrumentalist, mainly playing lap and pedal steel guitars, guitar, mandolin, and bass. He appears on track 8 and track 11.
• Rob Lebert (electric guitar and backing vocals) appears on track 5, track 7, track 8, track 12, and track 13.
• Darrell Leonard (trumpet and bass trumpet) is a Los Angeles based trumpet player, composer and arranger. He appears on track 11.
• Curt Ramm (trumpet and cornet) toured with The Seeger Sessions Band. He appears on track 3, track 4, track 7, track 8, track 9, and track 10.
• Clark Gayton (trombone) toured with The Seeger Sessions Band. He appears on track 3, track 4, track 8, track 9, and track 10.
• Stan Harrison (clarinet, alto sax, and tenor sax) has previously appeared on Springsteen's The Promise, playing tenor saxophone. He appears on track 3, track 4, track 8, track 9, and track 10.
• Ed Manion (tenor sax and baritone sax) is a member of The Miami Horns and he toured with The E Street Band in 1988 and recorded and toured with The Seeger Sessions Band. He appears on track 3, track 4, track 8, track 9, and track 10.
• Dan Levine (alto horn and euphonium) is a New York City based musician who plays several horn instruments. He appears on track 3, track 4, track 9, and track 10.
• Art Baron (euphonium, tuba, sousaphone, and penny whistle) recorded and toured with The Seeger Sessions Band. He appears on track 3, track 4, track 5, track 9, and track 10.
• Clarence Clemons (saxophone) was a member of The E Street Band and appears on track 7 and track 10.
• Soozie Tyrell (violin and backing vocals) started touring with The E Street Band in 2002 and toured with The Seeger Sessions Band in 2006. She appears on most of the album's tracks.
• Patti Scialfa (backing vocals and vocal arrangements) is Springsteen's wife and a member of The E Street Band since 1984. She appears on most of the album's tracks.
• Lisa Lowell (backing vocals) has been singing backup vocals on several Springsteen albums since 1992 and recorded and toured with The Seeger Sessions Band. She appears on track 1, track 2, track 3, track 6, track 7, track 10, and track 12.
• Cindy Mizelle (background vocals) toured with The Seeger Sessions Band and The E Street Band in 2009. She appears on track 3.
• Ross Peterson (backing vocals) appears on track 3, track 5, track 7, track 8, track 12, and track 13.
• Cliff Norrell (tuba and backing vocals) is the album's recording engineer. He appears on track 3, track 5, track 7, track 8, track 12, and track 13.
• New York String Section (strings), also known as the New York Chamber Consort, consists of Rob Mathes (orchestration), Sandy Park (string contractor), Lisa Kim (concertmaster), Myumju Lee (violin), Ann Lehmaan (violin), Lizz Lim (violin), Johanna Marher (violin), Annaliesa Place (violin), Fiona Simon (violin), Sharon Yamada (violin), Jung Sun Yu (violin), Karen Dreyfus (viola), Daniel Panner (viola), Robert Rinehart (viola), Mina Smith (cello), and Alan Stepansky (cello). It appears on track 1, track 4, and track 7.
• Victorious Gospel Choir (backing vocals) has previously appeared on Springsteen's The Rising. On Wrecking Ball, the choir includes Michelle Moore, Antoinette Savage, Corinda Carford, Tiffeny Andrews, Soloman Cobbs, and Lillie Brown. It appears on track 2, track 9, and track 10. Michelle Moore is credited separately on the three tracks. The remaining singers are credited individually on track 2, and as the Victorious Gospel Choir on track 9 and track 10.
• Jeremy McCoy (bass violin) is an orchestral double bass player. He appears on track 12.
• Dan Shelly (bassoon) is an orchestral bassoon player. He appears on track 12.
• Mark Romatz (contrabassoon) is an orchestral bassoon player. He appears on track 12.
• Steven Van Zandt (mandolin and backing vocals) is a member of The E Street Band. He appears on track 7, track 10, and track 13.

Wrecking Ball is available in three configurations: standard CD edition, special CD edition, and double-disc LP. The special CD edition features two bonus tracks and exclusive packaging. The double-disc LP is pressed on 180-gram vinyl and includes the standard CD edition of the album.

The album topped the charts in 16 countries, including the United States and the UK.

Live History

Bruce Springsteen has never performed SWALLOWED UP (IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE) live.

Covers

As far as it's known, no artist has recorded and released Bruce Springsteen's SWALLOWED UP (IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE).

Request

If you have any corrections or additional info, please contact me via the below form or by email: .

Available Versions

List of available versions of SWALLOWED UP (IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE) on this website:

SWALLOWED UP (IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE) [Album version]

---

Page last updated: 28 Feb 2012