Bruce Springsteen has unveiled a rare gem from his archives to mark the 50th anniversary of Born to Run.
The legendary musician has released “Lonely Night in the Park”, an outtake from the iconic album’s recording sessions that nearly made it onto the final tracklist. Check it out below.
The previously unreleased track was recorded at New York’s Record Plant over two days in May 1975, during the same sessions that produced one of rock’s most celebrated albums. Springsteen had included the song on several proposed track sequences in his notebooks, demonstrating how seriously he considered it for inclusion.
The song’s absence from Born to Run sparked heated debates within Springsteen’s inner circle. Producer Jon Landau championed its inclusion, arguing it should replace “Meeting Across The River” on the album. However, former manager and co-producer Mike Appel vehemently opposed the decision.
“When [Landau] 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,” Appel recalled in a 1990 interview with Backstreets. “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.”
The track remained largely mythical until SiriusXM’s E Street Radio aired it during the album’s 30th anniversary in 2005. This new version reveals recent additions to the original recording, with Steve Van Zandt and Ron Aniello contributing guitar parts. Van Zandt didn’t join the E Street Band until the Born to Run tour, whilst Aniello entered Springsteen’s orbit during the 2000s. Despite these modern overdubs, Springsteen’s original 1975 vocal performance remains intact.
The 50th anniversary celebrations extend beyond this single release. The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center For American Music will host a symposium at Monmouth University’s Pollak Theatre on 6th September. The event promises panels, presentations, and interviews featuring E Street Band members, journalists, historians, and music industry figures.
The release of “Lonely Night in the Park” follows Springsteen’s recent archival activity, coming just two months after he shared seven unreleased albums on Tracks II: The Lost Albums. These releases demonstrate the vast wealth of material sitting in Springsteen’s vault, suggesting more surprises may emerge as the anniversary celebrations continue.
