I'm Goin' Down

Infobox Single
Name = I'm Goin' Down


Artist = Bruce Springsteen
from Album = Born in the U.S.A.
Released = September 7, 1985
Format = 7" single
Recorded = May 1982
Genre = Rock
Length = 3:29
Label = Columbia Records
Writer = Bruce Springsteen
Producer = Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt
Chart position =
* #9 (U.S.)
* #41 (AUS)
Reviews =
Last single = "Glory Days"
(1985)
This single = "I'm Goin' Down / Janey, Don't You Lose Heart"
(1985)
Next single = "My Hometown"
(1985)

"I'm Goin' Down" is a 1984 song written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. In 1985 it became the sixth single released from his massively successful album "Born in the U.S.A."

History

"I'm Goin' Down" was recorded in May 1982 during the first wave of "Born in the U.S.A." sessions. The track went on and off and back on the short list to make the album, finally bumping "Pink Cadillac" out of a place and into the B-side queue. [Marsh, "Glory Days", p. 178.]

The song peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles charts in fall 1985. It was the sixth of a record-tying seven Top 10 hit singles to be released from "Born in the U.S.A."

There was some controversy surrounding the release of yet another single from the album, which had been out for well over a year at that point. Cliff Bernstein, manager of Def Leppard and Dokken, said "I think a sixth single is a little bit of overkill." [Marsh, "Glory Days", p. 363.]

No music video or remixes were made for the song.

Springsteen has often described this song as the saddest song he ever wrote, despite the up-tempo beat.

In early 2008 Kid Harpoon and Florence and the Machine did a cover of the song.

Track listing

# I'm Goin' Down - 3:29
# Janey, Don't You Lose Heart - 3:23

The B-side of the single, "Janey, Don't You Lose Heart", is a pleasant enough mid-tempo outtake from the latter stages of the "Born in the U.S.A." recording sessions. In 1985 E Street Band newcomer Nils Lofgren made his first recorded appearance with Springsteen, by overdubbing a backing vocal onto the 1983 track (and in doing so wiping one from Lofgren replacee Steven Van Zandt). Many years later "Janey" would surface on the box set "Tracks".

Live performance history

One of the least-performed Springsteen songs, "I'm Goin' Down" was irregularly played in the 1984 first leg of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, then played not at all for a long stretch, then revived during the final summer 1985 leg, usually alternating with "Darlington County" in the set list.

After that tour, "I'm Goin' Down" disappeared from sight completely for almost two decades, until it made three appearances in 2003 during The Rising Tour. Indeed "I'm Goin' Down" is largely forgotten not only by the general rock and pop audience — but for Frank Black, who recorded it on the 2006 compilation "Snake Oil", and for rock FM radio in some regions — but by the Bruce faithful as well, who have seen in preference several non-single tracks from "Born in the U.S.A.", such as "Working on the Highway", "Bobby Jean", and "No Surrender", became standard parts of the Springsteen repertoire.

References

* Marsh, Dave. "Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s". Pantheon Books, 1987. ISBN 0-394-54668-7.
* [http://www.brucebase.org.uk/10.htm Brucebase recording sessions history]
* [http://www.brucespringsteen.it/DB/Databasex.htm Killing Floor song performance database]