The opening track of Tunnel of Love, Springsteen’s highly-anticipated follow-up to the global bestselling Born in the U.S.A. Compared to the romantic story songs and empathetic working class narratives from previous works, this song is starkly autobiographical.

Despite the huge financial rewards he has reaped and his status as a beloved cultural icon (not to mention his 1985 marriage to model/actress Julianne Phillips), Springsteen expresses his profound dissatisfaction and lingering emptiness, setting the tone for a set of songs exploring dark and complicated adult relations.

The unadorned acoustic strumming and primitive wood block percussion are the simplest arrangement on the album. The song would be performed regularly on the 1988 Tunnel of Love Express Tour, played in a slow, bluesy arrangement that usually segued directly into Born to Run album track “She’s the One.” The song was not played live again until the 2005 Devils and Dust solo tour, with a more upbeat, Bo Diddly-inspired sound on a heavily-reverbed electric guitar.