“Stolen Car” is actually the tale of two songs. The first “Stolen Car” was written, recorded and sequenced for release on the aborted album, The Ties That Bind, between June and September 1979. Springsteen later re-wrote and re-recorded the song and released it on The River in October 1980. “Stolen Car” was first recorded at Power Station on June 20–21, 1979, with takes attributed to the latter date.
Despite the song being completed, Bruce was dissatisfied and decided months later to radically alter the musical arrangement. V5 is less than a minute of a solo take, and in V6, Springsteen sings over a tape of a band rehearsal of “Restless Nights”, both recorded in January 1980.
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