When Brian Wilson and Mike Love were just 18 and 19 respectively, they took a peek over the precipice of adulthood and recorded “When I Grow Up (To Be a Man).”
Released as a single in 1964, The Beach Boys scored a Top Ten hit with it across the Billboard Hot 100, Cash Box, and Variety charts.
More than two decades later, Bruce Springsteen found himself in a similarly introspective mood. He’d just married Julianne Phillips two weeks prior, and now he found himself at Slane Castle in Ireland, about to face an audience (his largest ever) for the first time as a married man.
If he felt any different, he certainly didn’t show it during the main set. But when he returned to the stage for his encores, he simply remarked:
“I’m thinking a lot of different things, standing her today. I guess this song kind of sums it up.”
And then, accompanying himself only on guitar and harmonica, he launched into a tender reading (his only one ever) of “When I Grow Up (To Be a Man).”
With the benefit of 34 years of hindsight, I can’t help but wonder–especially at the line “Will I love my wife for the rest of my life?"–whether Bruce’s subconscious was already hard at work. Bruce certainly chose an arrangement that draws attention to the lyrics and the song’s theme of uncertainty.
We’ll never know what Bruce was thinking that night, though, and perhaps tellingly, he’s never performed the song since.
When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)
First performed: June 1, 1985 (Slane, Ireland)
Last performed: June 1, 1985 (Slane, Ireland)
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