I'm Goin' Down

"I'm Goin' Down"
Single by Bruce Springsteen
from the album Born in the U.S.A.
B-side	"Janey, Don't You Lose Heart" (7" and 12" singles) "Held Up Without a Gun" (12" single only)
Released	August 1985
Format	7" single, 12" Maxi single
Recorded	May 12, 1982 at the Power Station
Genre	Heartland rock
Length	3:29
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Bruce Springsteen
Producer(s)	Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt
Bruce Springsteen singles chronology
"Glory Days" (1985) "I'm Goin' Down" (1985) "My Hometown" (1985)
Born in the U.S.A. track listing 12 tracks Side one "Born in the U.S.A." "Cover Me" "Darlington County" "Working on the Highway" "Downbound Train" "I'm on Fire" Side two "No Surrender" "Bobby Jean" "I'm Goin' Down" "Glory Days" "Dancing in the Dark" "My Hometown"

"I'm Goin' Down" is a song written and performed by American singer Bruce Springsteen that was released as the sixth single from his album Born in the U.S.A. in August 1985. The song is one of several of the album's tracks that he recorded with the E Street Band in May 1982 at the Power Station music studio. The release of these full-band tracks was put into question when Springsteen used solo material for his September 1982 LP, Nebraska, and considered doing the same for his next album, which would become Born in the U.S.A. He later decided to use several of the May 1982 recordings on Born in the U.S.A. "I'm Goin' Down" beat out contender "Pink Cadillac" for a spot on the album.

"I'm Goin' Down", which features a prominent drum performance and possesses an energetic feel, deals with the frustration of diminishing sexual activity in romantic relationships. As a single, it reached No. 9 in the United States and the top 40 in Sweden, Canada, and Italy. The song, which has received positive appraisal from critics, has not been performed often by Springsteen since his Born in the U.S.A. Tour; between 2009 and 2014, he played it at less than 12 percent of his concerts whose set lists his official website has published. Cover versions of "I'm Goin' Down" include renditions by Frank Black and the Catholics, Free Energy, Vampire Weekend, Dessa, and Trampled by Turtles.

Background and recording

E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons was among the musicians who performed on "I'm Goin' Down".

In October 1980, Springsteen released his fifth album, The River. For his next album, which would become Nebraska, he initially recorded a demo cassette by himself of over a dozen songs on January 3, 1982. In April 1982, he began recording sessions at the Power Station studio in New York City with the E Street Band—whose line-up then consisted of Roy Bittan, Clarence Clemons, Danny Federici, Garry Tallent, Steve Van Zandt, and Max Weinberg—with production by Springsteen, Van Zandt, Jon Landau, and Chuck Plotkin. At first, Springsteen attempted full-band versions of Nebraska songs at these sessions, including "Atlantic City", "Nebraska", and "Mansion on the Hill". However, he and his co-producers were unsatisfied with the group renditions of the demo songs. To buy time to decide on a solution, by May the band had begun recording other material, including "I'm Goin' Down", "Born in the U.S.A.", "Glory Days", "Downbound Train", "Darlington County", "Working on the Highway", and "I'm on Fire". "I'm Goin' Down" was recorded on May 12. Eventually, Springsteen decided to release the January demos as the Nebraska album, which came out in September 1982, such that "I'm Goin' Down" and other band tracks from May were temporarily shelved.

In 1983, he did more songs with the E Street Band, but was considering instead recording his next album solo, like Nebraska. By the following year, Landau and Plotkin had convinced Springsteen to release band tracks, including several from May 1982 and a number of subsequently recorded songs. At one point, Springsteen was not going to include "I'm Goin' Down" on Born in The U.S.A., but later added it in place of "Pink Cadillac", which he used as the B-side of the "Dancing in the Dark" single.

Music and lyrics

"I'm Goin' Down" features an energetic rhythm, propelled by a heavy drumbeat by Weinberg, and contains a saxophone solo by Clemons. In concerts in 1984, Springsteen introduced the song by describing the diminishing intimacy and sexual activity that can occur over the course of a romantic relationship: "[First] you're making love to 'em all the time, three or four times a day. Then you come back a little bit later, and, uh-oh ... it's like 'Are you gonna make love to me tonight, or are we gonna wait for the full moon again', y'know?" The song's lyrics include lines such as "I'm sick and tired of you setting me up / Setting me up just to knock-a knock-a knock-a me down" and "You used to love to drive me wild / But lately girl you get your kicks from just driving me down". The lyrics later turn into a stream of gibberish syllables.

Release and reception

The Born in the U.S.A. album was released on June 4, 1984, and the "I'm Goin' Down" single—the album's sixth—came out in August 1985. The 7" single version includes B-side "Janey, Don't You Lose Heart" while the 12" Maxi has this and "Held Up Without a Gun". In the United States, "I'm Goin' Down" entered the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on September 7, and peaked at No. 9 on October 26. It was one of a record-tying seven top 10 singles to be released from Born in the U.S.A. It also reached No. 13 in Sweden, No. 23 in Canada, No. 29 in Italy, and No. 61 in Germany. No music video was made for the song. The track was additionally released on 12" Singles Collection in 1985, and The Album Collection Vol. 1 1973–1984 in 2014.

"I'm Goin' Down" has generally been well received by critics. Debbie Miller of Rolling Stone describes the song as "wonderfully exuberant" and "hilarious". For Billboard's Caryn Rose, it is "a prime exemplar of the kind of good-time party song that Springsteen and E Street do best, sliding easily through the verses with a ... bouncing rhythm ... and a fun, jumping end". Writer Chuck Klosterman, who is not a fan of Born in the U.S.A., nonetheless rates "I'm Goin' Down" as one of two decent tracks on the album. A 2014 Rolling Stone article ranks "I'm Goin' Down" as the 52nd best Bruce Springsteen song ever. In the book Counting Down Bruce Springsteen: His 100 Finest Songs, writer Jim Beviglia puts "I'm Goin' Down" as the 131st best Springsteen track, calling it "a fun but relatively minor" work. Critic Bruce Pollock lists it and several other Born in the U.S.A. tracks in Rock Song Index: The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era. In Uncut magazine's 2015 Ultimate Collector's Edition: Springsteen, "I'm Goin' Down" is rated four stars out of five.

Live performances

A fan in East Rutherford on May 21, 2009 requests "I'm Goin' Down". Springsteen performed the song at the concert.

Springsteen has played "I'm Goin' Down" infrequently since the end of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour. For Springsteen's tours since 2009, most of his set lists are available on his official website, Brucespringsteen.net. Of the concert dates whose set lists the website has published, Springsteen performed "I'm Goin' Down" 13 times out of 85 concerts on his Working on a Dream Tour in 2009, 14 times out of 138 concerts on his Wrecking Ball World Tour in 2012–2013, and three times out of 34 concerts on his High Hopes Tour in 2014—for a total of 30 times out of 257 concerts. At some of these 30 shows, Springsteen played the entire Born in the U.S.A. album.

2009–2014 performances of "I'm Goin' Down"

Tour	Year	Location and date
Working on a Dream Tour	2009	Tulsa – April 7 Los Angeles – April 15 Boston – April 21 East Rutherford – May 21 Stockholm – June 4 Frankfurt – July 3 Carhaix – July 16 Mansfield – August 23 Chicago – September 20 East Rutherford – October 2 East Rutherford – October 3* East Rutherford – October 9* Philadelphia – October 20*
Wrecking Ball World Tour	2012	Sevilla – May 13 Paris – July 5 Gothenburg – July 28 Chicago – September 7 Hamilton – October 21 Oakland – November 30
	2013	Melbourne – March 27 Stockholm – May 11 Munich – May 26* Milan – June 3* Paris – June 29* London – June 30* Kilkenny – July 27* Rio de Janeiro – September 21*
High Hopes Tour	2014	Melbourne – February 15* Hunter Valley – February 23 Auckland – March 1*
*Indicates that Springsteen performed the entire Born in the U.S.A. album at this concert.

Cover versions

Various musicians have covered "I'm Goin' Down". The Razorbacks put out a version of the song on their 1995 album Reheated. In 1998, Frank Black and the Catholics included a version on their "Dog Gone" single, and in 2015 on The Complete Recordings. In 2010, the Starlite Singers released a rendition of "I'm Goin' Down" on their tribute album Glory Days (In the Style of Bruce Springsteen). Also in 2010, a cover by Free Energy was released as a single, and Vampire Weekend included a recording of the song on their iTunes Session; this also appeared on the TV soundtrack Girls, Vol. 2: All Adventurous Women Do... in 2014. Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong put out a cover in 2012 as part of his Tim Timebomb and Friends collection. Dessa released a version on her 2013 album Parts of Speech, and the following year, Trampled by Turtles did likewise on Dead Man's Town: A Tribute to Born in the U.S.A.

Formats and track listing

• 7" Single

1. "I'm Goin' Down" – 3:29
2. "Janey, Don't You Lose Heart" – 3:23

• 12" Single

1. "I'm Goin' Down" – 3:29
2. "Janey, Don't You Lose Heart" – 3:23
3. "Held Up Without a Gun" – 1:15

Charts

Chart (1985)	Peak position
Canadian RPM Singles Chart	23
German Charts	61
Italian Charts	29
Swedish Charts	13
US Billboard Hot 100	9