Dave Edmunds – From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)

When CB and I did the Dave Edmunds post a few weeks ago I had a couple of sentences about this one but I knew…I wanted to dive deeper. It’s such a likable song from the first time you hear it.

Bruce Springsteen wrote and recorded this song during the 1979 River sessions. Bruce didn’t release it though until 2003 on the bonus disc of The Essential Bruce Springsteen.  He would meet Edmunds in 1981 and give him the song (see long Dave Edmunds quote at the bottom…it’s well worth the read). Bruce described the song to Dave like this… “This is like a Chuck Berry thing that tells a story without repeating any of the lyrics, like The Promised Land.”

Dave Edmunds and Bruce Springsteen jpg

Bruce Springsteen and Dave Edmunds

You couldn’t have written a better song for Dave Edmunds. As Dave says…it was perfect for him. Edmunds released the song in 1982. The song peaked at #28 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts and #15 in Sweden.

On July 4, 1981, Bruce Springsteen was playing at Wembley Stadium and Dave Edmunds went backstage. He wasn’t sure if Bruce would know who he was but of course, he did along with the E Street Band. Instead of me paraphrasing what he said…I think Dave should tell the story…not me.

Dave Edmunds: I’d never met Bruce Springsteen before and had no idea of what he knew about me (except, perhaps, for my recording of ‘I Hear You Knocking’ and a few others). How had he known that I was at the gig? The security guy led me through the backstage area to Bruce’s dressing room, where he was sitting alone. Being careful not to blurt out, “Great show, man!” (you don’t do that), and before either of us could say anything, a noisy E Street Band stormed through making their way towards the hospitality area: “Hi Dave, love your records!” And, “Hi Dave, you’re terrific, man!” – and so on. And off they went.

We talked – about what I don’t recall. He asked me if I’d been recording lately and I said, “No” – “Got anything…?” He strapped on his Fender Esquire and explained, “This is like a Chuck Berry thing that tells a story without repeating any of the lyrics, like The Promised Land.” And he played ‘From Small Things Mama Good Things One Day Come’ (not the snappiest of titles) – from beginning to end. It was perfect for me! “It’s yours, man!”

He hadn’t recorded the song but promised he’d lay down a rough cassette with just guitar and vocal – for me! “Gimme a couple of weeks…,” and I could pick it up at his manager’s office, in New York. In such encounters, such promises can evaporate before you leave the room. The way things worked out, I needed to be in New York a few weeks later, and that’s the truth. I went to his manager’s office and, sure enough, there was a cassette of Bruce’s song, with my name on it, awaiting me. That’s class.

Six months later, midway through a US tour with my band, I was playing at the Peppermint Lounge in Manhattan. Bruce turned up — unannounced and alone but for his Fender Esquire. It was good to see him. He waited patiently in the dressing room until the end of my set, and then (although the audience knew something was cooking) he sauntered onstage — you can imagine. We played a load of Chuck Berry songs and ended with “Small Things.” So, good things one day come.

From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)

At sixteen she quit high school to make her fortune in the promised land
She got a job behind the counter in an all-night hamburger stand
She wrote faithfully home to mama, “Now mama, don’t you worry none
From small things, mama, big things one day come”

It was late one Friday, he pulled in out of the dark
He was tall and handsome, first she took his order then she took his heart
They bought a house up on the hillside where little feet would soon run
From small things, mama, big things one day come

Oh, but love was fleeting
It’s sad but it’s true
When your heart is beating
You don’t want to hear the news

She packed her bags and with a Wyomie County real state man
She drove down to Tampa in an Eldorado Grand
She wrote back, “Dear mama, life is just heaven in the sun
From small things, mama, big things one day come”

Well, she shot him dead
On a sunny Florida road
When they caught her all she said
Was she couldn’t stand the way he drove

Back home, lonesome Johnny waits for his baby’s parole
He waits high on the hillside where the Wyomie rivers roll
At his feet and almost grown now, a blue-eyed daughter and a handsome son
From small things, mama, big things one day come
From small things, mama, big things one day come
Well, from small things, mama, big things one day come

From small things, mama, big things one day come
From small things, mama, big things one day come
Yeah, from small things, mama, big things one day come

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

36 thoughts on “Dave Edmunds – From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)”

  1. This is one of the Dave Edmunds songs I forget about, but it’s great. The live performance version is nice to see. I think I’ve only ever heard the studio recording. It really does have a Chuck Berry feel to it, I didn’t realize it was a song from Bruce. His version is great too, and true to Chuck’s time period, properly clocks in at just under at 2.5 minutes. 😉 I love the backstage conversation story.

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  2. I love Dave Edmunds – one of UK’s most under-rated artists ever, I reckon. This is a great song … could have been written specifically for him by Brucie boy. Even just reading the lyrics without knowing the song / hearing the track, I bet many could identify it straight off as an ‘Edmunds song.’ It just fits his style and delivery so well.

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  4. I really like the way you base your reviews around an interesting anecdote about the song, plus a few facts, Max. Unlike others (myself included) you don’t opinionate so much. I’m going to have to change all mine and do them like this 🙂

    I was at the show you mentioned, by the way. I loved it but my sulky girlfriend at the time just went on about how much better Wham or The Thompson Twins would have been. It didn’t last.

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    1. I do appreciate that Paul but…I love your site…and breaking them down in albums is really cool. There is a reason mine are happy….it’s because I don’t post anything I don’t like…that is why I went with songs instead of albums…The way you cover bands with all the albums…you are bound to dislike some….but to cover them you have no other choice and have to be honest. So I take the easy way out or only where my heart is. If I covered “Beatles For Sale” I wouldn’t be so kind….or “Dirty Work”….in other words…what you do is much harder.

      Man that is cool you were at that show…Wham or the The Thompson Twins…”it didn’t last”…that sounds like a blessing! lol.

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      1. I try to only do albums/artists that I like and I always try to look for some positives, but sometimes you have to give a negative opinion. Funnily enough, I am quite a fan of Beatles For Sale and I can tolerate Dirty Work too!

        Yes, it was a blessing. I was digging Rosalita and there she was, stony-faced and totally uninterested. 😦

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      2. Thats funny about Beatles For Sale and Dirty Work! You have to give a negative when you do albums that have weak songs.
        I knew guys in school…one guy who was a rocker and he went out with a girl…who…how do I say this? She looked great and was ahead of the curve…I’ll put it like that and she was a country fan. Well he started to listen to country just because she liked it and he admitted that to us… Music is where I drew the line…uh nope! It was hard for me because I liked music that wasn’t in my generation…but I refused to switch over or to give in on that. I lived and breathed music as a teen.

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    1. He gave back to the artists that influenced him. Like Jack White with Loretta Lynn and Wanda Jackson. Gotta love the unselfishness of Bruce.

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      1. yep! that Jack White/Loretta Lynn album sounded very interesting. I’ll buy it if I ever come across a cheap copy – it seems pretty rare.

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  6. Great post Max, I did know that story but for awhile I thought Bruce wrote it for Edmunds. As you know Edmunds covered several Chuck Berry songs including Promise Land. Dave Edmunds was known for helping out a few lads himself such as Dion and The Everly Brothers. Bruce is a mench for sure.

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    1. Thanks Randy. I didn’t know the full story until I found that quote. You are right…Edmunds produced a lot of young artists and helped many of them. How many artists has songs like this in their back pocket? Bruce found the perfect match.

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  7. Good read, Max. More information for my old brain to retain. I almost forgot who the Beatles were one time after my head injury, but my wife put on Abbey Road and I was back to normal.

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    1. Oh jeez….if I told my wife I forgot about the Beatles…she would put me away…cause she would know something is really bad wrong. Glad it was a temporary thing Phil.

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  10. I remember when this happened and thought it was so cool. Always liked it when musicians I liked (a lot) did this sort of thing. Bruce has done this from day one. Southside was probably his first customer. The one that clued me into this song giving was when He gave ‘Fire’ to Robert Gordon. I could name a few more but I wont swamp you. He certainly knew the song would fit Dave. Good research Max. Bottom like is it’s a killer track.

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      1. Greg Kihn has a back story with Bruce also. He recorded one of Bruce’s ‘For You’ on one of his first records then I think Bruce gave him ‘Rendezvous’. I was all over this stuff back then. Wasnt like today when info is at our fingertips.
        All these guys like Edmunds are about the music so they are always sharing ideas etc. I love the collabs.

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      2. I like collabs also…I like when they are from different places musically and then come together and make one. This one was close to Edmunds but he made it his own.
        I didn’t know that about Greg Kihn…I’ll have to look those up…thanks CB.

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