Songfacts®:

• This mellow Springsteen story song is about an honest, industrious man who meets the girl of his dreams. They get married, but he's plagued by vision of her cheating on him, even though there's no evidence that she is. He wakes from a dream where she's being unfaithful only to find her next to him in bed.
  
  At the time, Sprinsteen was keenly aware of the struggles and doubts that can come with marriage; he was a few years into his marriage to his first wife, Julianne Phillips. They ended up getting divorced in 1989, and two years later, Springsteen married Patti Scialfa, a singer in his E Street Band.
• Springsteen rarely plays this song live, but when he does, he describes it as one of his favorites. At a 2005 show at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, he said the song was about "brinksmanship," adding, "Those were the kinds of characters that interested me - on the brink of learning something."
• "Cautious Man" is part of the Tunnel Of Love album, which Springsteen recorded by himself in his home studio in Rumson, New Jersey. On some tracks, band members added overdubs, but this one is all Bruce. He programmed the drum machine and also played guitar, mandolin, bass, harmonica, and keyboards.
  
  After touring to support the album, Springsteen broke up the E Street band and started a family - all three of his kids were born in the '90s. He got the band back together in 1999.
• The character in this song may be cautious, but he has tattoos: "Love" on one hand and "Fear" on the other, symbolizing his inner conflict.