Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

Today, September 23, Bruce Springsteen turns 75. Even by today’s standards, when the age of 75 doesn’t indicate inevitable decrepitude, Springsteen clearly is in extraordinary shape. He’s still touring at full power, with three-hour concerts. Those years of working out — that man had guns! —  are clearly paying off now.

No doubt Bruce, like any ageing person, has his health issue. But it seems he is The Boss of enlarged prostates, or whatever physical deterioration may afflict him! Even the peptic ulcer thing he had earlier this year quickly fucked off when it saw that The Boss has things to do.

When I reviewed Springsteen’s autobiography Born To Run in 2017, to go with the Bruce Springsteen Songbook,  I noted: “Here is a man who knows his strengths and his limitations, and how to balance them. He knows his value and has no need for false modesty, even when he explains why he took the decision to be the boss of his backing band, the E Street Band.” That self-awareness has assured that Springsteen’s career has been reasonably free of embarrassing moments and misjudgments.

With a huge treasury of his own songs, Bruce has little need to resort to the work of others. When he does, it is either for charity or tributes, or they are performed for the sheer fun of it at concerts. So this mix of Springsteen singing covers comprises mostly live recordings. Springsteen is eclectic in his choices, covering all sorts of things, from soul classics and protest folk to hard rock and even punk anthems.

Two covers here are of his own songs, so they’re strictly speaking not really covers. Because The Night was inexplicably rejected for inclusion on the Darkness On The Edge Of Town album, and was instead released by Patti Smith, who had a massive hit with it in 1978. Fire was written and first recorded by Bruce’s pal Robert Gordon in 1977, but became a hit the following year for The Pointer Sisters.

There are a couple of highlights on this mix. The version of Purple Rain was recorded at a concert in Brooklyn two days after Prince’s death in April 2016. It opened the concert and it’s magnificent, with a superb guitar solo by Nils Lofgren.

I really like the version of Highway To Hell recorded in 2014 in — of course —, Australia. Again, there’s some fine guitar work. I’ve loved the cover of Jimmy Cliff’s Trapped ever since I heard it performed in concert in 1985. I was delighted when it appeared later that year on the b-side of Springsteen’s Santa Claus Is Coming To Town single. The version here is from a 1985 concert in LA.

The version of Chuck Berry’s You Never Can Tell, recorded in Leipzig, Germany, in 2013, is improvised, as the lead-in shows. It is thoroughly enjoyable, and clearly the band is having royal fun.

The playlist ends with Twist And Shout, a snappy number in the hands of The Isley Brothers or The Beatles, but in Bruce’s rendering it’s a sweat-drenched eight-minute-plus workout that was a staple of E Street Band gigs for a long while.

As always, the playlist is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and includes home-bossed covers and the above text in a handy PDF. PW in comments.

1. Because The Night (1985, Patti Smith Band)
2. Trapped (1985, Jimmy Cliff)
3. Chimes Of Freedom (1988, Bob Dylan)
4. Who’ll Stop The Rain? (1980, Creedence Clearwater Revival)
5. Fire (1978, Pointer Sisters)
6. Jersey Girl (1981, Tom Waits)
7. Bring ‘Em Home (2016, Pete Seeger)
8. Give My Love To Rose (2002, Johnny Cash)
9. This Land Is Your Land (1980, Woody Guthrie)
10. Rhinestone Cowboy (2019, Glen Campbell)
11. I Wish It Would Rain (2022, The Temptations)
12. Gypsy Woman (1994, The Impressions)
13. Purple Rain (2016, Prince)
14. Highway To Hell (2014, AC/DC)
15. London Calling (2009, The Clash)
16. Good Lovin’ (2009, The Rascals)
17. Summertime Blues (1978, Edie Cochran)
18. Turn Back The Hands Of Time (2022, Tyrone Davis)
19. War (1988, Edwin Starr)
Bonus Tracks
20. Nightshift (2023, The Commodores)
21. Stayin’ Alive (2014, The Bee Gees)
22. You Never Can Tell (2013, Chuck Berry)
23. Twist And Shout (1978, Isley Brothers/The Beatles)

GET IT!

Previously in Sings Covers:
Al Green Sings Covers
Aretha Franklin Sings Covers
Diana Ross Sings Covers
Gladys Knight Sings Covers
Tina Turner Sings Covers

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