With Springsteen in town this week, I’ve decided to make this another ‘theme’ week. Six covers of Bruce songs mostly in downbeat mode by a diverse range of artists. Enjoy!
First Word
Prepared in the format used for the recent Dylan themed week, where the cover song’s source album is included with an embedded link to the original track. Each post also includes the track’s ranking in the 2018 list of Springsteen’s 100 greatest songs published by Rolling Stone magazine. The idea for this theme was inspired by my friend John McTaggart who published a series of excellent daily posts about Bruce songs in the 20 days before The Boss’s gig in Edinburgh on Tuesday. I decided to go the covers route but John will get a couple of namechecks this week!
Highway Patrolman – Johnny Cash (1983)
Source: Nebraska (1982) Rank: 27
In my humble opinion, this is the standout song on Springsteen’s dark masterpiece album from 1982. The tale of two brothers on either side of the law, it has the cinematic narrative in the lyric that features in all his best tunes. Indeed, Sean Penn based the screenplay of his 1991 directorial debut The Indian Runner on the song. It’s written from the viewpoint of Joe the patrolman trying to keep his wayward brother in check – “I got a brother named Frankie/and Frankie ain’t no good.” In keeping with the other tracks on Nebraska, Springsteen recorded it himself as a demo in one take on a 4-track tape deck. He had intended that the E-Street band would work the songs up but eventually he decided they sounded best as they were on the demos and Nebraska became a solo album. Released in 1982, it sits somewhat uncomfortably for some fans, bookended between The River (1980) and Born In The USA (1984). Two records with a very different sound!
Johnny Cash’s version is on his 1983 album Johnny 99, named after another cover from Nebraska, which was only released just a year earlier. Not surprisingly, Cash gives the song more instrumentation than just a single acoustic but keeps it throttled back, so the lyric stands out in that deep gravelly voice. It seems appropriate when Cash sings the line “I catch him when he’s straying/teach him how to walk that line”. But of course, despite there being the “blood on blood” bond between the brothers, the story doesn’t have a happy ending. A kid bleeding from the head, Frankie in a stolen car, a chase to the Canadian border and Joe pulls over and watches “his tail-lights disappear”. Like many Springsteen songs, it all seems simple on the surface but there is a lot going on.
One Step Up – Martyn Joseph (2010)
Source: Tunnel of Love (1987) Rank: 51
Tunnel of Love is far from my favourite Bruce record but somehow it throws out two great tracks for this list of six covers. The tone of the album is driven by the breakdown of Springsteen’s first marriage (to Julianne Phillips) and is a lower key, reflective piece where he only uses the E-Street band sparingly – an indication of their temporary split to come on the early 90s records. Recorded in his own home studio, he played all the instruments on this track himself, only calling in the future second Mrs S, Patty Sciafla, to do the harmony vocal towards the end. You can hear the isolation in the introspective lyric “When I look at myself I don’t see/the man I wanted to be” which is one of many sombre lines which chart the narrative of this character on a downward spiral.
I first saw Martyn Joseph play in the local village hall in 2010 at a gig promoted by none other than John McTaggart – I recall helping him to put out the chairs for the Welsh singer-songwriter’s audience of which I was one. Joseph was promoting his album Under Lemonade Skies which is where this Bruce cover first appeared. It was later one of seventeen (yes 17) other Springsteen songs he collected on one covers record called Tires Rushing By In The Rain – it is safe to say Joseph is a big fan of the man from New Jersey. His version is slightly slower than the Bruce’s original and his vocal delivery over his simple guitar picking seems to allow the lyrical nuances to resonate more. However, when performed live that night, Joseph went on to do an compelling songwriter’s critique at the evocative simplicity of the narrative lyric, speaking as he picked out the chords on his guitar. It was a magical moment as it felt completely spontaneous as well as being hugely insightful. However, as this video shows, it was clearly something he had performed before but it is none the less powerful for that. If you are a Springsteen fan, you really want to give this a watch
Racing In The Street – Townes Van Zandt (1994)
Source: Darkness On The Edge of Town (1978) Rank: 4
The archetypal Springsteen car song from his fourth album is somewhat sacrilegiously given a cut down treatment here by singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt, only a couple of years before his untimely and preventable death. It is a live recording and far from perfect with a wayward vocal in places. Without the original’s overt musicality (Roy Bittan”s piano and especially Danny Federici’s haunting organ) the bones of the song are stripped bare for all to see. And yet, it kinda works… This was one of the tracks that John McTaggart posted about in the run up to this week’s gig and I enjoyed his accompanying words so much that I am unashamedly reproducing them here verbatim. He may decide to sue me for breach of copyright but I’m sure we’ll sort it out over a pint.
“The modern Bruce is a corporate phenomenon. The back catalogue, the tours, the merch, the reissues, the repackages. The surge pricing. The less said about that, the better! It’s a thoroughly professional operation which maximises every revenue stream for The Boss. Then there’s Townes Van Zandt. It’s hard to think of a guy in the music business less like Bruce. Like so many hugely talented musicians, Townes was a troubled soul. Substance and alcohol abuse was a constant. If he had a fraction of the personality and self discipline of Bruce, he could have been a household name. Me & Lis saw him perform twice. At his very best in Glasgow’s King Tuts and at his worst in Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms. I hope he’s at peace now. Townes does a great version of Racing in the Street.”
Tougher Than The Rest – Everything But The Girl (1992)
Source: Tunnel of Love (1987) Rank: 35
So back to the Tunnel of Love album for the second track harvested for this covers playlist. Somewhat incredibly, this song began life as a rockabilly song in Bruce’s head – say what?! It evolved during the making of the album into a slower more gloomy synth laden song with a heavy echo drum sound, a common feature on the other tracks on the record. Although E Street drummer Max Weinberg is credited with percussion, it seems that Bruce was in charge of the drum machine. Quite why he and co-producer Jon Landau thought the drum track mixed loud right down the middle suited the song, I do not know. But I am as unconvinced now as I was back then over the approach taken. Somewhere in there is a great song fighting to get out.
Several artists have had a go at freeing this song from the unwieldly original recording made by its author – even Emmylou has had a go. But the definitive version for me has to be that recorded by Everything But The Girl for their Covers EP in 1992. This was a couple of years before Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn changed direction from their indie-folk beginnings towards club beats and remixes. Sharing the space in the 7 inch grooves with acoustic versions of tracks by Elvis Costello and Cyndi Lauper, Tougher Than The Rest is rescued to be the song it deserves to be. With just an acoustic guitar and a piano (and no drums!), Thorne puts in one of her best vocal performances. Just listen to her voice break very slightly in the bridge on the “but I want you to know” line. But, for me, what really makes this version stand out is her husband’s harmony vocal, particularly on the ‘oohs’ in the two breaks. I once sang Watt’s harmony (an octave lower!) when performing this song a few years back with my friends Marion and Stuart, who happened to be with Lynn and I at the Springsteen gig on Tuesday. Tougher Than The Rest was not one of the 29 songs on the setlist, though.
Born In The USA – Amanda Shires & Jason Isbell (2016)
Source: Born In The USA (1984) Rank: 9
So what more is there to say about Born In The USA the title track from the 1984 album that brought Springsteen the greatest commercial success and opened up the world to his music? It was one of seven (yes 7!) singles released from the LP, all but I’m Going Down being hits in the UK. Recorded with the E Street band, it provided the radio-friendly mainstream sound that Nebraska had somewhat willfully shunned and I’m sure his record company were delighted. Full of catchy hooks and choruses, it is probably also the record which characterised Bruce for those who don’t get Bruce. But look below the thump and the sheen of the 80s production on the record and there are a series of brilliant songs on there, the title track among them. Famously misappropriated as a chest-beating patriotic anthem by those who don’t listen to lyrics (Reagan, Buchanan, Trump, etc), it’s desperate narrative of a Vietnam vet’s alienation on his return home is a bitter critique of American society and the destabilisation of US economics and politics.
Like Tougher Than The Rest above, the cover of this track chosen for the playlist is performed by a husband and wife team. Jason Isbell featured on WIS 28 April with his band the 400 Unit which includes his violin playing wife Amanda Shires. Here the pair perform the title track on a ‘tribute’ record called Dead Man’s Town, put together to re-imagine the Born In The USA album with a musical approach more akin to the stripped back sound of its predecessor Nebraska. Shires’ violin opens the song and is played beautifully throughout, maintaining a sort of call and response feel with Isbell’s plaintive vocal. The dark lyrics stand out in this version, less angry than the original but somehow more powerful. Springsteen’s reflective reference to his first breakthrough record Born To Run in 1975 comes through loud and clear: “I’m ten years burning down the road/nowhere to run ain’t got nowhere to go”.
Atlantic City – The Hold Steady (2009)
Source: Nebraska (1982) Rank: 7
For the last track, we return to the bleakly magnificent Nebraska but end the playlist with a cover that takes an originally downbeat arrangement by Bruce and gives it some kick. While Springsteen’s decision to stick with his four track demos for his fifth album works brilliantly, there are a couple of tracks where you can really hear the bones of a much bigger song for the E Street Band to get its teeth into. One is Johnny 99 and Tuesday night’s live version in Edinburgh with the band was as full on as you can get. The version recorded at Wembley on his 2019 Live Series release is a very similar big band audience participation spectacle – and all for a song which touches on unemployment, poverty, robbery, murder and possibly execution! The other track that feels constrained on the original record is Atlantic City where Bruce paints a grim picture of a couple’s life mired in gambling debts and drifting into organised crime. It is clear that Springsteen remains to be convinced by the 1976 decision to legalise casinos in the rundown early 20th century resort to resurrect the city: “Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact/but maybe everything that dies someday comes back.”
The track has been performed with the full E Street band on many occasions – even given an Irish jig rhythm for his set in Dublin in 2006. This cover by The Hold Steady takes its inspiration from the refrain developed by the E Street Horns in their live version. There was a Hold Steady track on the 2023 themed playlist a few weeks ago (WIS 28 Apr) where I warbled on about singer Craig Finn’s voice. I may be biased but I think it really suits this song which begins with just him and a piano for the first verse and chorus. The song takes off when the beat drops and the band kick in with that horn figure. It was recorded for a 2009 album for the War Child charity called Heroes. The concept was to have music ‘heroes’ select a track from their back catalogue and nominate an artist from the ‘next generation’ to create a modern reworking of that song. I’m not sure if Springsteen actually picked The Hold Steady, but in my view it was a wise choice for their love of singing about characters on the wrong side of the tracks. I really love Finn’s use of repetition on the ominous line “last night I met this guy/I’m going to do a favour for him” which then drops into a brilliant extended acapella repeat of the ‘everything dies’ line until the horns kick it to a finish. A great cover that is both respectful of the original and full of invention.
Last Word
So for everyone who gets Bruce Springsteen and see his performances as quasi-spiritual experiences, there will be many more who just don’t and see it all as overblown stadium rock posturing. Each to their own. But I hope a couple of these covers might convince the doubters who read this of the strength of his songwriting.
I’ve always thought Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout fell into the latter camp with his gentle poke at The Boss in their great 1988 single Cars And Girls, which opens with the line “Brucie dreams life’s a highway/too many roads bypass my way”. But he later clarified that the parody (including the brilliant cover image) was not about him saying Springsteen was crap but more about how he uses “a poetry that an Englishman like him can’t understand”. Seems to work fine for this Scotsman…
The Master Playlist has been added to again and is still available at the link below. It’s what the shuffle function is made for!
AR
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