Your Friday Bruce Fix

Bruce Springsteen, Something You Got

I always enjoy digging into the archives and listening to what Bruce was doing during those early years.  I like hearing his influences shine through in his choice of songs to cover in concert.  Chris Kenner was a New Orleans R&B singer who came to prominence in the late '50s, early '60s with his compositions 'Sick and Tired', 'I Like It Like That' (a hit in 1965 for the Dave Clark Five), and 'Land of a Thousand Dances', which was covered by Wilson Pickett and countless others.  Right in the middle of his most productive songwriting period, he penned 'Something You Got', which was covered by Bobby Womack, the Ramsay Lewis Trio, and others.

In those early days with the first steady incarnation of the E Street Band, it wasn't uncommon for Bruce to slip two or three covers into the setlist, perhaps because he loved the songs and wanted to share the energy of those songs with his audience.  I really don't think of Bruce as a New Orleans R&B guy, and I can't think of any of his original compositions that may have been influenced by 'Something You Got', or anything else Chris Kenner wrote.  But, somewhere deep inside, in that stew of popular music from Elvis to James Brown, from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan, to the Beatles, it's all in there, and it just comes out Bruce.

Apparently, Bruce played 'Something You Got' a total of five times in concert.  Today's clip is not one of those five, but is an excerpt from a Houston radio station broadcast in 1974 with Bruce and a few E Streeters (Clarence on sax, Danny on accordion, perhaps others on vocals) in the studio, likely promoting their five night stand at Liberty Hall in Houston. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f3xpsA9qyo

And here's a little treat, from the same radio broadcast, a nice mellow and bluesy rendition of one of Bruce's great early compositions, 'The Fever'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obMOBnqqopo

Happy Friday!

Bruce Springsteen, White Lies, Mary Lou, Be True

From the very late 70s to the early 80s was a very fertile songwrting period for Bruce Springsteen, both in terms of quantity and quality.  Songs from this period made it onto 'The River', 'Nebraska' and 'Born in the USA'.  In addition to the tremendous collection of songs that made it onto those albums, there were many more outstanding compositions that didn't make the cut, some of which were later released in 1999 on the 4 CD box set called 'Tracks'. 

During those years, Bruce did find a way to make some of this extra material available to his fans.  When he released the 'Hungry Heart' single in late 1980, he put 'Held Up Without A Gun' on the B side.  Today's feature song "Be True' made its appearance on the B side of the next single 'Fade Away', which was released in early 1981.  The B side bonus track approach became standard practice from this point on, with the 45 rpm discs being shipped in nice picture sleeves.

'Be True' began its life as another song, in fact at least two other songs.  It seems to have been written in 1979, and was first known as 'White Lies', or alternatively as 'Don't Do It To Me'.  Here's how it sounded in the earliest recorded version of its evolution.

From there, it morphed into a song called 'Mary Lou' which would later be released on Tracks.

And finally, it became 'Be True'. By then, Bruce had 3 versions of the same song, none of which made it onto the 20 song double album 'The River'.  Here's a live version (complete with French translation of the lyrics) from the 'Tunnel of Love' tour in 1988.  This version is a pretty faithful rendition of the original studio recording, although the tempo seems a little slower.  'Be True' was also released on 'Tracks'.

Happy Friday!

Bruce Springsteen, Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?

Sometime in early 1971, Bruce Springsteen formed a band called Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom, with a nucleus consisting of Bruce, Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez, Steve Van Zandt, David Sancious and Garry Tallent.  This would be the shortest lived of Bruce's bands, spending most of their time in rehearsal and, as far as I can tell, performing live a grand total of twice.  

The most notable feature of this band was that it fluctuated in size from as few as the 5 core members, to as many as 30.  Perhaps the size of the band had something to do with its inability to perform live, as I doubt there were many stages on the Jersey Shore large enough to accomodate the full line up. 

I'm imagining Bruce trying to introduce each member of the band during the middle of some epic, sprawling anthem, complete with nickname and snappy intro, "and to my far, far, far, far, far, far, far, left, no, not him, the guy behind the guy with the blue hat and shades, yeah that guy, uh, I forget his name.... ah anyway...."

Their first gig took place on May 14, 1971 at the Sunshine Inn, in Asbury Park, NJ.  Here, with Dr. Zoom himself on lead vocals, is a cover of the Carole King & Gerry Goffin composition 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?'.  The Shirelles had already scored a hit with this song 10 years earlier, but Carole King had just released her version of it in March of 1971 on her landmark album 'Tapestry'.  I think that's the version the good Doctor was listening to at the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEK9KsCp5A0

And, from the same show, on their second to last night as a live performing band, here's 'Last Night in Texas'.  I believe this is an original composition of Bruce's from that period.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNsr_QV72LU

Their last night would be the next night in Union, New Jersey at Newark State University.  After that Dr. Zoom went boom.

Happy Friday.

 

Bruce Springsteen, Something In The Night

Bruce has a history of debuting songs on tour prior to their being recorded or released on an upcoming ablum.  This was especially true in the 1970s when he was writing prolifically but releasing recorded works more selectively.  Such live performances often featured works in progress, and looking back are interesting to listen to on that basis.  Sometimes a few lines of verse would appear in these renditions, but not make it to the recorded version.  Sometimes those lines would be lost forever, or other times they'd reappear in another song.  He would also experiment with different arrangements and instrumentation.

Today's Bruce Fix leads off with a wonderful rendition of 'Something in the Night' which would eventually be released in a different form on 'Darkness on the Edge of Town'.  The intro in this arrangement reminds me a bit of the intro to 'Stolen Car' but the rest of the tune makes me think of 'Wreck On The Highway'.  Both tunes would emerge a couple of years later on 'The River'.  This audio only clip dates back to 1976, two years before its release on 'Darkness on the Edge of Town', and seems to have been Bruce's first public performance of this often overlooked and perhaps underappreciated song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr-T0P-mue4

Here's another step in the evolution of 'Something In the Night', an outtake from the Darkness recording sessions in 1977, still a year from being released, with the song almost, but not quite in its final form.  The arrangement is much closer to final, as are the lyrics, but Bruce is still figuring out the vocal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxaJloQxeXM

And finally, thirty years after its initial release in 1978, here is a rare live rendition that remains faithful to the original released on 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town'.

Happy Friday!