THE SPRINGSTEEN SONGBOOK

2022-09-01 -

1 MITCH RYDER & THE DETROIT WHEELS DEVIL WITH A BLUE DRESS ON & GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY

Springsteen’s Detroit Medley has been a consistent showstopper since the mid ’70s, built around Ryder’s frantic garage-soul mash-up from 1966. Hear a dynamic E Street version on Hammersmith Odeon ’75.

Written by Marascalo, Long, Stevenson, Blackwell. Published by Prestige Music Ltd/ Robin Hood Music/ Jandora Music/Prestige Music Ltd/Janvier Music/ Jobete Music (UK)/Third Story Music, inc. &©1966 Parlophone Records Ltd, a Warner Music Group Company Licensed courtesy of Warner Music UK Ltd.

9 BO DIDDLEY MONA

The Bo Diddley Beat is one of the foundational elements of rock’n’roll, and Springsteen has found various ways to honour and deploy it. In the late ’70s, Mona (B-side of Hey! Bo Diddley in 1957) was given a regular slot in the E Street live set, usually as a prelude to She’s The One – a song built on a very similar staccato rhythm. Audience clapalongs were, of course, obligatory.

Written by Ellas McDaniel. Published by Arc Music. First released 1957.

2 EDDIE FLOYD RAISE YOUR HAND

Punchy, impassioned soul in the classic Stax style, written by Floyd and Steve Cropper and taken from the Detroit belter’s 1967 debut, Knock On Wood. Another banger Springsteen co-opted in the mid ’70s – including that opening guitar shimmy, a direct precursor of Prince’s Kiss.

Written by Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper. Published by Almo/Irving Music/Universal Music Publishing Ltd./Warner Chappell North America/ Irving Music (East Memphis SP acct) &©1966 WEA International Inc. Licensed courtesy of Warner Music Ltd.

10 U.S. BONDS QUARTER TO THREE

Springsteen has covered few songs more frequently than Gary U.S. Bonds’ 1961 doo wop gem – 215 times, according to Setlist. fm’s stats. A major influence on Dion as well as Bruce, Quarter To Three was locked into E Street sets for much of the ’70s, the most famous version appearing at the 1979 No Nukes spectacular, with Clarence Clemons’ ecstatic honking very much to the fore.

Written by Barge, Guida, Anderson, Royster. Published by Pepe Music. First released 1961.

3 THE BIM BAM BOOS CAN’T SIT DOWN

One of those songs that bounced from version to version in the late ’50s and early ’60s, Springsteen’s has lyrics similar to the one that The Dovells took into the US Top 3 in 1963. Here, though, is the lesserheard original from 1959, a phenomenally giddy groover powered by co-songwriter Cornell Muldrow’s organ and, allegedly, jazz/soul legend Phil Upchurch on guitar.

Written by Dasher and Muldrow. Published by Dasher Music. First released 1962.

11 HAROLD DORMAN MOUNTAIN OF LOVE

A rock’n’roll one-hit wonder in 1960, Dorman’s signature tune was a crafty mix of doo wop harmonies, country twang and chintzy strings, which Springsteen adopted and supercharged for a dozen shows in 1975 (and very occasionally over the next 40 years). A great version from Upper Darby appears on Songs

Under Cover Vol. 2. Dorman, meanwhile, also wrote songs for another Bruce fave, Moon Mullican.

Written by Harold Dorman. Published by Vaughn Pub. First released 1960.

4 GINO WASHINGTON I’M A COWARD

Not to be confused with Geno Washington, hardworking stalwart of the UK soul circuit (and subject of the Dexys hit), Gino Washington was another Detroit favourite of Springsteen, thanks mostly to this rare local hit from 1964. The song, a full-blooded grappling with male vulnerability, became a core part of the Tunnel Of Love tour, played 67 times in 1988 before disappearing entirely from the repertoire.

Written by Ronald David. Published by Brian Bert. First released 1962.

12 THE CONTOURS DO YOU LOVE ME

“Watch me now!” A frenzied litany of dance crazes and attendant passion, Do You Love Me was written by Berry Gordy, handed to The Contours for a 1962 hit, and adopted by sundry Britbeat groups – notably The Tremeloes and The Dave Clark Five. Springsteen folded it into his repertoire for some typically ampedup and dramatic renderings in 1984 and ’85. A master, clearly, of the mashed-potato…

Written by Berry Gordy Jr. Published by Jobete. First released 1962.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN IS, AS YOU MAY HAVE SPOTTED, A master of many things. But as we celebrate his rousing, poignant, empathetic understanding of North America, its landscape and communities, its culture and people, one key Bruce skill can be overlooked – his ability to channel pure, unbridled rock’n’roll joy. He might be the heroic bard of the dispossessed, but he’s also a connoisseur of ancient goofy dance crazes, of classic R&B, blues, country and proto-rock platters. A walking, jive-talking, Watusi-dancing human encyclopaedia of great American music. This is the music we’ve gathered together for Cover Me: The Springsteen Songbook. We’ve pored over nearly 50 years of Bruce and E Street Band setlists and chosen 15 songs that have cropped up time and again in their live shows. Some of them are cornerstones of the 20th century canon you’ll know well. Others come from the wilder edges of the charts, weird and exhilarating marginalia from the last juke joint standing. All, though, still sound fantastic – a bulletproof party soundtrack for when the sparks fly on E Street. Everybody form a line…

5 THE SEARCHERS WHEN YOU WALK IN THE ROOM

A keen student of the British Invasion, Springsteen has leaned hard on The Animals (It’s My Life), Manfred Mann (Pretty Flamingo) and, in a way, The Beatles (Twist & Shout), as well as these jangling Merseybeaters. When You Walk In The Room landed in Bruce sets in 1975 – the version from Hollywood’s Roxy made his Songs

Under Cover digital comp in 2019.

13 CHUCK BERRY BYE BYE JOHNNY

Springsteen didn’t strictly cover Berry’s 1960 tune, but he did reference it as the basis for his own, rather more reflective Johnny Bye Bye, a tribute to Elvis Presley that turned up on the B-side of I’m On Fire in 1985. The E Street Band backed the notoriously capricious Berry twice: a fraught Maryland gig in 1973 and at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert in 1995.

Written by Chuck Berry. Published by Arc Music. First released 1960.

6 JOHN LEE HOOKER BOOM BOOM

Not much explanation needed for this deathless masterpiece of the blues, from 1962. Boom Boom was another chestnut to enter the Springsteen show in 1988 for the Tunnel Of Love tour, where its mantric, relentless minimalism was given a blitzing revue makeover. Again, the Songs Under Cover set is a good place to hear a sensational E Street Band take, in this case from Madison Square Garden.

Written by John Lee Hooker. Published by Conrad. First released 1962.

14 MOON MULLICAN SEVEN NIGHTS TO ROCK

A 1956 single by the Texan ‘King Of The Hillbilly Piano Players’ Moon Mullican, Seven Nights To Rock wasn’t originally much of a hit, but has had a long afterlife as a rockabilly nugget covered by, among others, Nick Lowe. Springsteen didn’t get to grips with it until 2002: a setlist standby in 2003, it’s subsequently cropped up in a few shows most every year.

Written by Trail, Innis, Glover. Published by Mar-Kay. First released 1956.

7 RICHARD BERRY AND THE PHARAOHS HAVE LOVE WILL TRAVEL

Another breakout cover on Springsteen’s 1988 Tunnel Of Love tour, Have Love Will Travel is probably best known in its 1965 version by garage-rock archetypes The Sonics. This is the original by LA doo-wopper Berry, a frequently neglected songwriter who wrote not only Have Love Will Travel but the ultimate garage rock Ur-text – Louie Louie – too.

Written by Richard Berry. Published by Limax Music. First released 1960.

15 SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON CROSS MY HEART

Like Bye Bye Johnny, this one wasn’t strictly covered by Bruce. But bluesman Williamson does get a co-songwriting credit on the Human Touch album track Cross My Heart thanks to some lyrical congruities – chiefly the “At your bedside/Down on my knees” couplet. A bit of a rarity in the Springsteen canon all told; after two live shows in ’92, it remains to be played again.

Written by Sonny Boy Williamson. Published by Arc. Music First released 1958.

8 THE BOBBY FULLER FOUR I FOUGHT THE LAW

Though Bobby Fuller popularised this Clash-approved rabble-rouser, it was actually written by one Sonny Curtis, who recorded the original with The Crickets in 1959 when he replaced Buddy Holly in the band. Springsteen’s been intermittently revisiting it since 1974; the version included on

Songs Under Cover comes from an Australian show in 2017.