I have my friend Brian to thank for this one. I occasionally get suggestions from assorted acquaintances about music topics, and I rarely follow up on them. That’s because I’m too stubborn. I should come up with these ideas on my own.
Then, news of a massive new Bruce Springsteen collection came out, and it seemed as if the universe was knocking on my door. It wanted me to write about the Boss. And in that clever way that only the universe can operate, it used Brian’s idea to allow me to confront my stubbornness. I would compile a short list of fabulous Bruce Springsteen covers.
I didn’t develop this idea, but I’ll dive right in. These artists didn’t come up with these songs, but they also dove in. Don’t you love symmetry?
Great covers of Bruce Springsteen songs
I don’t know how many times a Bruce Springsteen song has been covered. The number must be in the thousands. And that may be from the album Nebraska alone. Springsteen performed that 1982 collection of austere songs without his band, and though the public didn’t snap it up, it became one of the most influential albums on other musicians ever recorded.
A few years later, Bruce and his E Street Band used some of the Nebraska-era songs as the basis for Born in the U.S.A. and scored a massive hit. In broad terms, those two albums sketch out the boundaries of Springsteen's musical landscape.
He has never been the most experimental of rock and roll’s musical legends, but within his field of heartland rock – whether he leans into harder rock or tilts folkier – Bruce Springsteen has examined every inch of his territory with some of the very best songs written in the past fifty years.
So we’ll try to choose a dozen covers that expand on Bruce’s originals. They may be radically different takes on genre, though that isn’t always necessary. Occasionally, there’s a rare version of a song that out-bosses the Boss.
And because the very term “cover” can be a bit amorphous, I’ve set a few ground rules. Two of the better-known covers of Springsteen aren’t covers. Not really. Warren Zevon’s “Jeannie Needs a Shooter” is a Warren Zevon song inspired by a similarly titled Springsteen song. Bruce began “Because the Night,” but Patti Smith finished it. Those two songs are credited to both Bruce and the artists who released them initially, so I won’t call them covers.
And I’m unsure how to handle some of the fantastic Springsteen songs performed by other artists live, but have not been formally released on an album. They exist in bootleg copies or YouTube videos. That field is too vast, so I’ll ignore it (though I reserve the right to make an exception or two in what is to follow).
All right – so much for the disclaimers. Here are the songs….
“From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come) by Dave Edmunds (1982)
This is the song that Brian suggested to kick off the list, and it is a perfect opener. It came from the sessions that led to Springsteen’s monster The River album (1980). Despite squeezing in 20 songs and more than 80 minutes across four sides of the double disc, there was no room for this upbeat, heartland soap opera. He wouldn’t get around to officially releasing his version for more than 20 years.
Bruce gives it an energetic, borderline-rockabilly treatment, but I think the song is even better suited to Edmunds’ iconic jangle. He even adds some horns to the mix. Springsteen knew this was a perfect vehicle for the Welshman. He reportedly offered it to him backstage at a concert in 1981. It became one of Edmunds’ biggest hits on the American rock charts.
“Highway Patrolman”/”Johnny 99” by Johnny Cash (1983)
Want to know just how important Nebraska was to fellow musicians? Johnny Cash, among the most legendary of all American singer/songwriters, couldn’t confine himself to recording just one of his songs for his new 1983 album. He took two of them. One even gave his album its title, Johnny 99.
Cash’s career was stuck in the mud in the early ‘80s. Still a big name, his music seemed very much at odds with the new wavy decade. The country field was ruled by country pop outfits like Alabama and the poppier incarnation of the Oak Ridge Boys. Johnny 99 constituted something of a comeback, and the two Springsteen covers – whether you prefer the starker “Highway Patrolman” or the up-tempo outlaw rocker “Johnny 99” – were significant factors in that renewed success.
“Reason to Believe” by Beat Farmers (1985)
The final song on Nebraska is one of Springsteen’s most flexible. The title offers hope. Springsteen’s original performance is quiet and austere, seemingly emphasizing just how ironic that title is.
On their debut album, Tales of the New West, Beat Farmers went in the other direction. They were a boisterous, rocking, fun band that could write very clever songs and deliver them very appealingly. Noted rock critic Robert Christgau famously noted about their debut, “they write good songs and cover better ones.”
He could have been talking about “Reason to Believe.” They give a raucous rendition, all tempo, energy, and guitar fills, that pushes the cockeyed optimism that co-exists with the original irony.
“Two Faces” by Salamander Crossing (1996)
Tunnel of Love is my favorite Springsteen album. Its release in 1987 marked the end of his early golden era. It is a devastating portrait of the rise and fall of a love affair. “Two Faces” was squeezed in between two more highly acclaimed songs on side two—the title track and the positively brilliant “Brilliant Disguise.” It is a lower-case tragedy about the inevitability of temptation and faithlessness.
Doesn’t that sound like a perfect vehicle for a bluegrass treatment? Banjo-player Kyle Tuttle (not a member of Salamander) defined bluegrass as “happy-sounding songs about terrible things.” That’s exactly how they put over “Two Faces.” Adding to that aura for me anyway – I first heard the cover on the retrospective Henry St. album, which came out after the band had split up in 2000.
I later learned they originally released it on Passion Train in 1996. There is a huge Doppler Effect for a listener, depending on whether you hear this as the middle of something or the fading vapors of a departed band. Almost as if it had two faces.
“Meeting Across the River” by Syd Straw (1997)
Born to Run was Springsteen’s third album, released in 1975. His first two had garnered significant critical acclaim, but this was the one that put him over with American audiences. It has plenty of high-energy rockers like “Thunder Road,” which opened the proceedings, and the title track, which kicked off side two. Buried toward the end, just before the epic “Jungleland,” is this quiet yearning number that foretold songs like “Atlantic City,” which would be coming soon.
Syd Straw, who had backed up Pat Benatar and sang harmony with Michael Stipe on the Golden Palomino’s “Boy” in the ‘80s, brings her stunning voice to this cover. She can be as tough as Bruce, but also adds haunting beauty to the desperation.
“Stolen Car” by Patty Griffin (2002)
“Stolen Car” is one of the more downbeat numbers on The River. But it’s the kind of song that Springsteen can get away with due to his sharp writing skills and ability to bring out deep emotions without veering into bathos.
Patty Griffin’s sensational album 1000 Kisses is chock-full of that kind of song. She adds a sense of gentle beauty to the original's overwhelming helplessness. It is one of three covers she included on the album that served as a breakthrough.
“Growin’ Up” by Portastatic (2003)
“Growin’ Up” came from Greetings From Asbury Park, the album that introduced Springsteen to the world in 1973. Thirty years later, Mac McCaughan brought his own vaguely lo-fi vision of it to the public on the EP Autumn Was a Lark. That five-song disc also included covers of Badfinger and Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance.
The great thing about Portastatic’s version is that although McCaughan was significantly older than Springsteen when he sang the original, he sounds younger. Bruce had maturity and gravitas, so his version is an adult looking back. McCaughan, well into his 30s when he recorded it, still sounds like a teenager living the song.
“I’m On Fire” by Bat For Lashes (2007)
“I’m On Fire” came from Born in the U.S.A. – one of the seven top ten hits from that titanic album. He serves up the yearning love song with a spry tempo, featuring Max Weinberg’s skittery drums and Bruce’s guitar providing the beat while Roy Bittan’s synth weaves in and out of the melody. It was written in the Nebraska era, and you can easily imagine it on that album.
Natasha Khan (AKA Bat For Lashes) has a radically different take, which was included as a bonus track on the American release of her debut album Fur and Gold. A brooding piano and prickly harpsichord effect underpin Khan’s haunting vocals. She slows the pace to a crawl but can still build a hypnotic, otherworldly song unmoored from the original, remaining true to the underlying passionate desperation.
“Streets of Philadelphia” by Bettye Lavette (2007)
From the epic triple album Song of America, Lavette provides her magnificent blues-jazz voice to Springsteen’s Oscar-winning song from the 1993 film Philadelphia.
The Fray does a perfect martial-beat version, and Waxahatchie’s voice adds a dreamy quality to her version. But Lavette’s voice echoes the pain and weariness better than anyone, even better than Bruce himself.
“Atlantic City” by Justin Townes Earle (2010)
A couple of things to say up front. I don’t think “Atlantic City” is Bruce’s most-covered song, but I suspect it may have more great covers than any. One of the most hypnotic songs from Nebraska has gotten a country treatment from Levon Helm and the Band, a very odd-cool bluegrass take from River Kittens, and a perfect straight roots rock version by O.A.R. That only scratches the surface.
Also, I warned you I might violate my rule about requiring the cover to be released on a proper studio album. To my knowledge, Justin Townes Earle never released this song. He performed it as part of the AV Undercover project back in 2010. It is a simple guitar and vocal. He doesn’t do anything extravagant. It is just such a fantastic song, and Justin gives it such an authentic reading that it is hard to forget once you hear it.
By the way, Justin’s dad, Steve, had performed a different Nebraska song 24 years earlier when he did “State Trooper” on his Live from Austin, TX album. It comes immediately after “Little Rock ‘N’ Roller,” a song Steve wrote for Justin when he was just four years old, and which is almost too painful to listen to since Justin’s tragic death five years ago.
“Downbound Train” by Kurt Vile (2011)
Vile has long been one of the most unique interpreters of great American rock songs, so it is not surprising he served up a sensational version of “Downbound Train.” Released initially on Born in the U.S.A., it followed up-tempo tracks like “Darlington County” and ”Working on the Highway,” and provided a more somber sound that matched the desperate lyrics of almost everything on the album.
Vile took it to full-out grunge country on his EP So Outta Reach. The relentless guitar and bass, courtesy of Rob Laakso, provide a perfect bed for Vile’s droning vocals. Musically, Vile has actually captured what a downbound train must sound like.
“Better Days” by Elliott Murphy (2019)
“Better Days” was released on Lucky Town in 1992, and as Springsteen songs go, it is downright upbeat. Since I’ve featured many artists who came in the generations after Springsteen had established himself, I thought I’d close on one of his contemporaries.
Elliott Murphy was born the same year as Bruce—1949—and has released a couple of dozen albums alongside Bruce. He has just never achieved the same level of success. But he has also written many books— fiction and non-fiction—along the way. His version of “Better Days” has a sweetness and elegance—in part due to the cello-driven beat—that you won’t hear on Springsteen’s bigger version, which almost bludgeons the melody.
I do not doubt that fans of the Boss could supply their dozen-song list that would not repeat a single one of these. But I’ll stand by this as a pretty good jumping-off point.
Thanks, Brian.