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Like most musicians, Bruce Springsteen is a huge Bob Dylan fan. The Boss has been covering songs from America’s favourite songwriter for decades, yet Dylan has only repaid the favour once. Here we’re listening back to that very cover, as Dylan takes on Springsteen’s ‘Dancing in the Dark’.

Springsteen has covered some of Dylan’s classic tracks including ‘It’s All Over Now Baby Blue’, ‘Highway 61 Revisited’, and ‘I Want You’ to name a few. All tracks, which fit firmly in Springsteen’s wheelhouse, remain possible contributing factors to being attributed to the “new Dylan” moniker he received when breaking into the collective consciousness.

Yet when Dylan took on The Boss’ 1984 mega-hit ‘Dancing in the Dark’, not one person would’ve imagined the folk legend busting out this hip-swinging ditty. Many would say he probably should’ve held back.

The cover comes from Bob Dylan’s live performance on January 12th, 1990, at Toad’s Place in New Haven, Connecticut. The 700-seater venue was booked at the last minute so Dylan could prepare for his upcoming tour of South America. The first show of the decade for Dylan would be a memorable one.

He littered the performance with a host of different covers including Kris Kristofferson, Hank Williams and more in what was one of the strangest sets you’re ever liekly to see form Dylan—and that’s saying something. He dragged the show across four sets and played over 50 songs.

Approaching the end of the third set of the night, Bob Dylan decided to pull out a cover of ‘Dancing in the Dark’ that nobody expected and, in fact, many didn’t recognise.

The fault of which was in large part down to Dylan’s performance of the eighties classic. The singer had clearly forgotten most of the words to the dancefloor filler and by the end of the song was purely riffing on the lyrics.

While it may not be the greatest cover of Springsteen you’ll ever hear, in fact, it may be one of the worst. This bootleg recording remains the only time Bob Dylan ever covered The Boss and for Bruce’s sake, we thought we’d give it a fresh outing.

Listen below to Bob Dylan’s cover of Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 hit ‘Dancing in the Dark’.



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The SPL Rocks!

Prego che tu stia danzando con San Pietro alle porte perlacee del cielo





Pulled up to my house today
Came and took my little girl away!
Giants Stadium 8/28/03



Oats

Last edited by Oats
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haha thanks John Happy New Year

I think Bob should write a song for Bruce like

"Knockin' On Springsteen's Door"

or "One Of Us Must Lose Our Voice (Sooner Or Later)"

"Stuck Inside Of Colts Neck With The Rumson Blues Again"

"Positively E Street" 

people would jump onstage and grab me by the head and scream, ‘tilly! bootlegs!'"

Tweeter and the Monkey Man .......

Tweeter and the Monkey Man ....... were hard up for cash They stayed up all night selling cocaine and hash To an undercover cop who had a sister named Jan For reasons unexplained, she loved the Monkey Man Tweeter was a boy scout 'fore she went to Vietnam And found out the hard way nobody gives a damn They knew that they'd find freedom just across the Jersey Line So they hopped into a stolen car, took Highway 99 And the walls came down, all the way to hell Never saw them when they're standing Never saw them when they fell The undercover cop never liked the Monkey Man Even back in childhood, he wanted to see him in the can Jan got married at fourteen to a racketeer named Bill She made secret calls to the Monkey Man from a mansion on the hill It was out on Thunder Road, Tweeter at the wheel They crashed into paradise, they could hear them tires squeal The undercover cop pulled up and said "Everyone of you's a liar If you don't surrender now, it's gonna go down to the wire" And the walls came down, all the way to hell... An ambulance rolled up, a state trooper close behind Tweeter took his gun away and messed up his mind The undercover cop was left tied up to a tree Near the souvenir stand by the old abandoned factory Next day, the undercover cop was hot in pursuit He was taking the whole thing personal, he didn't care about the loot Jan had told him many times it was you to me who taught In Jersey, anything's legal as long as you don't get caught And the walls came down, all the way to hell... Someplace by Rahway Prison, they ran out of gas The undercover cop had cornered 'em, said, "Boy, you didn't think that this could last" Jan jumped up out of bed, said, "There's someplace I gotta go" She took a gun out of the drawer and said, "It's best if you don't know" The undercover cop was found face-down in a field The Monkey Man was on the river bridgeusing Tweeter as a shield Jan said to the Monkey Man, "I'm not fooled by Tweeter's curl I knew him long before he ever became a Jersey girl" And the walls came down, all the way to hell... Now the town of Jersey City is quieting down again I'm sitting in a gambling club called A Lion's Den The TV set was blown up, every bit of it is gone Ever since the nightly news show that the Monkey Man was on I guess I'll go to Florida and get myself some sun There ain't no more opportunity here, everything been done Sometimes I think of Tweeter, sometimes I think of Jan Sometimes I don't think about nothing but the Monkey Man And the walls came down...

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