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There are some occasions that Bruce gets trumped with his own material. I always felt that Johnny Cash's version of Further On Up The Road was much better than the clunky rocker Springsteen made it to be originally. In the hands of Cash it turned into a powerful epitaph. Especially because of that shaky voice and the nearing end made me feel like he was talking about the here after when he sang that song. Superb.

Any others?
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It's ok. But I don't find it too convincing in a female voice. Townes' voice is perfect. It actually sounds like he's just come home from a hard day working at a factory.

On Johnny Cash I think his versions of Johnny 99 and Highway Patrolman are also excellent.

And from the perspective of younger bands taking on his songs I think Marah did a grand job on streets of philly.
Helps you to forget Mcflys' take on Born to Run!
The sweetest songs don't last too long on Broken radios.
Have not heard LaVette's version. There was a version on one step up two steps back album I didn't like though.

The cover albums I have are

Badlands tribute to Nebraska
One step up two steps back
Uncut CDs - 2 cds of covers and 1cd of artists inspired by the boss with some covers on it
The songs of bruce springsteen? - american flag cover with a telecaster on it (this is just awful would not recommend it!)

Does anyone know if there are any other cover albums?
The sweetest songs don't last too long on Broken radios.
Originally Posted By: born2run
Have not heard LaVette's version. There was a version on one step up two steps back album I didn't like though.

The cover albums I have are

Badlands tribute to Nebraska
One step up two steps back
Uncut CDs - 2 cds of covers and 1cd of artists inspired by the boss with some covers on it
The songs of bruce springsteen? - american flag cover with a telecaster on it (this is just awful would not recommend it!)

Does anyone know if there are any other cover albums?


There's the Light Of Day tribute album. A nice compilation of hits and misses but with the proceeds going to charity.

I felt the One Step Up compilation was mainly interesting because of Ben E King's version of Sandy. That song has a Leiber and Stoller feel that fits King like a glove, even though I prefer Bruce's version.
Originally Posted By: Gob
That being said, Bowie's cover of Growing Up and It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City are more interesting than good. TO be fair, I think was still a junkie at that time.


Do you mean Bowie or you Gob?

Just kidding, I remember Bruce met Bowie when Bowie was really spaced out and Bruce hated it, just couldn't get with the guy at all.
The sweetest songs don't last too long on Broken radios.
I thought Bowie did Saint very well, but ultimately Bowie was a chameleon, always swiping other artists their ideas, trying to steal there cool. I've always found it ironic that Lou Reed and Iggy Pop needed Bowie to save their careers, without their ideas Bowie would have been nothing to begin with. But he did have this very edgy side to him early in his career that fitted Saint nicely. Although I love Bruce's version I always felt that he was too much of a nice kid to really make it work. Bowie had that more dangerous side to him that the song needed.
Originally Posted By: born2run
Originally Posted By: Gob
That being said, Bowie's cover of Growing Up and It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City are more interesting than good. TO be fair, I think was still a junkie at that time.


Do you mean Bowie or you Gob?

I wanna lay beneath these sheets and never turn blue
I wanna hold you, hold you tight but never touch
I want some pure, pure white; hey, we can nod all night
We can do it without thinking too much
I want the dilettantes and parvenues to choke on my wrists
They think the pearls I wear are pills
I want their gravity to shatter . . . but it really doesn't matter
I got something in my eye that kills!
Repeat Refrain
Wicked, wicked, wicked, wicked gravity . . .
Wicked, wicked, wicked, wicked gravity . . .
Wicked, wicked, wicked, wicked.

Originally Posted By: SoulBoogieAlex
I've always found it ironic that Lou Reed and Iggy Pop needed Bowie to save their careers, without their ideas Bowie would have been nothing to begin with.


He started working with Iggy and Lou around 1973.
He had a few ideas before that.

1969 David Bowie/Space Oddity
1971 The Man Who Sold The World
1971 Hunky Dory (Changes)
1971 The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (Ziggy Stardust,Suffragette City)
1973 Aladdin Sane (Panic in Detroit, Jean Genie)

Originally Posted By: Gob
Originally Posted By: SoulBoogieAlex
I've always found it ironic that Lou Reed and Iggy Pop needed Bowie to save their careers, without their ideas Bowie would have been nothing to begin with.


He started working with Iggy and Lou around 1973.
He had a few ideas before that.

1969 David Bowie/Space Oddity
1971 The Man Who Sold The World
1971 Hunky Dory (Changes)
1971 The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (Ziggy Stardust,Suffragette City)
1973 Aladdin Sane (Panic in Detroit, Jean Genie)



Yes but most of his best Ideas were born after he emerged himself in the the Andy Warhol scene in NY and stylized that to something British. His biggest successes were highly inspired by the NY Punk scene of the early seventies.
Originally Posted By: SoulBoogieAlex
Originally Posted By: Gob
Originally Posted By: SoulBoogieAlex
I've always found it ironic that Lou Reed and Iggy Pop needed Bowie to save their careers, without their ideas Bowie would have been nothing to begin with.


He started working with Iggy and Lou around 1973.
He had a few ideas before that.

1969 David Bowie/Space Oddity
1971 The Man Who Sold The World
1971 Hunky Dory (Changes)
1971 The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (Ziggy Stardust,Suffragette City)
1973 Aladdin Sane (Panic in Detroit, Jean Genie)



Yes but most of his best Ideas were born after he emerged himself in the the Andy Warhol scene in NY and stylized that to something British. His biggest successes were highly inspired by the NY Punk scene of the early seventies.


Not true.

Bowie's biggest influence throughout his career has always been Anthony Newley. The Newley influence has been augmented at various times by punk/Velvets and the likes of Brel and Kraftwerk but the Newley factor has always been key.
Originally Posted By: Mando

Not true.

Bowie's biggest influence throughout his career has always been Anthony Newley. The Newley influence has been augmented at various times by punk/Velvets and the likes of Brel and Kraftwerk but the Newley factor has always been key.


Interesting angle and may be correct. However Bowie's commercial success came when he infused his early folksy songwriting with a heavy dose of NY Punk inspired Rock. I do not really mean to but Bowie down, I think some of his albums are brilliant, but I do think that Bowie was more dependent on outside influences than the acts that inspired him.
Originally Posted By: Mando
Originally Posted By: SoulBoogieAlex
Originally Posted By: Gob
[quote=SoulBoogieAlex] I've always found it ironic that Lou Reed and Iggy Pop needed Bowie to save their careers, without their ideas Bowie would have been nothing to begin with.


He started working with Iggy and Lou around 1973.
He had a few ideas before that.

1969 David Bowie/Space Oddity
1971 The Man Who Sold The World
1971 Hunky Dory (Changes)
1971 The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (Ziggy Stardust,Suffragette City)
1973 Aladdin Sane (Panic in Detroit, Jean Genie)



Yes but most of his best Ideas were born after he emerged himself in the the Andy Warhol scene in NY and stylized that to something British. His biggest successes were highly inspired by the NY Punk scene of the early seventies.


Not true.

Bowie's biggest influence throughout his career has always been Anthony Newley. The Newley influence has been augmented at various times by punk/Velvets and the likes of Brel and Kraftwerk but the Newley factor has always been key. [/quote]

So true. LOL
There are many instances in which a cover version can be as good as the original (Springsteen's cover of Tom Waits' "Jersey Girl" or Judas Priest's cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Green Manalishi," for example) but it's rare for a cover to surpass the original. In fact, I can think of only one, namely, the Jimi Hendrix Experience's cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower." I've heard dozens of covers of Springsteen's songs and while I think that some are as good (Joan Jett's version of "Light of Day" and Bowie's version of "Saint in the City") I don't think anyone has trumped Springsteen at his own material.

Greg Kihn's For You is good. Might be better than Bruce's album version. As usual, pretty much the only way to get a Springsteen cover to go over well is to make the sound more "pop," which is really all Greg Kihn do anyway.

The Clark's version of The River is excellent and creative. If you've never heard it, get it, because it's a rock version and it's sick.

That's pretty much all I'll say for offical covers. The rest ain't that good.

Honorable mentions to The Mendoza Line for Tougher Than The Rest and Dion for Book of Dreams.
Originally Posted By: GraveyardBoots
There are many instances in which a cover version can be as good as the original (Springsteen's cover of Tom Waits' "Jersey Girl" or Judas Priest's cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Green Manalishi," for example) but it's rare for a cover to surpass the original. In fact, I can think of only one, namely, the Jimi Hendrix Experience's cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower." I've heard dozens of covers of Springsteen's songs and while I think that some are as good (Joan Jett's version of "Light of Day" and Bowie's version of "Saint in the City") I don't think anyone has trumped Springsteen at his own material.



I disagree with you. I think a lot of Bruce's cover versions are better than the original versions. I think Who'll Stop The Rain and Jersey Girl are better than the originals when Bruce does them. Also, Because The Night, Bruce's version on the Live 1975/85 box set is spectacular, much better than 10,000 Maniacs and almost as good as the original. And Mountain Of Love! Mountain Of Love by Bruce is better than by Chuck Berry!!!
Originally Posted By: SoulDriver

I disagree with you. I think a lot of Bruce's cover versions are better than the original versions. I think Who'll Stop The Rain and Jersey Girl are better than the originals when Bruce does them. Also, Because The Night, Bruce's version on the Live 1975/85 box set is spectacular, much better than 10,000 Maniacs and almost as good as the original. And Mountain Of Love! Mountain Of Love by Bruce is better than by Chuck Berry!!!


Bruce wrote Because The Night, so his is the original.

Mountian of Love was Johnny Rivers.

According to wikipedia.
"Mountain of Love" is a song written by Harold Dorman (also known as Harold Kenneth Dorman). Dorman released his version as a single in 1960. It performed well, becoming a top forty hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the highest charting single of his career.

In 1964, Johnny Rivers released his remake as a single. This version also proved popular, charting in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1968, singer Ronnie Dove had a minor hit when he released his version as a single on Diamond Records.

In December 1981, Charley Pride released a cover version, which topped the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in March 1982.

Other artists to record the song include The Beach Boys (on their 1965 album Beach Boys' Party!), Tommy Cash, and Narvel Felts.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have performed the song live at least 5 times including New Year's Eve 1975 at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, PA.

My wife and I saw Patti Griffin open for Emmylou Harris at a little music camp in nothern Michigan. I didn't know Patti coverered Bruce, so when she launched into Stolen Car the hairs on my arms stood up. To hear a great Bruce cover and see Emmylou makes for a great night. That said Emmylou's version of Racing is unbelievable (as is her version of Guitar Town).

Big fan of John Wesley Harding - Jackson Cage and Aram - Something in the Night
One Step Up Two Steps Back...

Ben E. Kings version of Sandy is ABSOLUTELY ABOMINABLE !!!!
He buchers it to death !!

The liner notes even make reference to the fact that he 'just didn't get the song'
They should have left this one off the disc

Bowie's cover of Saint in the City, is a close second to a HORRIBLE Cover... I realize Roy was in the studio with Bowie.
But WOW, he should have told Bowie to NEVER release this one..
(It never made any album, untill more recently - possibly fan pressure pushed them to release this..)
I only have "Badlands-A tribute to BS"
Hank III's version of Atlantic City is horrible...and I'm a country fan
I like Johnny Cash I'm on fire and Ben Harper My father's house

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...to have just one thing, just one thing in your whole life that you do that makes you proud of yourself, I don't think that's too much for anybody to ask...

One that warrants mention is Mary Chapin Carpenter's version of "Dancing in the Dark." I've always wondered why Bruce opted to turn such a dark set of lyrics into an upbeat pop song. I just love her version because it "feels" like the lyrics read.

Another more obscure cover that should be mentioned is Alan Clark (of the Hollies) version of "If I Were The Priest." That is right up there with Patti's "Because the Night" as one of my favorite covers ever of a Bruce song.
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