Cover Me: Treat Her Right

“The song has magic in it! Magic in it, I tell  you.” –Bruce Springsteen, May 13, 2014

One of my favorite moments in a tour full of them came late in the all-too-brief High Hopes Tour.

When Bruce turned to the Albany crowd for sign requests on the evening of May 13, 2014, a very wise fan asked for a cover of Roy Head’s “Treat Her Right.”

Now, if you know the song, you immediately realize why it’s an inspired request at a Springsteen concert. Besides the fact that it was a huge hit upon its release in 1965 (peaking at #2 on both the pop and R&B charts, blocked from the top slot by nothing less than The Beatles’ “Yesterday”), “Treat Her Right” demands more than a great singer–it requires a great actor and a great dancer.

“Treat Her Right” is all about the delivery. Even in 1965, it was a visual, kinetic song. You may not have seen this video before, but I bet it’s pretty close to what you visualize when you hear the song.

In short, “Treat Her Right” demands a ham. And there’s no bigger on-stage ham than Bruce Springsteen.

So when Bruce honored the request and launched into the song–tentatively at first, but with increasing bravado–magic happened. But if you’ve never seen this clip, I’m not about to spoil it for you. Just watch–and remember that everything about it is improvised.

I honestly don’t know what I love most about that performance–the way Bruce commands the band (and the way they track him) through several tempo changes, the fact that he has absolutely no need for the teleprompter, the way he catches himself and resets when he realizes he wasn’t quite hammy enough, the fact that his personal connection is so intense that the woman he sings to interprets it as an invitation to jump on stage, the way he expresses surprise but rolls with it, or the way she has the perfect dance moves to carry the song’s big finish.

It’s just start-to-finish awesome.

Obscure? Sure. But it’s one of my all-time favorite moments at a Bruce Springsteen concert.

Bonus: Bruce actually performed the song on two other occasions: one was at a private home concert for which there’s no audio, but the other was an ensemble encore at the “Come Together” benefit concert for the Sergeant Patrick King Memorial Fund in 1998. You can hear that performance below, featuring Bruce, Southside Johnny, Jon Bon Jovi, Little Steven, and Clarence Clemons.

Treat Her Right
First performed: January 31, 1998 (Red Bank, NJ)
Last performed: May 13, 2014 (Albany, NY)