Bruce Springsteen’s connection with Dion DiMucci goes way back to 1975 (even further if you count a second-degree association when Steven Van Zandt and The Dovells backed Dion in a 1972 show in Miami), and Bruce has called Dion “the link between Sinatra and rock and roll.”
The two have performed together on stage in every decade since the 1970s, so it was perhaps only a matter of time before Dion tried his hand at covering one or two of Bruce’s songs.
Dion first covered Bruce in 1992 in a doo-wop version of Bruce’s 1992 standard “If I Should Fall Behind,” released as the lead-off track on his Dream on Fire album mere months after Bruce’s original debuted on Lucky Town.
Dion gave it his signature doo-wop treatment, and the result is so perfect that if you didn’t know better, you’d think it was first written and recorded in the 1950s instead of the 1990s.
Dion must have had a particular fondness for Lucky Town, because his second Springsteen cover came eight years later on his Deja Nu album, a loving rendition of “Book of Dreams.”
In a 2000 NPR interview, Dion explained why “Book of Dreams” was so special to him:
Let’s take a listen to Dion’s lovely version of “Book of Dreams.” It’s both faithful to the album version yet distinctly Dion. I have to imagine Bruce strongly approves.
© September 7, 2018 / July 21, 2019
At the end of If I should fall behind Bruce calls Dion King of NY, did Bruce ever cover Dion’s King of the NY Streets?
Not that I’m aware of, sadly.