A song written by Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper (“Raise Your Hand,” “Knock on Wood“) and recorded by Wilson Pickett (“In the Midnight Hour,” Mustang Sally“) is pretty much guaranteed to get a cover treatment from Bruce Springsteen.
Most fans know “634-5789” from its nightly outings as part of the “Apollo Medley” on the Wrecking Ball Tour, but Bruce has covered it more than 25 times outside of that, going way back to 1973.
In title at least, “634-5789” is a nod and a wink (and maybe a poke) at “Beechwood 4-5789” by The Marvelettes, adding the subtitle “Soulsville U.S.A.” to contrast the Stax recording with rival “Hitsville U.S.A.” Motown. Wilson Pickett first recorded and released it in 1966 (with Patti LaBelle on backing vocals); his single reached #13 on the pop chart and spawned many covers, most notably from Tina Turner.
Bruce’s covers are pretty faithful to the original, and something about the song almost always brings Bruce a little bit, shall we say, closer to his audience:
That performance was from Bobby Bandiera’s Hope Concert back in 2008, and if Bruce wasn’t quite up for that level of audience participation that night, he sure was when he played the Apollo Theater in 2012. You might have heard that legendary performance on Sirius Radio or as part of Bruce’s official archive series, but this one needs needs to be seen as well:
But the last time Bruce performed “634-5789,” he stayed in the background: At a private party at the Wonder Bar in August 2015, Bruce played guitar (taking a nice solo mid-song) while Patti provided backing vocals for her brother’s band Timepiece and pretty much owned the stage.
In any setting, when Bruce breaks out “634-5789” it’s gonna be a party. I think we’ll continue to see this one in played live for a long time to come.
Updated November 17, 2019: See what I mean? Bruce has played “634-5789” twice since this article was posted. Here’s the most recent time, last night at a private benefit for Boston College at The Stone Pony.
634-5789 (Soulsville U.S.A.)
First played: February 14, 1973 (Richmond, VA)
Last played: November 16, 2019 (Asbury Park, NJ)
