If there was no “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” by The Temptations, there would probably be no “Back in Your Arms” by Bruce Springsteen.
When the quintet charted with their 1966 hit, it was their fourth #1 on the US R&B chart, and their sixth Top 20 hit on the pop chart. But whereas their previous hits had been romantic ballads like “My Girl” or confident struts like “Get Ready,” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” starts off without any introduction–just a plea of desperation.
Here’s a man who know he done messed up and is willing to do anything to put it right–pride be damned.
“Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” almost certainly struck a chord with Bruce, as he’s mined similar lyrical territory over the years, from “Fade Away” to “Talk to Me” to “Back in Your Arms.”
Bruce first covered the Motown hit back on the Born to Run tour, in Detroit (appropriately), October 4, 1975.
If you haunted the New Jersey bar scene over the decades since, you might have caught one of the rare repeats performances since then.
But if you hoped to catch it on an actual tour, you’d have to wait all the way until the Wrecking Ball Tour, where Bruce played it by request in Limerick, Ireland, on July 16, 2013. Bruce can be forgiven for not knowing when the band last played it–38 years is a long time to remember.
Ain’t Too Proud to Beg
First performed: October 4, 1975 (Detroit, MI)
Last performed: July 16, 2013 (Limerick, Ireland)
