Bruce is known for being exceptionally generous with his music, allowing other artists to cover and re-interpret his music with such frequency that it’s almost impossible to keep track of the various covers that are out there.
So it’s remarkable when we hear of a circumstance in which Bruce actually refused an artist permission to cover one of this songs. But that’s exactly what happened more than 35 years ago with Bette Midler and “Pink Cadillac.”
No stranger to covering Bruce, Midler loved the song and recorded it for her 1983 No Frills album. But after it was already recorded and ready for release, Bruce legally stopped her from doing so.
While the story is always told from Midler’s perspective (Bruce has never made a public comment about it), Bruce allegedly protested that the song was inappropriate for a female singer.
(Updated August 17, 2019: In his book The Stories Behind the Songs, Brian Hiatt finally provides insight into why Bruce declined to let Midler release her version. Apparently when Bruce heard it, he remarked, “I mean, it’s just in your face.” I’ll just leave that there without comment.)
Now, it’s true that “Pink Cadillac” is a song-length sexual metaphor, but certainly men don’t have a monopoly on fascination with it. Chalk it up to a less enlightened time and a less enlightened Bruce, I guess.
To this day Bette’s studio cover has never been released (she replaced the album track with “Beast of Burden“), but you can still hear–and see–her cover arrangement: by the time she recorded it in the studio, Midler had already performed “Pink Cadillac” on her previous tour. In 1984, she released a home video of one of those shows, and the opening number was none other than… “Pink Cadillac.”
Enjoy the Springsteen cover that never was:
