It’s rare for Bruce to include a cover song on a studio album, but it’s been known to happen.
He did it most recently on Chapter & Verse, where he spotlighted his earliest (officially released) cover: Bo Diddley’s “You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover.”
Ouch. Sounds rough, doesn’t it?
That’s because it’s not a studio recording, obviously; its a live performance by Bruce’s original band, The Castiles, way back in 1967 in a club called The Left Foot in Bruce’s hometown of Freehold, New Jersey.
So we’ll forgive not-quite-eighteen-year-old Bruce for not realizing he’d want to release that performance as part of a career spanning retrospective someday. If the vocals are muddy, we can always turn to the original 1962 hit by Bo Diddley:
https://youtu.be/Lch0o4wwGyw
A bit slower than Bo Diddley’s typical beat, “You Can’t Judge the Book by the Cover” nevertheless became a hit (one of his last), peaking at #21 on the R&B chart and #48 on the Hot 100. Given Bruce’s affinity for both Bo Diddley and metaphor-laden lyrics, it’s not surprising to discover this song among Bruce’s earliest cover performances.
The Castiles sped it up a bit and left off Bo Diddley’s ad lib flourishes, and the result is a respectful cover by a very young band with a lot of potential.
You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover
Released: Chapter & Verse (2016)
First performed: September 16, 1967
Last performed: September 16, 1967
