Today’s covered-by-Bruce entry is certainly an unlikely one:
Sure, “Sentimental Journey” was a number one hit for Doris Day in 1945 and spent a remarkable 23 weeks on the charts. But it was a mellow big band standard, more likely to be covered by fellow New Jerseyan Frank Sinatra (who did in fact cover it, of course) than Bruce Springsteen.
And yet cover it he did, with the E Street Band during a radio station appearance forty-five years ago–so early that the band didn’t even have their name yet.
From March 9, 1974 at Station KLOL-FM in Houston, in crystal clarity, here’s Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s one and only performance of “Sentimental Journey.”*
*There is a surviving but undated setlist from Bruce’s high school days with The Castiles that indicates he may have played “Sentimental Journey” at a wedding in 1965 (Bruce would have just turned sixteen), but it cannot be definitively dated and no recording exists.
Sentimental Journey
First performed: March 9, 1974 (Houston, TX)
Last performed: March 9, 1974 (Houston, TX)
