So this is a thing: a micro-genre of 1970s TV celebrities covering Bruce Springsteen songs.
Leather Tuscadero did one, Wonder Woman did one, and yes: Luke Duke did one.
And believe it or not, it’s good. Like, really good.
“Meeting Across the River” is a tough cover to pull off, because it’s more a movie than a song–a complete story in three minutes and nineteen seconds, with a backing track as atmospheric as the lyrics.
But dang if Wopat doesn’t pull it off. His vocal is (mostly) restrained and nuanced, and while he doesn’t have the desperate, fatally unrealistic optimism of Bruce’s performance, Wopat’s narrator is more of a fantasizer who knows he’s caught up in a pipe dream. And the piano-heavy accompaniment keeps the arrangement as rooted in jazz as Randy Brecker’s trumpet on the original.
This is very nicely done. Suspend disbelief and give it a listen.
