Let’s go way, way, way back for today’s installment. So far back, in fact, that we arrive at the earliest known live Springsteen recording, on September 16, 1967.
On that night, 17-year-old Bruce Springsteen and his high school band The Castiles played a show at the short-lived The Left Foot teen club in Bruce’s hometown of Freehold, New Jersey.
On the setlist was a cover (the entire set was covers) of Moby Grape’s “Omaha,” released a few months earlier. The original song is, shall we say, lyrically light, but to focus on the lyrics is to miss the point. “Omaha” is a guitar showcase, ranked #95 on Rolling Stone’s Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time list.
Bruce was already building a reputation as a lightning-fast guitarist, so “Omaha” was a perfect song for the band to tackle. How’d they do? Give a listen below, and remember: you’re listening to a seventeen-year-old high school student.
Of course the big mystery is: how in the world did a recording of this performance come to exist, let alone survive to the present?
For that story, listen to the interview with the man who recorded it here.
Omaha
First performed: September 16, 1967 (Freehold, NJ)
Last performed: September 30, 1967 (Freehold, NJ)
“Turn down that god damn guitar…” Douglas Springsteen
Just try to imagine the E Street Band playing this today. Bruce, Stevie, Nils? Forget about it. It would be insanely great.
Thanks for the post