MatR: Ronnie Spector and The E Street Band, Say Goodbye to Hollywood

Call it a meeting of the Mutual Admiration Society.

Billy Joel kicked off his 1976 Turnstiles album with “Say Goodbye to Hollywood,” a song he wrote with Ronnie Spector in mind. Billy’s homage is obvious from the opening bars. Compare his song below…

…with Spector’s 1963 hit, “Be My Baby.”

See what I mean?

Billy Joel fans consider “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” one of his classic hits today, but it failed to chart when it was originally released in 1976. (When it was re-released five years later, though, it went all the way to #17 on the Bilboard Hot 100.)

Still, Ronnie Spector noticed the tribute immediately, and she wasted no time paying her respects right back to Billy. Just months after the release of Joel’s single, Spector recorded a cover of “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” for her upcoming comeback album.

By now, you might be wondering where the Bruce connection comes in.

It enters right here: in January 1977, Bruce was very much in the midst of his ongoing legal battle with former manager Mike Appel. Unable to record new material in the studio, Bruce and the E Street Band seemed destined to tour indefinitely, the Born to Run Tour morphing into the Chicken Scratch Tour morphing into the Lawsuit Tour.

By this time, the band was seriously hurting for money, and it was Steve Van Zandt who came to the rescue. Steve and Bruce were both longtime fans of Spector, and Steve had taken a side gig producing Spector’s comeback single. Bruce recruited the entire E Street Band (Bruce included, on guitar) to back Spector, boosting both the single’s visibility as well as the band members’ bank account balances.

Unfortunately, though, Spector’s vocals and the mighty E Street Band were overpowered by the busy arrangement. There’s a lot going on in this recording.

The single was released in April but failed to catch fire; it would be a few years before Spector would record her comeback album. Still, this was the first official recording to credit the E Street Band, and it’s significant to Springsteen fans for at least that reason.

In between the recording of the song in January and its release in April, however, “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” did get at least one great E Street outing. On the evening of February 17, 1977 in Richfield, Ohio, Ronnie joined the band for their encore set.

This time, without the excess studio orchestration and production, Bruce and the band provided perfect accompaniment to Spector.

The result is a much better version (IMO) of Ronnie Spector and the E Street Band covering Billy Joel’s “Say Goodbye to Hollywood.” Take a listen.

Say Goodbye to Hollywood
Recorded: January 1977
Released: Say Goodbye to Hollywood (single) (April 1977)
First performed: February 17, 1977 (Richfield, OH)
Last performed: May 13, 1977 (Red Bank, NJ)