Bruce Springsteen has performed a lot of unlikely covers across his long and illustrious career, but I’m not sure that anyone would have ever predicted this one, let alone on television and as an official CD release.
In the autumn and winter of 2010, ten-year-old Willow Smith’s debut single “Whip My Hair” was everywhere. Whether you liked it or hated it, odds are that you couldn’t get it out of your head no matter how hard you tried.
So when Bruce made an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at the height of the song’s popularity, Bruce and Jimmy conspired to blow fans’ minds by covering it.
Bruce was already a fan of Jimmy’s Neil Young impression, so they decided to make it a duet with Jimmy in character. Bruce and Jimmy collaborated an arrangement that parodied a typical Springsteen concert arrangement, but the idea for Springsteen to perform as “1975 Bruce” was entirely Bruce’s.
Listen to Jimmy tell the story:
And yes, when Bruce walked out on stage for the cold open that night, the crowd (and almost certainly, the entirety of E Street Nation) did indeed go nuts. The result… well, it may not be one of Bruce’s best covers, but it’s certainly one of his most viral.
What did Bruce think of the performance? Let’s follow him backstage and find out:
Eighteen months later, Bruce still must have felt pretty good about that performance, because he gave Fallon permission to release the recording on Jimmy’s second album, Blow Your Pants Off. (Their duet is the closing track on that 2012 album.)
Bruce and “Neil” would also reprise their performance two years (and ten fashion years) later, this time covering “Sexy and I Know It.”
Even so, I wouldn’t bet on Bruce picking a sign for “Whip My Hair” anytime soon. That was almost certainly a one-time-only experience.
Whip My Hair
Recorded: November 16, 2010
Released: Blow Your Pants Off (2012)
First performed: November 16, 2010 (New York City, NY)
Last performed: November 16, 2010 (New York City, NY)
