“Good Lovin'” has a curious history. Most of us associate it with the group that made it a #1 hit in 1966: The Young Rascals.
But The Rascals only added it to their set lists after hearing an earlier version (The Olympics’ 1965 recording) on the radio.
But even that version wasn’t the original. Here’s where it gets strange: only a month before The Olympics recorded their version above, Lemme B. Good recorded the first version of “Good Lovin’.’ What’s so odd about that? Take a listen to that original recording below and hear for yourself.
Sometime in the intervening month between the recording sessions for Lemme B. Good and The Olympics, the lyrics for “Good Lovin'” completely changed.
Obviously, it was The Olympics’ arrangement that would become the classic one–The Young Rascals stuck to it like glue, and it not only became the band’s first big hit, it landed squarely on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list at #333.
That was also the version that influenced Bruce, because when a St. Paul fan held up a sign requesting “Good Lovin'” on the Working on a Dream Tour, that was the version that Bruce and the E Street Band played.
Bruce and the band obviously got a kick out of playing “Good Lovin” that night, because it made four more tour appearances that spring, making for a handy sign collection vamp tune.
That May-June 2009 stretch was the only time Bruce and the E Street Band ever played “Good Lovin'” in concert, but Bruce did take one more swing at it–this time with Steve Van Zandt and the artists who made the song a hit in the first place: The Rascals, at the Kirsten Ann Carr Fund Benefit in 2010.
Good Lovin’
First performed: May 11, 2009 (St. Paul, MN)
Last performed: April 24, 2010 (New York City, NY
