MatR: Bruce Springsteen and Beaver Brown: Do You Want to Dance

The summer of 1982 looms large in Springsteen legend.

The River Tour was a year in the past; the marathon Born in the U.S.A. Tour was still two years in the future. But for Bruce Springsteen, an “off-year” summer meant no less than twenty unadvertised surprise appearances at Jersey shore clubs.

From storied venues like The Stone Pony and Big Man’s West to the lesser-known Brighton Bar and the Monmouth County Fair, Bruce seemed to be everywhere that summer.

Most often appearing with Stone Pony house band Cats on a Smooth Surface, Bruce also appeared with Clarence Clemons & The Red Bank Rockers, Sonny Kenn & The Wild Ideas, Billy Chinnock, The Iron City Houserockers, Mama Tried and Stray Cats.

Bruce also played with Beaver Brown–still a year away from the peak of their Eddie and the Cruisers popularity–four times that summer, including Saturday night, August 7th.

That night is best known for the debut of what would eventually become “Downbound Train,” but for my money, the highlight of the night was Bruce and the band’s first-ever performance of Bobby Freeman’s “Do You Want to Dance.” Without the demands of nightly marathon concerts, Bruce’s vocals were in great form, and their performance was captured in very good quality for an almost forty-year-old bar gig. Check it out:

Bobby Freeman’s Latin-rhythm 1958 original didn’t rock quite as hard as Bruce and Beaver Brown’s version, but it was popular enough to notch a #5 berth on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the R&B chart.

Fun fact: Freeman followed up “Do You Want to Dance” with a single called “Betty Lou Got a New Pair of Shoes.” By the next summer, movie audiences would be rocking out to Beaver Brown performing that song, too.

Do You Want to Dance
First performed: August 7, 1982 (Red Bank, NJ)
Last performed: October 3, 1982 (Asbury Park, NJ)