You could argue who did it better, The Drifters or Dion and The Belmonts, but either way you’d be right.
Written by the great songwriting team of Lieber and Stoller, “Ruby Baby” rocks, swings, saunters, and steamrolls in both versions.
The Drifters came first, releasing their original track in 1956 and notching a #10 berth on the Billboard R&B chart.
Dion’s 1963 version did even better, peaking at #5 on the R&B chart and all the way at #2 on the Top 100.
As for which version of “Ruby Baby” influenced Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on the only two occasions they performed it, you could once again fairly argue for both.
Bruce and the band debuted “Ruby Baby” at one of their legendary surprise gigs at The Stone Pony on a Sunday night in August 1987. Listen to their performance below, and you’ll clearly hear the “hey hey!” from Dion’s arrangement as well as Clarence’s smoking sax solo tribute to the Drifters’ original.
Exactly one week later, they took another run at it–but this time in a slower, steamier arrangement that draws on both influences and grounds them on E Street.
Although neither recording is as clear as we’d like, it’s still easy to hear just how much fun the band has with the classic R&B track–why this one hasn’t shown up in Bruce’s set lists since is hard to fathom.
Ruby Baby
First performed: August 2, 1987 (Asbury Park, NJ)
Last performed: August 9, 1987 (Asbury Park, NJ)
