Bruce Springsteen has supported Garland Jeffreys on “96 Tears” so many times that if you didn’t know better, you’d think the song was originally Garland’s.
But we do know better: “96 Tears” dates back long before Jeffreys covered it in 1980–all the way back to 1966, in fact, when ? and the Mysterians took it all the way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
“96 Tears” is instantly recognizable from its Farfisa-esque organ riff (it’s actually a Vox Continental). It was one of the first hits by a garage rock band, and Rolling Stone ranks it #213 on the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Jeffreys covered it on his 1981 album Escape Artist, and he scored big with it, peaking at #5 on the Billboard Rock Chart.
Here’s a rare live television performance by Jeffreys from shortly after the album debuted in 1981:
So how did “96 Tears” become a reliable Garland/Bruce team-up candidate? Bruce and Garland reconnected in 2001 when Bruce invited Garland to join him for his Asbury Park holiday shows. While they didn’t play Jeffreys’ greatest hit that year, they would the following year, when Garland and Bruce both made surprise guest appearances with Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers at Light of Day. Here’s that performance, with Garland on lead vocals:
“96 Tears” made its proper E Street debut the following summer–again with Garland on lead–during Bruce’s ten-show summer residency at Giants Stadium, and Bruce played it twice more with Garland that same year at Light of Day and the Asbury Park Holiday shows.
It wasn’t until 2009, though, that Bruce attempted it on his own. Early on the Working on a Dream Tour in Atlanta, a fan request challenged the band to play the garage rock classic. Bruce took up the gauntlet, and after a minute or so of strategizing, the band nailed it. Fortunately, a fan captured it on video from the pit, so we can watch a close-up of Bruce’s only lead vocal performance of “96 Tears.”
That Garland-less performance was a one-off, though–the next (and last) time Bruce played “96 Tears” Garland was back on stage and on lead vocals. Here’s that last-time-to-date performance from Pinkpop 2012:
96 Tears
First performed: November 2, 2002 (Sea Bright, NJ)
Last performed: May 28, 2012 (Landgraaf, The Netherlands)
