Cover Me: I Hung My Head

In the right arrangement and in another time, Sting’s 1996 song about a young man who accidentally kills a man while practicing with his brother’s rifle would have been right at home on Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska album.

So when Bruce agreed to perform at a benefit concert and Sting tribute in 2011, “I Hung My Head” was a natural choice for Bruce to cover. But the arrangement Bruce chose was neither Nebraska acoustic or compound-time original.

Instead, Bruce worked up a rocking arrangement (complete with a couple of blistering guitar solos) that brought the house down.

Bruce turned in a fantastic performance that night, too great for it to remain a one-off.

Three years later, when Sting was one of the Kennedy Center honorees, Bruce repaid his friend’s favor (Sting had saluted Bruce with his cover of “The Rising” just two years earlier) with a reprise of his 2011 performance.

And if Bruce’s second performance doesn’t quite measure up to his original one, the choir that joins him for the final chorus at least makes for a powerful ending.

“I Hung My Head” is one of Bruce’s finer modern-day covers, one that deserves an outing more often.

I Hung My Head
First performed: October 1, 2011 (New York City, NY)
Last performed: December 7, 2014 (Washington, DC)