Cover Me: You Never Can Tell

On July 7, 2013 in Leipzig, Germany, Bruce took a sign request early in the show for “You Never Can Tell,” Chuck Berry’s final Top 40 hit of the 1960s.

“Every night we try to pull one out that we haven’t played since we were…. I don’t know, sixteen,” Bruce said by way of introduction. “If maybe ever. So let’s see how we do with this.”

Then followed two charmingly awkward minutes of the E Street Band trying to figure out how to play the song before launching into a completely and masterfully improvised performance that showed off both the band’s versatility and Bruce’s skill as a bandleader.

Longtime fans weren’t surprised, of course–we’d seen them do this countless times before. But something about this performance–so loose and yet so simultaneously tight–attracted worldwide attention like never before.

The clip above went viral–to date it’s had more than 40 million views. (By comparison, the official video for “Born to Run” is just a notch higher at 42 million.) The story was picked up by newspapers and web sites worldwide.

All over the world, it seemed, on-line audiences couldn’t help but be impressed and amazed by how quickly and deftly Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band picked up a song they hadn’t played since they were, I don’t know, sixteen. Or maybe ever.

What the uninitiated didn’t know, of course, is what we know: Bruce was exaggerating a bit. Or maybe more than a bit.

Bruce in fact had played “You Never Can Tell” with his band before, and he was 24, not sixteen. Here’s their first performance, from The Agora in Cleveland in the spring of 1974:

Now perhaps we can cut Bruce some slack here–that was almost four decades prior to that Leipzig performance, after all. Plus, that was a very different E Street Band–it didn’t even include Roy or Max yet (or Steve, for that matter).

Except that Bruce played it with Max and Roy (with Max’s band Killer Joe) fifteen years later (almost to the day) at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park.

But of course that wasn’t an E Street Band show at all, so we can excuse that one too.

Except that Bruce played it again, this time with the modern E Street Band in 2009–twice–just four years before the Leipzig show, once in Spain and once in the ‘burbs of Boston. And they had just as awkward a start in Mansfield as they did in Leipzig:

So why the on-stage memory lapse in Leipzig for a song he’d played six times before, including twice on the previous tour? Beats me, but it certainly made for a great, fun moment.

Bruce and the E Street Band tackled “You Never Can Tell” only once more since, in Denmark towards the end of their most recent tour–and they still had to take a minute to work out how to play it.  But at least he recognized the pattern. (“We go through this every time we cover this song.”)

This time, though, no one took notice but the Horsens fans.

It just goes to show: when it comes to predicting whether a great performance will go viral… well, you never can tell.

You Never Can Tell
First performed: June 3, 1974 (Cleveland, OH)
Last performed: July 20, 2016 (Horsens, Denmark)