Cover Me: Beer Barrel Polka

They’re a rock band, a bar band, and at least for a minute they were a polka band.

On the evening of September 27, 2003 at Miller Park in Milwaukee, a fan decided to try to stump the E Street Band (long before that particular game was in fashion) in true Milwaukee style: by requesting “Beer Barrel Polka.”

Now for most of us, if we know the song at all, we associate it either with the instrumental recordings that date back to the mid-1930s…

…or with “Roll Out the Barrel,” the version with vocals made famous by the Andrews Sisters in 1939.

But to the fine citizens of Milwaukee, “Beer Barrel Polka” is also known as the seventh inning stretch song for the Milwaukee Brewers, and that night the E Street Band was playing in the Brewers’ house.

So how could Bruce refuse?

It really wasn’t up to Bruce, though–he knew that if they were going to pull it off, it was going to be thanks to the virtuoso accordion skills of Danny Federici.

Could Danny pull it off? Of course he could. Watch and see:

That fleeting minute accounts for the only time that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have covered “Beer Barrel Polka” in public. I wouldn’t advise holding your breath waiting for another.

Beer Barrel Polka
First performed: September 27, 2003 (Milwaukee, WI)
Last performed: September 27, 2003 (Milwaukee, WI)