Cover Me: Boom Boom

When it comes to art imitating life, there may be no better metatextual example in the Springsteen canon than Bruce’s decision to replace his sweet, romantic, original “Be True” with a smoldering cover of John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom” midway through the Tunnel of Love Express Tour.

Unsurprisingly, “Boom Boom” became a hit almost immediately, peaking at #16 on the Billboard Hot R&B Sides chart and #60 on the Hot 100. The Animals’ version did even better in 1964, peaking at #43 on the Hot 100. Their version put an even finer point on it:

I need you right now
I mean right now
I don’t mean tomorrow
I mean right now
Come on, come on
Come on, shake it up baby

(The “shake it, baby” chorus in The Animals’ version is actually lifted from another Hooker song by that exact name.)

Although most Springsteen fans are familiar with “Boom Boom” from its frequent appearances on the Tunnel of Love Express Tour, Bruce was no stranger to the song by 1988. There are reports (although no recording) of him playing it in 1974 and two known outings a decade later.

Here’s the earliest recorded Springsteen performance of “Boom Boom,” performed with John Eddie and the Frontstreet Runners at Patrix in New Brunswick in January 1984. Bruce is clearly influenced primarily by The Animals’ version, liberally lifting and playing it in an arrangement very close to the one he’d use on tour four years later.

Now, about that Tunnel of Love Tour version: if the 1984 version smokes, the 1988 version absolutely sizzles… particularly when Bruce and Patti enter each other’s field of gravity. Watch the clip below, and you’ll see what I mean.

Bruce and Patti have always been coy about exactly when they got together, but Bruce had been seen in public with wife-at-the-time Julianne Phillips as late as January 1988, and Juli had been by Bruce’s side backstage at many of the early Tunnel of Love shows in February and March. In April, Julianne even told Rolling Stone that she and Bruce weren’t ruling out having kids in the future.

But by late May, rumors abounded in the New York press about marital strife in the Springsteen/Phillips household, and Patti Scialfa had already been suggested as an involved party. A few weeks later, there was photographic evidence in the tabloids.

And right in the middle, on May 10th in Bloomington, Minnesota, Bruce replaced his reliable nightly “Be True” with “Boom Boom” as the second song of the evening, immediately establishing and escalating the chemistry between Bruce and his back-up singer.

Although it quickly returned to the set list as the third song (following “Boom Boom”),  “Be True” made its final tour appearance on June 15, 1988–the night before Italian newspapers published photos of Bruce and Patti in their skivvies on their hotel room balcony, essentially outing their affair to the world. Coincidence? Decide for yourself.

We wouldn’t hear “Be True” again at a proper E Street Band Show for over a decade. “Boom Boom,” however, would continue to make select appearances at Jersey Shore club gigs over the next few years, and one far-flung gig in Berlin with Wolfgang Niedecken in 1995.

“Boom Boom” reappeared on the E Street stage in late in the Magic Tour, and since then it’s made a cameo or three in every E Street Band Tour since.

Here’s my favorite “Boom Boom” performance of the modern era–from the legendary final show of the Working on a Dream Tour in Buffalo, on November 22, 2009.

None of the post-1988 performances have matched the remarkable passion on display during the Tunnel of Love Tour, however, and perhaps that’s to be expected–nothing’s more combustible than the early days of a relationship.

Still, “Boom Boom” remains a reliable adrenaline booster for any show it appears in, and odds are strong that we’ll hear it again at least once on the next E Street Band Tour.

Boom Boom
First performed: April 26, 1974 (Providence, RI)
Last performed: September 14, 2016 (Foxborough, MA)