Cover Me: Dream Baby Dream

It was just about the unlikeliest song for Bruce Springsteen to cover, and yet cover it he did.

In 1979, electro-punk duo Suicide released their six-and-half-minute “Dream Baby Dream,” more a chant or trance than a song.

“Dream Baby Dream” was never anything resembling a hit, but it did attract a cult following among musicians–including Michael Stipe, who brought it to the attention of Bruce Springsteen via a compilation CD.

Bruce was already a fan of the band–you can hear their obvious influence in his song “State Trooper.” But Bruce had largely forgotten about “Dream Baby Dream” until Stipe re-introduced him to it, and he was attracted to the simplicity of the song. Early on during his 2005 solo acoustic tour, he recognized an opportunity to end a night of weighty songs on a note of bright hope and optimism. Here’s how he explained it to a Swedish TV interviewer at the time:

Bruce added “Dream Baby Dream” to his set list as the final encore in Rosemont on May 11, 2005 without any introduction before or explanation after. At first listen, his cover was the polar opposite of Suicide’s–slow, introspective, and yet still bright, pure, and hopeful.

Doubtless the audience was befuddled that night–in fact, for a day or two, fans weren’t quite sure exactly what they’d heard.

Here’s how Backstreets explained (and sleuthed) it in their review of the show the next day:

After a well received “Promised Land,” Bruce thanked the crowd for being so attentive, shook hands at the front of the stage and said, “One more for Chicago.” Back at the pump organ and without any introduction, he began playing a song called “Dream Baby Dream.” Many in the crowd were scratching their heads…is it a new Bruce song? An old Bruce song? A Springsteen/Orbison hybrid? The crowd was certainly into the dreamlike quality of the performance, with its lyrical mantra and droning foundation. Springsteen’s voice was unique, too, having a bit of that early 80s quality, lonely and distant. One fan described it as “‘Follow That Dream’ meets David Lynch’s Blue Velvet.” A synthesizer could be heard underneath it all, and as Bruce got up from the organ the music kept going. Springsteen grabbed the mic and shuffled to the front of the stage, singing the repetitive lyrics, and scuffling along the front of the stage area. As he walked off for the night the music continued for another minute or so, allowing everyone the chance to shake off the goosebumps and say, “What WAS THAT?” We think we have the answer–there’s a song by that name that sounds very similar to that description from the band Suicide who came out of New York City’s Lower East Side in the 1970s. If we’re right, it’s a pretty unbelievable reach as far as Springsteen covers go. Hey, we wanted Bruce to dig deep for songs! Keep digging, Maestro!

“Dream Baby Dream” never left the set after Rosemont. It closed each and every show from that point forward until the end of the tour, always sending audiences home on a note of love and faith and hope. Bruce described the effect to Mojo in 2006:

“The night opens and opens and then, at the end, when you think it can’t open any more it does and it’s completely embracing… It’s so purely musical, that’s what’s beautiful about it, it’s so simple and so purely musical.

As for the original artists, Alan Vega (one half of Suicide) heartily approved of Bruce’s cover. He saw Bruce perform it in person at Bruce’s Bridgeport show that summer, and he told Backstreets that Bruce did the song in “such a great way that I’m going to have to sing it that way, or not sing it at all anymore… On my deathbed, that’s the last thing I’m going to listen to. I’ll play it at my funeral.”

As with many Springsteen showpieces, “Dream Baby Dream” would grow in length and grandeur throughout the tour. By the end of the tour, the five-or-six-line song stretched out to an incredible eleven minutes.

After his solo tour ended, it seemed like “Dream Baby Dream” would go back on the shelf forever. It served a purpose during Bruce’s solo tour, but he didn’t touch it even once during the four band tours that followed.

But then–once again without any warning–on October 10, 2013, Bruce dropped a new version of “Dream Baby Dream” on fans. This one, though, was a studio and band version, recorded earlier in the year with Tom Morello, Roy Bittan, the E Street Horns, and a full string section.

This version of “Dream Baby Dream” is an absolute stunner, as is the video it accompanied–a love letter to fans at the conclusion of the Wrecking Ball Tour. It remains to this day my all-time favorite piece of video Bruce has released.

The studio version of “Dream Baby Dream” layered production special effects over Bruce’s 2005 vocal arrangement, resulting in a track somewhere in between his version and Suicide’s. At the annual Stand Up for Heroes benefit show a few weeks later, Bruce attempted his new arrangement as a solo effort, beginning the song on the pump organ as in 2005, before layering his live vocals on a mid-song backing track. The effect was stunning.

Bruce’s new arrangement of “Dream Baby Dream” was too good to allow it to linger in obscurity, so a few months later, Bruce included his studio version as the closing track of his follow-up album, High Hopes.

Bruce brought “Dream Baby Dream” out to play a few more times on the High Hopes Tour, but other than a cameo appearance on the River Tour, it’s remained elusive ever since (although a snippet of it did make a regular appearance during “Drive All Night“). That cameo was notable for more than just its appearance, however–for the first and only time, not only did “Dream Baby Dream” not close the show, it actually opened it.

Why the special encore/opener appearance? Because Alan Vega had passed away just a few days earlier. Before his next show, Bruce issued a statement on his web site:

“Over here on E Street, we are saddened to hear of the passing of Alan Vega, one of the great revolutionary voices in rock and roll. The bravery and passion he showed throughout his career was deeply influential to me. I was lucky enough to get to know Alan slightly and he was always a generous and sweet spirit. The blunt force power of his greatest music both with Suicide and on his solo records can still shock and inspire today. There was simply no one else remotely like him.”

We don’t know whether or not Bruce’s version of “Dream Baby Dream” was played at Vega’s funeral per his interview wish. But Bruce honored the spirit of Alan’s request by making it the very next song he played in public.

Here’s the last appearance of “Dream Baby Dream” to date–the show opener in Horsens, Denmark, on July 20, 2016.

Dream Baby Dream
Recorded: 2013
Released: High Hopes (2014)
First performed: May 11, 2005 (Rosemont, IL)
Last performed: July 20, 2016 (Horsens, Denmark)

Looking for your favorite Bruce song? Check our full index. New entries every week!