Rumble Doll, Patti Scialfa’s 1993 debut album, revealed a powerful voice paired with songwriting talent at once both brave and vulnerable, and Patti’s too-far-apart follow-up albums proved that Rumble Doll was no fluke.
That entire first album is wonderful. As Emmylou Harris once put it in a 2013 NPR interview: “[Patti] writes about the female heart, the poetry of being female in a way that it just… every singer-songwriter, female artist that I know loves this record. It never got the attention it should have. I suppose it will always be overshadowed because she’s, you know, Bruce Springsteen’s wife, but it doesn’t take away from the art, her artistry.”
Rumble Doll saves one of its best tracks for last. “Spanish Dancer” is a beautiful ballad about a mesmerizing, unattainable love interest who turns out to be “just a man after all.” It doesn’t require a lot of imagination to suspect who she’s singing about.
While Bruce didn’t play on that particular studio track, he did support his wife on guitar when she performed the song live at Bruce’s Asbury Park holiday shows in December 2001.
Their live arrangement is even lovelier and more intimate than the album track, thanks to Soozie Tyrell’s lonely violin.
Here’s hoping for another Scialfa album (and some solo shows) sometime soon.
Bonus: There’s a reason Emmylou Harris was discussing Patti in that NPR interview: she covered “Spanish Dancer” with Rodney Crowell on their wonderful Old Yellow Moon album. Here’s their version, along with a live performance below.
Spanish Dancer
First performed: December 3, 2001 (Asbury Park, NJ)
Last performed: December 8, 2001 (Asbury Park, NJ)
