When the Working on a Dream Tour stopped in Greensboro, Bruce honored a sign request from a young boy who, I suspect, had a little bit of prompting from his parents.
The boy was holding a sign for “Seventh Son,” written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Willie Mabel in 1955 in an R&B arrangement.
It was Johnny Rivers’ rocking cover of it a decade later that propelled the song into the charts, however–it spent most of the summer of 1965 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it peaked at #7.
As classic rock songs go, “Seventh Son” is a bit on the obscure side, and Bruce was clearly skeptical about where the boy had heard the song.
But he was also tickled, and never one to back away from a challenge, Bruce gamely rallied the E Street Band for their first and only cover of “Seventh Son.”
(I was fortunate enough to be at that show, in the presence of the best American crowd I’ve ever seen. For more highlights, see my Where the Band Was report from that night.)
Seventh Son
First performed: May 2, 2009 (Greensboro, NC)
Last performed: May 2, 2009 (Greensboro, NC)
Heard this on the radio the other day, and thought, wow, this would be a great song for Bruce to cover! Thanks!
Put “Seven Nights to Rock” to rest and include this instead in future E Street Band shows.