In the early winter days of 1971, a classified ad in the Asbury Park Press caught the eye and interest of nineteen-year-old Barbara Dinkins.
Barbara thought she and her friend Dee might fit the bill, so she replied to the ad and arranged for the band’s leader to meet them at the church where they sang gospel.
“Who should open the door but Brucie?” she said in a 2003 Associated Press interview. “Mutton-chop sideburns, long hair, and all.”
Bruce auditioned Barbara and Dee by having them improvise backing vocals against a Van Morrison record. Impressed at what he heard, Bruce hired Barbara Dinkins and Delores “Dee” Holmes as his “Zoomettes” for his new band, Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom. That band didn’t last long, however. After only two shows, the whimsical Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom folded, but Bruce brought most of the band–including the Zoomettes–into a new band named after himself.
Barbara and Dee only lasted with The Bruce Springsteen Band for two brief months in the summer of ’71. By August, Bruce’s finances were getting tight, and he had to reduce his band’s line-up from nine down to a core group of five.
But oh, what a glorious summer that was! Surviving bootleg recordings from those shows reveal The Bruce Springsteen Band as an immensely talented combo, crossing rock, blues, soul, jazz, gospel, and even pop genres over the course of their shows. Bruce was at the height of his guitar prowess, David Sancious was already a wunderkind on the piano, and as for Barbara and Delores… well, they were much more than backing singers. (The photo below shows Holmes on the left, then Dinkins, then Bruce and Steve.)
Bruce was impressed enough by Barbara and Dee to give them star turns on lead vocals. For example, Dee sang lead on “I’m in Love Again.” As for Barbara, not only did she sing lead on “You Don’t Leave Me No Choice,” she actually wrote the song along with Sancious (whose stamp is immediately obvious from the extended piano intro).
It was and is extremely rare for Bruce to add songs written by his band members to his set lists, but this was one well-deserved exception.
Since this isn’t one of Bruce’s songs, I’ll forego the lyrical analysis. (Perhaps this shouldn’t even be a Roll of the Dice entry, but I’m considering it a “Bruce Springsteen Band original” even if other band members wrote it.)
Suffice it to say that “You Don’t Leave Me No Choice” is a funky, wronged-woman scorcher about a woman who’s fed up with her partner’s infidelity and not willing to take it anymore.
But musically… holy moley! Like I wrote earlier, this is Bruce at his most furious on the guitar, certainly a candidate for one of his most impressive performances ever. Sancious is grand (his piano intro presages his future work on “New York City Serenade”) the horn section rules, Mad Dog is an animal, and when Steve Van Zandt joins Bruce toward the end of the song… it’s just insane. This is truly a must-listen.
After leaving Bruce’s band, Delores would become a fixture of the Jersey Shore music scene, and she would perform with Bruce on rare occasions as recently as 2008. She passed away two years later.
As for Barbara, she now goes by her married name of Barbara Gunter and is a web designer in New Jersey, but long-time devotees of the Jersey Shore music scene will always remember and recognize her brief but important contribution to the early career of Bruce Springsteen.
You Don’t Leave Me No Choice
Never recorded
Never released
First performed: July 22, 1971 (South Amboy, NJ)
Last performed: July 29, 1971 (South Amboy, NJ)
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