Eddie Riff recorded and released “Ain’t That Lovin’ You, Baby” as a single in 1956. It was a great song and a fantastic performance, but it went nowhere.
Elvis Presley recorded a cover of “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby” (dropping the comma for some maddening reason) in 1958 but locked it away in his vault for six years.
Elvis finally released it in late 1964, and his timing was perfect. “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby” wasn’t one of his most popular hits, but it climbed its way to #16 on the charts, and that was high enough to earn it a place in the hearts of Elvis fans like Bruce Springsteen.
Bruce first covered “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby” in the summer of 1983, during one of his many open secret performances with the Stone Pony house band, Cats on a Smooth Surface.
We’ve got a recording of that performance, but unfortunately it’s very distant and muddy.
Luckily, though, it seems that was only a warm-up performance, because five days later, Bruce played it again, this time with John Eddie at the Brighton Bar in Long Branch.
And this time, the recording quality is terrific. Here’s Bruce on lead vocals with John Eddie and The Front Street Runners, performing a great cover (his last to date) of “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby.”
Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby
First performed: August 14, 1983 (Asbury Park, NJ)
Last performed: August 19, 1983 (Long Branch, NJ)
