“Lonely Teardrops” was Jackie Wilson’s breakthrough hit, catapulting him to the top of the Billboard R&B chart and into the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959.
It was the song that made Wilson a superstar, earning him the sobriquet “Mr. Excitement,” and it was the last song he ever performed before collapsing on stage mid-song from a heart attack.
Today, “Lonely Teardrops” is enshrined in the Grammy Hall of Fame and sits at a respectable #315 on Rolling Stone‘s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
When Bruce Springsteen first covered “Lonely Teardrops” in 1988, his hard-core fans were well aware of Bruce’s fondness for Jackie Wilson’s records: Bruce’s closing stand at the Boston Music Hall in 1977 was already legendary (bootleg recordings of the final show had begun to appear on vinyl a few years prior), in part due to Bruce and the E Street Band’s memorable show-closing covers of Wilson’s “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher.”
But until the Tunnel of Love Tour more than a decade later, Bruce had never covered Wilson’s first great hit. That changed at Bruce’s Madison Square Garden stand in May 1988, where in a bit of symmetry Bruce once again closed a pair of shows with a Jackie Wilson cover.
The second of those two performances (with Jon Landau joining the band on guitar) was officially released as part of Bruce’s official archive series, with “Lonely Teardrops” released for free on YouTube.
Bruce took full advantage of the band’s horn section in a bright arrangement that’s perhaps just a bit too slow and at least a minute too long to rank among his best covers (they came at the end of long shows, after all). Still, it’s a faithful and respectful performance of one of rock’s more important songs, deserving of its official release.
Lonely Teardrops
First performed: May 22, 1988 (New York City, NY)
Last performed: July 10, 1988 (Sheffield, England)
As a fan since the early seventies these nuggets make fantastic reading so well done Regards Denis
MSG, 1988, “Lonely Teardrops”: In real time, this was always taken as Bruce’s conflicted emotional state during his painful break-up with Julianne and subsequent relationship with Patti. Just listen to that amazing vocal.
Thank you