If you are a fan of the blues, then today’s entry is for you, because trust me: you will never hear Bruce Springsteen any bluesier than this.
If you’ve been following my five-year odyssey through Bruce’s recording and performance history for at least a few months, you’ve probably already figured out we’re about to take another trip back to the Bruce Springsteen Band era.
Bruce’s immediately pre-label period featured a prototypical E Street Band (Bruce, Steve, Garry, Vini Lopez, and David Sancious) with a sound very unlike the one they’d have only a year later.
As with his Steel Mill period prior, Bruce curated his setlists so that the band had many chances to stretch and strut, but instead of the hard rock guitar jams that commanded the core of Bruce’s Steel Mill sets, The Bruce Springsteen Band drew from a deep catalog of classic blues standards.
One of the songs in their set list was a cover of “Sitting on Top of the World,” first recorded by The Mississippi Sheiks all the way back in 1930.
In 1957, Howlin’ Wolf transformed the Sheiks’ country blues original into a Chicago blues arrangement, updating the lyrics in the process.
That version of “Sitting on Top of the World” became the definitive one, and Howlin’ Wolf would often close his sets with it.
It’s also the version that Bruce clearly modeled his arrangement after, although he was almost certainly also influenced by Cream’s slower-paced version from their 1968 album, Wheels of Fire–speculation supported both by the omission of Howlin’ Wolf’s final verse by both Bruce and Cream, and by the fact that the song is believed to have been performed by Bruce’s previous band Earth as early as September 1968, only three months after the release of Cream’s album. (Unfortunately, no audio of any Earth gig circulates to confirm.)
But we do have one recording of Bruce performing it with his eponymous band in February 1972 during their month-long residency at The Back Door in Richmond, Virginia.
And as sacrilegious as it may be to say: I think Bruce’s version smokes all the others. Every band member is dialed in with just the slightest restraint so as to never break the mood. The pacing is perfect, Bruce’s vocals are soulful, and (of course) Sancious dazzles during his solo.
But oh, that wailing guitar solo finish by 22-year-old Bruce… those final two minutes rank among my favorite “Pre-Street” moments on record.
If you’re not already duly impressed by that performance, then consider this: just two months later, Bruce was already writing and recording the songs that would appear not long after on Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
The Bruce Springsteen Band era has such a distinctly different sound than that of the E Street Band that it’s easy to assume they were separated by years.
But it was only a matter of weeks between those smoky Back Door performances and the creation of Springsteen originals like “It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City” and “If I Was the Priest” that we know and love today.
Sitting on Top of the World
First performed: February 4, 1972 (Richmond, VA)*
Last performed: February 4, 1972 (Richmond, VA)
*While the above recording definitely originated at Bruce’s February 1972 stand at The Back Door, there’s good reason to believe it may be from a night other than the one officially cited. That’s because when the recordings first surfaced, not all of Bruce’s gigs at The Back Door had been documented. Regardless, though, we’re listening to 49-year-old recordings.
The sources of this, and other, Bruce covers are educational and appreciated.