RotD/MatR: Joe Grushecky and Bruce Springsteen: Idiot’s Delight

In the summer of 1995, Bruce joined Joe Grushecky on stage at Tradewinds on the Jersey Shore, where they debuted much of Joe’s upcoming Bruce-produced American Babylon album.

American Babylon featured two songs co-written by Joe and Bruce–Joe sent Bruce his lyrics for “Homestead” and “Dark and Bloody Ground,” and Bruce set them to music. (See my in-depth interview with Joe for more background on their American Babylon collaboration.)

Proving themselves adept at collaborating remotely, Bruce and Joe decide to try their hand at it in person, holing up in Bruce’s home studio and writing in the same room for the first time.

Having found their groove with American Babylon, Joe wrote lyrics for “Cheap Motel,” “I’m Not Sleeping,” and a terrific biting rocker called “Idiot’s Delight.”

In a similar lyrical vein to “Talking to the King,” Joe imagines a conversation with Saint Peter, who’s too busy marveling at humanity’s stupidity to focus on his duties. (The message is clear: no matter how ideal a situation we’re handed, never underestimate our collective ability to screw it up.) Bruce set Joe’s lyrics to music, but unlike their earlier collaborations, they didn’t record a version of “Idiot’s Delight” together.

They did, however, record it separately.

Joe’s was the first to debut, arranged for The Houserockers on Joe’s 1998 album, Coming Home.

Bruce’s version with the E Street Band is still unreleased, but he debuted it without fanfare last summer on his radio show, From My Home to Yours.

I’m not sure when Bruce recorded his version of “Idiot’s Delight,” but given its very close similarity to his one and only live performance of it with the E Street Band (with Joe Grushecky on guest vocals) during the Reunion Tour, I wouldn’t be surprised if it dates back to that era.

There’s also a third arrangement of “Idiot’s Delight” floating around out there, and it’s quite a departure from the other two.

Lucky fans who attended the closing leg of Bruce’s 2005 solo acoustic tour got a chance to hear a new, sinister arrangement of “Idiot’s Delight” complete with bullet-mic’ed vocals when Bruce played it an astonishing ten times that October.

For an under-the-radar song. “Idiot’s Delight” has enjoyed a few different incarnations, all of them great.

Will we hear it performed live again someday? Well, this past year would have been a perfectly suited window for it.  Even so, while we might be collectively smartening up a bit at the moment, it’s not a stretch to imagine we may need a reminder someday soon.

Idiot’s Delight
Recorded: Unknown
Released: Coming Home (1997) (Joe’s version); Unreleased (Bruce’s version)
First performed: March 2, 1998 (Pittsburgh, PA)
Last performed: October 28, 2005 (Boston, MA)

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