RotD/Cover Me: Bring ‘Em Home

They say that great folk songs are never finished, and that’s certainly the case with Pete Seeger’s “Bring Them Home.”

Seeger wrote “Bring Them Home” in 1966 as a protest against the Vietnam war. He evolved the song over the years that followed, and by the time he performed it on The Johnny Cash Show in 1970, Seeger had honed it to a very sharp point.

By today’s standards, that performance might not seem so extraordinary, but airing such an explicitly critical performance on national television in 1970 was quite remarkable.

In 2003, producer Jim Musselman rewrote the first verse of Seeger’s song to update it for a post-9/11 world. Seeger recorded a new version of the song featuring Musselman’s verse with Ani DiFranco, Steve Earle, and Billy Bragg for a compilation released that same year.

Three years later, Bruce took Musselman’s first verse and Seeger’s second verse and then wrote two new verses of his own:

They wanna test their grand theories
Bring them home, bring them home
With the blood of you and me
Bring them home, bring them home

Now we’ll give no more brave young lives
Bring them home, bring them home
For the gleam in someone’s eyes
Bring them home, bring them home

But Bruce wasn’t done yet–he borrowed and adapted two verses from the standard “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”….

…and then wrote a seventh verse in tribute:

We will lift their voice and sound
Bring them home, bring them home
Yeah when Johnny comes marching home
Bring them home, bring them home

It’s hard to call the resulting song a cover, but it’s certainly not an original Springsteen song. There’s no debating its power, however. Although not nearly as angry as Seeger’s original song, Bruce’s version captures the patriotism of Seeger’s original and the longing in “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” to produce a mash-up that perfectly captures the heartache and sacrifice of the families of soldiers overseas.

Bruce recorded his new version of “Bring ‘Em Home” in Oslo while on tour with the Sessions Band in 2006. While never officially released on disc, that studio version was very briefly available as an Internet download, and you can hear it below.

Bruce had already debuted “Bring ‘Em Home” in concert the week prior in Paris. It seemed like it was destined for one-off status, but just three days after he recorded his studio version with the band, Bruce reintroduced it to his setlist, where it remained a fixture throughout the remainder of the American leg of the tour.

By the middle of June, “Bring ‘Em Home” was firmly established in the set, and the audience reaction was predictably and consistently favorable. It’s no surprise that Bruce included a live version (recorded in Detroit on June 17th) as a bonus track on his American Land Edition re-issue of We Shall Overcome later that year.

Bruce even performed “Bring ‘Em Home” during his television appearance on Late Night With Conan O’Brien at the tail end of the American tour.

Bruce retired his version of “Bring ‘Em Home” after the Seeger Sessions Tour concluded, but that certainly won’t be the end of its evolution.

Like all great folk songs, Pete Seeger’s patriotic anti-war song will continue to grow, adapt, and evolve across the years for as long as there are wars that require people to fight them.

Bring ‘Em Home
Recorded: January 21 and May 18, 2006
Released: Bring ‘Em Home (single, 2006)
First performed: May 10, 2006 (Paris, France)
Last performed: November 14, 2006 (Sheffield, England)

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