When you endeavor to write about every song an artist ever recorded or performed, that means eventually you have to cover… well, everything. And sometimes, there just isn’t a whole lot to say.
This one, as they say, is for the collectors.
Way back over a half-century ago, Bruce Springsteen fronted a band called Steel Mill, and for much of their run Steel Mill closed their sets with a cover of Richie Havens’ “Run , Shaker Life.”
Once in a while, though, they segued from Havens’ 1968 song into a completely different number, an original Springsteen composition known as “Twenty More Miles” that eclipsed in length the song it was appended to.
There are a few recordings of “Twenty More Miles” circulating, but unfortunately none of them are of any clearer quality than the recording above.
The muddy recording is just clear enough to make out the song’s train theme (the whistle and percussive effects are a pretty quick giveaway), and we can discern barely enough of the lyrics to recognize that “Twenty More Miles” is little more than an excuse for one last jam before bringing the show home.
But what a jam it is–every band member gets a turn in the spotlight, and Danny Federici and Vini Lopez are particularly impressive as the band works the crowd into a fervor.
So apologies for the lack of lyrical analysis today, but even if we could make out enough of the words to transcribe them, I suspect we’d reach the same conclusion: “Twenty More Miles” is more about the ride than the vehicle.
Twenty More Miles
Never recorded
Never released
First performed: April 18, 1970 (Toms River, NJ)
Last performed: August 14, 1970 (Richmond, VA)
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Ken, If you didn’t highlight these songs in your “Roll” there is a good chance they would have been missed or forgotten. Thank you.