MatR: Southside Johnny and Bruce Springsteen: Having a Party

Long before it became synonymous with the Jersey Shore, Sam Cooke’s “Having a Party” was burning up the charts nationally.

Released in the spring of 1962 as the B-side to “Bring It On Home to Me,” “Having a Party” performed almost as well as its A-side, peaking at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 that summer.

It’s easy to hear why. “Having a Party” is a recipe for a perfect pop song: soulful vocals, a swinging orchestral arrangement (twenty musicians are credited on the track, including a young Lou Rawls on backing vocals), and lyrics so light they almost take flight.

It wasn’t anywhere close to his greatest hit, but it became one of Cooke’s signature songs. He would close his shows with “Having a Party” from the time he debuted it to his very last concert, and the live setting is where the song came alive. In concert, “Having a Party” became a call to action, and Cooke’s audiences took up the call. You can hear Cooke in command in his famous Live at the Harlem Square Club concert, recorded shortly before his untimely death.

After Cooke’s passing, “Having a Party” became a bittersweet reminder of a simpler time and eventually an R&B oldies standard.

Until 1976, that is.

In the spring of 1976, Asbury Park was ready to introduce its next great rock and roll band to the world. Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes had recorded their first album, I Don’t Want to Go Home, and it was due to be released on June 7th.

In those days, Southside and the Jukes played three nights a week at a little-known local club called The Stone Pony, and on May 30th, a week prior to their record release, the Pony hosted a special release party for their house band.

The show was broadcast live on Philadelphia’s WMMR-FM radio station and syndicated live throughout the northeastern U.S. The Pony was packed solid that night, and the crowd was raucous and ready for rock and roll. That show went down in history as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) Jersey Shore shows ever, and that was even before Bruce Springsteen showed up for the final encore.

That last encore was a cover of Cooke’s traditional set-closer, and while Bruce respectfully remained on backing vocals, his appearance provided a final shot of adrenaline that put the show over the top and into the annals of history.

After that show, rock and roll fans from all over the east coast started making pilgrimages to the Pony to hear Southside and the Jukes, and “Having a Party” became Southside’s traditional closer as well. It became such a signature song for them, in fact, that within a year the band was performing it in full in a major motion picture, the 1977 drama Between the Lines, which featured some great close-ups of the Jukes in action.

As for Bruce, he would go on to reprise his guest appearance on “Having a Party” dozens of times over the years, at first with Southside, and then later–as the song became associated not just with Southside but with the Asbury Park scene itself–with other local and visiting bands.

In fact of all the 34 times Bruce has played “Having a Party” in concert, only once has he ever performed it outside of New Jersey.

But that one time was the best time.

On August 30, 1978, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes were playing at The Agora in Cleveland, Ohio. Or at least they were supposed to, but there was a logistical hitch: their lead guitarist had another gig with a different band on the same evening across town.

By the time Steven Van Zandt was able to make his getaway from his E Street Band gig at the Richfield Coliseum and make his way to The Agora, the clock had already struck midnight.  So Southside’s August 30th show became an August 31st show, featuring what must have been a very tired Van Zandt, who by the end of the night had been on one stage or another through the entire night.

With the rest of the evening in front of them after their show, a few of Stevie’s other bandmates decided to tag along, and by the end of the night, they decided to crash the party on stage too. Roy Bittan, Clarence Clemons, and Bruce Springsteen joined the now super-sized Jukes for a three-song encore that was captured on video–one of my favorite Bruce performance videos ever.

They started with one of the all-time best performances of “The Fever,” a Springsteen original song that Bruce had bestowed to Southside, and followed that up with Stevie’s own “I Don’t Want to Go Home.”

But the final song could only be “Having a Party,” and this time Bruce shared lead vocals with Southside, and their performance featured some delightful interplay and irresistible chemistry between the two legendary frontmen.

Trust me and take a few minutes to watch the video below. You’ll see Bruce and Southside at their peak in a fun, loose performance unlike any other captured on video, along with a terrific spotlight moment for The Professor as well. This footage has been on YouTube for years, but not in this quality.

Have a happy and safe New Year’s Eve, and if you’re having a party: mask up. See you in 2022!

Having a Party
First performed: May 30, 1976 (Asbury Park, NJ)
Last performed: August 7, 2019 (Asbury Park, NJ)