Tucked away on the Walmart exclusive edition of the American Idol winner’s 2015 Digital Vein album is David Cook’s daringly fresh cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Secret Garden.”
We’ve focused the spotlight on several great “Secret Garden” covers over the years, but never one quite like this. Where Bruce’s original track is a brooding, mystery-filled beauty, Cook’s version is a barely restrained rocker–restrained, that is, until the song’s thrilling final minute where the band gets to cut loose.
It’s a powerful arrangement that works even better on stage–which is where it originated, in none other than Bruce’s hometown of Freehold, New Jersey. “We knew we were coming here to Freehold,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2013, “and this is as firm a Springsteen territory as there is, [so] we decided to take on the challenge.”
Cook admitted to the local crowd that he was “scared shitless” to attempt it, but as you can hear below, the audience gave him an enthusiastic and well-deserved reception.
