If you ask me which classic R&B songs deserve to turn up on Bruce’s next album of soul covers, “Turn On Your Love Light” would be near the top of my list.
I mean come on: How can anyone in E Street Nation listen to Bobby “Blue” Bland’s classic 1961 hit and not hear its influence on Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band?
With a killer horn riff, lovelorn vocals, desperate begging, and that sax solo taking us a little bit higher, “Turn on Your Love Light” would have been just as much at home on the Born to Run Tour as on World Tour 2024.
Heck, you can even hear its influence on the Seeger Sessions Band!
So it’s absolutely mystifying that Springsteen has yet to perform it on the E Street stage.
Even if somehow Bruce hadn’t latched on to Bland’s original (which made it to #2 on the Billboard R&B chart and #28 on the Hot 100), it seems like virtually all of his musical influences were covering it in the sixties. From Van Morrison…
…to Mitch Ryder…
…to Jerry Lee Lewis and more.
And then of course, there are the epic Grateful Dead jams (some of which even included a familiar guest saxophonist).
So why no Springsteen concert performances in the last half-century? Beats the heck out of me. The closest we’ve come is a handful of hat-tips during the band intros on the Rising Tour.
Maybe it has something to do with the few times he did perform it, some 53 years ago during a trio (at least) of club gigs at the Jersey Shore.
It was during Bruce’s Steel Mill era, and the band was, shall we say, loose. (I’m guessing more than a few drinks had been consumed.) And while there are plenty of classic rock songs that would have been well-suited for a guitar-heavy Steel Mill jam treatment, “Turn On Your Love Light” isn’t one of them.
Yikes. I could understand shying away from a song after a performance like that.
But come on, Bruce. Enough time has passed. You’ve got the horns, and you’ve got Bland’s ability to turn on a dime from crooner to preacher. It’s time to give “Turn On Your Love Light” a proper outing.
Let it shine!
Turn On Your Love Light
First performed: November 27, 1970 (Asbury Park, NJ)
Last performed: January 22, 1971 (Asbury Park, NJ)
Totally agree Ken, here’s hoping!
Do we know who shares the vocals with Bruce in the Steel Mill-era take on “Turn On Your Love Light”? (It doesn’t sound like Steve.)
I’m assuming it’s Robbin, Mark, although I’m no expert on his voice.
1966 in the Martinique nightclub in Daytona Beach Turn On Your Lovelight was part of Duane and Greg’s set.