Cover Me: Turn Back the Hands of Time

“Wanna sing, son?”

The way the story goes, Tyrone Davis was dressed to kill that night.

With his elbows on the stage, he couldn’t help but catch the eye of his idol, Bobby “Blue” Bland (whose “Turn On Your Love Light” we listened to a couple of weeks ago). However, Davis couldn’t have predicted what happened next: Bland leaned down and offered him the microphone.

Davis took the mic, and as he took the stage, Bland looked straight at him and said, “Be you. Don’t be me.”

Tyrone Davis was himself, and that was enough to jump start a career that took him to the upper reaches of both the pop and R&B charts.

“Turn Back the Hands of Time” was Davis’ second hit single and his highest-charting, reaching the top slot on the Billboard R&B chart and #3 on the Hot 100 in early 1970. Davis became known for his smooth baritone vocals and emotive delivery, which were often matched with rueful, romantic lyrics pleading for a do-over or second chance.

When Bruce Springsteen covered it a half-century later, he wisely stayed with the original arrangement, right down to its trademark percussion and strings. He easily had the chops to go toe to toe with Davis vocally, so why fix something that wasn’t broken?

“Turn Back the Hands of Time” was such a good fit for Springsteen, in fact, that he released it as a single on the same day as his album of covers, Only the Strong Survive, with a natty performance video to promote it.

Four days later, Springsteen performed it live on The Tonight Show, with a big band that included his former bandmate David Sancious. It was a spectacular performance, arguably the strongest of his promotional appearances, and it seemed like “Turn Back the Hands of Time” would be a lock for his upcoming tour.

But of course here we are almost two years later, still waiting for a proper concert debut. Who knows if we’ll ever see one, but at least we can always travel back to November 15, 2022 and imagine how great “Turn Back the Hands of Time” would sound live on the E Street stage.

Turn Back the Hands of Time
Recorded: 2022
Released: Only the Strong Survive (2022)
First performed: November 15, 2022 (New York City, NY)
Last performed: November 15, 2022 (New York City, NY)

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