Oh man. I was dreading the first time the dice came up with one of these songs, because I’m not sure how to classify them. Are they originals or covers?<\/p>\n
See, Bruce does this thing once in a while where he “covers” a song but in the process rewrites all the lyrics and rearranges all the music. But the title and some snippets are the same (except when he changes the title, too).<\/p>\n
It’s kind of the musical equivalent of an “inspired by a true story” movie.<\/p>\n
Case in point: “I’m a Coward,” originally recorded in 1962 by Gino Washington as “I’m a Coward” and released nationally in 1964 as “Gino is a Coward.”<\/p>\n
Lyrically, the only line either version has in common with Bruce’s 1988 re-working is “I’ve got one muscle made of iron, one muscle made of steel,” and the chorus hook, “I’m a coward when it comes to love.”<\/p>\n
And musically, well… here’s the 1964 version:<\/p>\n