Cover Me (Bruce Springsteen song)

Last updated
"Cover Me"
CoverMeSingleFront.jpg
Single by Bruce Springsteen
from the album Born in the U.S.A.
B-side "Jersey Girl" (live)
ReleasedJuly 31, 1984 (1984-07-31)
RecordedMay 12, 1982
Studio Power Station, New York City
Genre Rock [1]
Length3:26
Label Columbia
Songwriter(s) Bruce Springsteen
Producer(s)
Bruce Springsteen singles chronology
"Dancing in the Dark"
(1984)
"Cover Me"
(1984)
"Born in the U.S.A."
(1984)
Audio
"Cover Me" on YouTube

"Cover Me" is a song written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. It was the second single released from his 1984 album Born in the U.S.A. . Springsteen wrote the song for Donna Summer. However, his manager, Jon Landau, decided the song had hit potential, and so he kept it for the upcoming Springsteen album. It has been certified Gold in the US.

Contents

Background and recording

The song was first recorded on January 25, 1982 at the Hit Factory in New York City, [2] as a demo version with the E Street Band, during sessions where Springsteen was doing recording for Gary U.S. Bonds' On the Line . [3] Jon Landau's friend David Geffen had asked whether Springsteen could compose a song for Donna Summer (newly signed to Geffen Records), and Springsteen had written "Cover Me". [4] However, Landau felt Springsteen's composition was too good to give away. Although Springsteen did not have a high opinion of the song at the time, he agreed to write and record another demo for Summer, resulting in "Protection". [5] The singer re-recorded "Cover Me" on May 12 at the Power Station, also in New York City, for the version that would later appear on Born in the U.S.A. ; he did nine takes. [2] In the couple of years leading up to Born in the U.S.A.'s release, Springsteen recorded about 70 songs as the pool of tracks considered for the album. [6]

Release

The song peaked at No. 10 on the Cashbox Top 100 [7] and No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart [8] in October 1984. It was the second of a record-tying seven Top 10 hit singles to be released from a single album. [9] No music video was made for the song. [10]

Cash Box called the song "a driving, emotional display of classic Boss." [11]

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [28] Gold35,000
United States (RIAA) [29] Gold500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Remixes

Continuing the club play goal started with "Dancing in the Dark", Arthur Baker created the 12-inch "Undercover Mix" of "Cover Me". This was a large-scale transformation: a new bass line was cut, an unused backing vocal by industry legend Jocelyn Brown was restored, and reggae and dub elements were introduced. It was released on October 15, 1984.

As with the previous effort, the result displeased some of Springsteen's more strait-laced fans, but did gain actual club play: the remix went to number 11 on Billboard's Hot Dance/Disco chart. [20]

Track listings

7-inch single

  1. "Cover Me" – 3:26
  2. "Jersey Girl" – 6:15 with an edited spoken introduction, or at 6:10 without a spoken introduction.

The B-side of the single, "Jersey Girl", was a live performance of a Tom Waits song, recorded on July 9, 1981, at Meadowlands Arena. Springsteen had introduced the song earlier in that special River Tour homecoming stand that opened the arena, slightly rewriting it to replace a Waits line about "whores on Eighth Avenue" and adding a verse that included "that little brat of yours and drop[ping] her off at your mom's." [30] This same recording would later be released as the closing track of Live 1975-85 .

Differing pressings of the single had different lengths of "Jersey Girl", sometimes dropping most of a spoken introduction of 0:31 seconds in length. The UK 12-inch single contains the full-length version with the complete spoken introduction at 6:36. Both the sleeve and label erroneously state a playing time of 5:50.

12-inch single

  1. "Cover Me" (Undercover Mix) – 6:09
  2. "Cover Me" (Dub 1) – 4:02
  3. "Cover Me" (Radio Mix) – 3:46
  4. "Cover Me" (Dub 2) – 4:15

CD single (1988)

  1. "Cover Me" – 3:26
  2. "Pink Cadillac" – 3:33

Live performance history

Springsteen was unsure of how to play "Cover Me" in concert, and initially it appeared irregularly in the 1984–1985 Born in the U.S.A. Tour. Then, inspired by Arthur Baker's remix, he rearranged it to open and close with a quiet, ominous, extended, echoing segment as new E Street backup singer Patti Scialfa wailed a snippet of Martha & the Vandellas' "Nowhere to Run" (in her one spotlight role of the show) while her future husband reverbed "Cuh ... vuh ... me-ee-ee", after which the song ramped up into showcase guitar work for Springsteen and Nils Lofgren. "Cover Me" thus became a featured song on the tour, often opening the second set; such a performance was included on the 1986 Live 1975–85 . "Cover Me" continued as a regular selection on the 1988 Tunnel of Love Express and Human Rights Now! Tours, and the 1992 leg of the "Other Band" Tour (now without Scialfa's part). After December 1992 it was dropped until Springsteen's first concert in Oslo on July 7, 2008. The song has turned up as a semi-regular on the Working On A Dream Tour, especially after Springsteen and the E Street Band began playing the entire Born in the U.S.A. album in New York and Philadelphia.

For his tours between 2002 and 2023, many of the set lists have been published on his official website, Brucespringsteen.net. [31] [32] Of these, all of the singer's performances of the song are listed in the table below. [n 1]

Personnel

According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon: [44]

Notes

  1. This is based on set lists that were captured in archived versions of his website in November 2008 (for the 2002—2008 tours), May 2017 (for the 2009–2017 tours), and February 2024 (for the 2023 tour).

Footnotes

  1. Molanphy, Chris (July 16, 2021). "Tramps Like Us Edition". Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia (Podcast). Slate . Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  2. 1 2 Heylin 2012 , p. 480
  3. Marsh 1987 , pp. 106–107
  4. Marsh 1987 , pp. 107
  5. Marsh 1987 , pp. 107–108
  6. Marsh 1987 , pp. 178, 181
  7. Whitburn, Joel (2014). Joel Whitburn's CashBox Pop Hits 1952-1996 . Record Research. ISBN   978-0-89820-209-0.
  8. 1 2 "Bruce Springsteen Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  9. Rose 2014
  10. Marsh 1987 , p. 266
  11. "Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. August 11, 1984. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
  12. Kent 1993
  13. RPM Singles (October 20, 1984)
  14. CHUM Chart Archives – Chart Number 1449 – Saturday, October 06, 1984
  15. Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN   951-31-2503-3.
  16. "Le Détail par Artiste". InfoDisc (in French). Select "Bruce Springsteen" from the artist drop-down menu. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  17. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Cover Me". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  18. "Bruce Springsteen – Cover Me". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  19. "Bruce Springsteen Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  20. 1 2 "Billboard Volume 96 No. 47, November 24, 1984" (PDF). Billboard . New York, NY, USA. 24 November 1984. p. 54. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  21. "Cash Box Top 100 Singles – Week ending September 29, 1984". Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 2017-06-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Cash Box magazine.
  22. "Bruce Springsteen – Cover Me" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  23. "Bruce Springsteen – Cover Me". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  24. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  25. RPM – Top 100 Singles of 1984
  26. "Volume 96 No. 51, December 1984" (PDF). Billboard . New York, NY, USA. 22 December 1984. p. TA-19. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  27. "The Cash Box Year-End Charts: 1984". Archived from the original on September 30, 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-11.. Cash Box magazine.
  28. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2023 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association . Retrieved November 23, 2023.
  29. "American single certifications – Bruce Springsteen – Cover Me". Recording Industry Association of America.
  30. Zimmerman 2011
  31. 1 2 3 Live: 2002–3
  32. 1 2 Live Dates: 2009
  33. Live: 2005
  34. Live: 2006
  35. Live: 2007
  36. Live: 2008
  37. Live Dates: 2012
  38. Live Dates: 2013
  39. Live Dates: 2014
  40. Live Dates: 2015
  41. Live Dates: 2016
  42. Live Dates: 2017
  43. Relive the Tours: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band 2023 Tour
  44. Guesdon 2020 , p. 234

Related Research Articles

<i>Born in the U.S.A.</i> 1984 studio album by Bruce Springsteen

Born in the U.S.A. is the seventh studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on June 4, 1984, by Columbia Records. Co-produced by Springsteen, Jon Landau, Steven Van Zandt, and Chuck Plotkin, the album was recorded in New York City with the E Street Band over two years between January 1982 and March 1984. Some of the songs originated from the same demo tape that yielded the solo effort Nebraska (1982), while others were written after that album's release. The sessions yielded between 70 and 90 songs; some were released as B-sides, some later saw release on compilation albums, while others remain unreleased.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Born to Run (Bruce Springsteen song)</span> 1975 single by Bruce Springsteen

"Born to Run" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen and the title track of his third studio album, Born to Run (1975). It was Springsteen's first worldwide single release, although it achieved little initial success outside of the United States. Within the U.S., however, it received extensive airplay on progressive or album-oriented rock radio stations. The single was also Springsteen's first Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #23.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nightshift (song)</span> 1985 song by the Commodores

"Nightshift" is a 1985 song by the Commodores and the title track from their album of the same name. The song was written by lead singer Walter Orange in collaboration with Dennis Lambert and Franne Golde as a tribute to soul/R&B singers Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye, both of whom died in 1984. The song was released as the album's first single in January 1985 by Motown Records. "Nightshift" was recorded in 1984 and became the Commodores' first hit after Lionel Richie's departure from the group. Bruce Springsteen covered the song in his 2022 studio album, Only the Strong Survive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Born in the U.S.A. (song)</span> 1984 song by Bruce Springsteen

"Born in the U.S.A." is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen and released in 1984 on the album of the same name as its opening track. One of Springsteen's best-known songs, it was ranked 275th on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and in 2001, the RIAA's Songs of the Century placed the song 59th, remaining a favorite in classic rock. The song addresses the economic hardships of Vietnam veterans upon their return home, juxtaposed ironically against patriotic glorification of the nation's fighting forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pretty Flamingo</span> 1966 single by Manfred Mann

"Pretty Flamingo" is a song written by Mark Barkan, which became a hit in 1966 when Manfred Mann's recording of it was released as a single. The single reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 5 May 1966. Manfred Mann's recording was a minor hit in the United States where it spent eight weeks on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 29 during the week of August 6, 1966. It was also successful in Ireland, and was number one there for four weeks, keeping the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" at number two.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hungry Heart</span> 1980 single by Bruce Springsteen

"Hungry Heart" is a rock song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen on his fifth album, The River. It was released as the album's lead single in 1980 and became Springsteen's first big hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart peaking at number five.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen song)</span> 1984 single by Bruce Springsteen

"Dancing in the Dark" is a song written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. It was the first single released ahead from his 1984 album, Born in the U.S.A., and became his biggest hit, helping the album become the best-selling album of his career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">My Hometown</span> 1985 single by Bruce Springsteen

"My Hometown" is a single by Bruce Springsteen off his Born in the U.S.A. album as its closing track, that was the then-record-tying seventh and last top 10 single to come from it, peaking at #7 on the Cash Box Top 100 and #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It also topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart, making the song Springsteen's only #1 song on this chart to date. The song is a synthesizer-based, low-tempo number that features Springsteen on vocals.

"Pink Cadillac" is a song by Bruce Springsteen released as the non-album B-side of "Dancing in the Dark" in 1984. The song received much airplay worldwide and appeared on the Billboard Top Tracks chart for 14 weeks, peaking at No. 27. The song was also a prominent concert number during Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. Tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I'm Goin' Down</span> 1985 single by Bruce Springsteen

"I'm Goin' Down" is a rock song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen. It was released on August 27, 1985 by Columbia Records as the sixth single from his 1984 album Born in the U.S.A. The song was recorded with the E Street Band in May 1982 at Power Station studio in New York City, and co-produced by Springsteen, Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, and Steve Van Zandt. Although Springsteen had changing ideas about the songs to put on the album, "I'm Goin' Down" was ultimately selected for inclusion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I'm on Fire</span> 1985 single by Bruce Springsteen

"I'm on Fire" is a song written and performed by American rock performer Bruce Springsteen. Released in 1985, it was the fourth single from his album Born in the U.S.A.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glory Days (Bruce Springsteen song)</span> 1985 single by Bruce Springsteen

"Glory Days" is a song written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. In 1985, it became the fifth single released from his 1984 album Born in the U.S.A.

"Bobby Jean" is a song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen, from his 1984 album Born in the U.S.A. Although not released as a single, it reached number 36 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

"Johnny 99" is a song written and recorded by rock musician Bruce Springsteen, which first appeared on Springsteen's 1982 solo album Nebraska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brilliant Disguise</span> 1987 single by Bruce Springsteen

"Brilliant Disguise" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from his 1987 album Tunnel of Love. It was released as the first single from the album, reaching the No. 5 position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart in the United States. The follow-up single, "Tunnel of Love", also reached No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, giving Springsteen two consecutive No. 1's. The single reached the top 10 in four additional countries including Canada and Ireland and the top 20 in Australia, Netherlands and the United Kingdom. "Brilliant Disguise" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 1988 Grammy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tunnel of Love (Bruce Springsteen song)</span> 1987 single by Bruce Springsteen

"Tunnel of Love" is the title song by Bruce Springsteen from his 1987 Tunnel of Love album. It was released as the second single from the album, reaching number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Like the first single from the album, "Brilliant Disguise", "Tunnel of Love" reached number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and reached the top twenty in Canada peaking at number seventeen. The music video received five MTV Video Music Awards nominations, including Video of the Year and Best Male Video.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One Step Up</span> 1988 single by Bruce Springsteen

"One Step Up" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from his eighth studio album, Tunnel of Love (1987). It was released as the third single from the album, following "Brilliant Disguise" and the title track. It reached position #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, #3 on the Adult Contemporary chart in the United States, and #23 in Canada. It also reached #2 on the U.S. Album Rock Tracks chart, giving Springsteen three straight top two tracks from the album. The song was only released as a single in America. One of the unreleased songs from 1980's The River, "Roulette", recorded April 3, 1979, was released as the b-side, using an alternate vocal mixed on April 12, 1980, that would also be used in 1998, when it was chosen for Tracks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spirit in the Night</span> 1973 single by Bruce Springsteen

"Spirit in the Night" is a song written and originally recorded by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen for his debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (1973). It was also the second single released from the album. A cover version performed by Manfred Mann's Earth Band using the title "Spirits in the Night" was released on the album Nightingales and Bombers and as a Top 40 single.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secret Garden (Bruce Springsteen song)</span> 1995 single by Bruce Springsteen

"Secret Garden" is a song by American musician Bruce Springsteen. It was originally released as a single from his Greatest Hits album on February 27, 1995, on Columbia Records. Upon its initial release, it peaked at number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100. Two years later, after being featured on the soundtrack for the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire, it was re-released as a two-track single, which featured a live version of "Thunder Road". This re-issue returned the song to the Hot 100, where it peaked at number 19 and remains Springsteen's final top-40 hit in the United States to date. It also charted on the Adult Top 40 and Top 40 Mainstream, peaking at number 12 and number 15 respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadillac Ranch (Bruce Springsteen song)</span> 1981 single by Bruce Springsteen

"Cadillac Ranch" is a song written by Bruce Springsteen that was first released on Springsteen's 1980 album The River. In 1981 it was released as a single in Europe, backed by "Be True" in France and by "Wreck on the Highway" in the UK. Although it was not released as a single in the US, it did reach #48 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. A favorite in concert, a live version was included on Live/1975–85. A version was also included on the documentary film Blood Brothers.

References

Zimmerman, Lee (December 7, 2011). "Happy Birthday, Tom Waits!". New Times Broward-Palm Beach . Archived from the original on September 2, 2023. Retrieved September 2, 2023.