He has come close, with “Dancing in the Dark” reaching No. 2, but he has yet to reach the top spot. A cover of one of his songs has hit No. 1, though. Springsteen thought that a changed line helped push it to the top.
In 1977, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band released a cover of the Bruce Springsteen song “Blinded by the Light.” The song charted higher than Springsteen’s own version. The Manfred Mann version hit No. 1, and Springsteen has never had a No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Manfred Mann was worried about seeing Springsteen after the cover because of one word in the song.
Springsteen released “Blinded By the Light” on his first album. Four years after he released it, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band released their own version of the song. In it, they accidentally changed the line “Cut loose like a deuce” to “wrapped up like a douche.”
“I don’t think Springsteen liked our ‘Blinded By The Light,’ ’cos we sang ‘wrapped up like a douche’, and it wasn’t written like that and I screwed it up completely,” Mann told Record Collector. “It sounded like ‘douche’ instead of ‘deuce’, ’cos of the technical process – a faulty azimuth due to tape-head angles, and it meant we couldn’t remix it.”
He said they tried to change the line, but they couldn’t.
“This song is my only number one song,” Springsteen said on VH1’s Storytellers (per Far Out Magazine). “I’ve never had another number one song. Except this one wasn’t done by me, it was done by Manfred Mann, which I appreciate. But, they changed this line. My line says, ‘cut loose like a deuce’, and theirs said, ‘cut loose like a douche’”
“Warners in America said, ‘You’ve got to change ‘douche’, ’cos the Southern Bible belt radio stations think it’s about a vaginal douche, and they have problems with body parts down there,’” he said. “We tried to change it to ‘deuce’ but then the rest of the track sounded horrible, so we had to leave it. We just said, ‘If it’s not a hit, it’s not.’”
Mann said he was worried about Springsteen’s reaction to their cover. He avoided him at events from then on.
“But in the end, it was No. 1 in America, and so many people came up to us after and said, ‘You know why it made No. 1? … Everyone was talking about whether it was deuce or douche,’” he said. “Apparently Springsteen thought we’d done it deliberately, which we hadn’t, so if I ever saw him I’d avoid him and cringe away like a frightened little boy.” (Showbiz)
Bruce Springsteen has penned and produced so many cover-worthy songs, it’s not exactly surprising that his contemporaries have given their own renditions of some of his greatest hits.
1. “Atlantic City” by The Band
“Atlantic City” is a standout track on Springsteen’s magnum opus, Nebraska. It’s not easy to cover a song quite that powerful, but that didn’t stop The Band from giving it a shot.
The legendary roots rock outfit took “Atlantic City” and brought it into new territory with a notable change of pace and accordion introduction. It’s a dark song originally, and even with the new instrumentation and subtle changes, The Band maintained that dark vibe throughout their cover.
2. “I’m Goin’ Down” by Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend’s acoustic cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m Goin’ Down” isn’t exactly what anyone expected. However, Ezra Koenig managed to cover something radically different from his own music and make it sound like an original track.
3. “I’m On Fire” by Bat For Lashes
Natasha Khan’s voice wouldn’t be most Bruce Springsteen fans’ first choice for a cover song, namely because she sounds so different from The Boss. Still, this underrated indie pop darling covered Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire” so beautifully back in the day. With a few lyrical changes and an added richness, Bat For Lashes transformed a soft rock classic into something totally her own.
4. “Johnny 99” by Johnny Cash
Bruce Springsteen covers have come from a few big names in the industry, but few are bigger than country king Johnny Cash. Cash aptly covered Springsteen’s “Johnny 99”, and it was the perfect choice for the Man in Black outside of the “Johnny” connection.
