Sinatra has been everpresent in Springsteen’s life, and no matter where he finds himself, whenever Bruce hears the crooner’s voice, it transports him back home. It wasn’t until the latter stages of Sinatra’s life that the pair bridged the generational divide and sparked up a friendship, which meant everything to Springsteen.
In 1995, Springsteen was invited to appear at a tribute show for Sinatra to mark the singer’s 80th birthday. It was the ultimate honour for Bruce to participate in the ceremony, and before performing ‘Angel Eyes’, he told the crowd about Sinatra’s impact on him.
Springsteen explained: “Well, I’m here tonight not just to salute Frank’s artistry because, well, he is the patron saint of New Jersey, and since his rise from the streets of Hoboken, Frank has basically owned the place, but he has been gracious enough to loan me a small piece of it by the beach.”
My first recollection of Frank’s voice was coming out of a jukebox in a dark bar on a Sunday afternoon when my mother and I went searching for my father. She said, ‘Listen to that, that’s Frank Sinatra, he is from New Jersey’. It was a voice filled with bad attitude, life, beauty, excitement and nasty sense of freedom, sex and sad knowledge of the ways of the world.”
Since his mother introduced him to Sinatra as a child, he’s been sentimentally attached to his body of work. It’s been there in the background of his life, soundtracking spades of memories, and the person behind his favourite song of all time.
In a conversation with Stephen Colbert in 2021, Springsteen was asked to name the one song he’d listen to for the rest of his life, and he said: “One? Wow. ‘Summer Wind’ – Frank Sinatra.”
Bruce Springsteen' videos released from new album 'Only The Strong Survive' so far.
“Don’t Play That Song” is the third song Springsteen has released from Only The Strong Survive following his takes on Frank Wilson’s “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)” and the Commodores’ “Nightshift.”
Now Bruce Springsteen has recorded it for his “Only the Strong Survive” album coming November 11th. (By coincidence you can find another cover of “Don’t Play That Song” by Bruce’s collaborator, R&B great Sam Moore, with Wynonna Judd on YouTube, from 2006.) Great song, great cover.
I decided to do something I had never done before: make some music that is centered around singing, around challenging my voice," he said in a YouTube video announcing the record, out Nov. 11. "Now, in my own memoir, I give my voice a little short shrift by saying I didn't think I had much of one. But once I started on this project, after listening to some of the things we cut, I thought, 'My voice is badass!'"
Bruce Springsteen and Thom Zimny have teamed up again to present a new music video for Frank Wilson’s “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do),” the first song from Bruce’s upcoming album Only The Strong Survive, coming November 11. Watch the video here plus a special greeting from Bruce about the album!
Bruce Springsteen’s new studio album, a collection of fifteen soul music greats titled Only The Strong Survive, was released by Columbia Records on November 11. Featuring lead vocals by Springsteen, Only The Strong Survive celebrates soul music gems from the legendary catalogues of Motown, Gamble and Huff, Stax and many more. This 21st studio album from Bruce Springsteen will also feature guest vocals by Sam Moore, as well as contributions from The E Street Horns, full string arrangements by Rob Mathes, and backing vocals by Soozie Tyrell, Lisa Lowell, Michelle Moore, Curtis King Jr., Dennis Collins and Fonzi Thornton.
Bruce Springsteen commented: “I wanted to make an album where I just sang. And what better music to work with than the great American songbook of the Sixties and Seventies? I’ve taken my inspiration from Levi Stubbs, David Ruffin, Jimmy Ruffin, the Iceman Jerry Butler, Diana Ross, Dobie Gray, and Scott Walker, among many others. I’ve tried to do justice to them all—and to the fabulous writers of this glorious music. My goal is for the modern audience to experience its beauty and joy, just as I have since I first heard it. I hope you love listening to it as much as I loved making it.”
Only The Strong Survive Tracklist:
1. Only the Strong Survive
2. Soul Days feat. Sam Moore
3. Nightshift
4. Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)
5. The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore
6. Turn Back the Hands of Time
7. When She Was My Girl
8. Hey, Western Union Man
9. I Wish It Would Rain
10. Don’t Play That Song
11. Any Other Way
12. I Forgot to Be Your Lover feat. Sam Moore
13. 7 Rooms of Gloom
14. What Becomes of the Brokenhearted
15. Someday We’ll Be Together
The rumors about the Boss's record projects are never silent: fans go wild to hypothesize this or that project, often with a good dose of wishful thinking. This time the voice was picked up by a podcast rather followed by fans, None But the Brave, and relaunched by fan sites such as the Italian Pink Cadillac, and animatedly discussed on the forums, where it runs a possible title and a tracklist ( which is useless to report: someone will remember the hoax "Arcade at night", album with a lot of cover and songs, but invented with art ...). (Rockol.it)
As we mentioned on the last episode about rumblings of a new @springsteen release, those rumblings have gotten much louder and we expect Bruce to release a soul covers record this fall. A small number of shows to promote it are also expected. Count us as intrigued.
— None But The Brave Podcast (@NBTBPodcast) August 23, 2022
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