If there’s one artist who wears his influences lower on his sleeve than just about anyone else, it has to be Bruce Springsteen. He regularly plays his favourite songs live, often records them and even invites the artists who wrote or performed them originally to join him on stage or in the studio. And while his sound is unmistakably Bruce, he has a unique way to pay tribute to his musical idols while composing and producing.
This CD contains 25 tracks that shaped Springsteen’s musical taste, his songwriting and his performances. From obvious cuts like Twist and Shout, Be My Baby and Johnny B Goode, to lesser knows songs from the likes of Pete Seeger, Amos Milburn, James Brown and even Robert Mitchum, this compilation really can be thought of as Bruce’s personal Jukebox.
Listening to the selection as a whole provides a unique opportunity to enter the Springsteen muse and allows the listener the opportunity to identify, on track after track, Springsteen’s ingenious method of using inspirations without ever ‘borrowing’, copying or, God forbid, thieving from other composers.
1 Don’t Be Cruel Elvis Presley (Blackwell/Presley) 2:04
2 Mystery Train Little Junior Parker and the Blue Flames (Parker/Phillips) 2:23
3 Good Rockin’ Tonight Wynonie Harris (Brown) 2:40
4 Twist And Shout Beatles (Medley/Russell) 2:39
5 Maggie’s Farm Bob Dylan (Dylan) 3:47
6 Paint It Black Rolling Stones (Jagger/Richard) 2:12
7 Louie Louie Richard Berry (Berry) 2:11
8 Chicken Shack Boogie Amos Milburn (Milburn/Cullum) 2:30
9 Be My Baby Ronettes (Spector/Greenwich//Barry) 2:30
10 Please, Please, Please James Brown and his Famous Flames (Brown/Terry) 2:43
11 Proud Mary Creedence Clearwater Revival (Fogerty) 2:10
12 The Ballad Of Thunder Road Robert Mitchum (Raye/Mitchum) 2:33
13 Only The Lonely Roy Orbison (Orbison/Melson) 2:10
14 Mona Bo Diddley (McDaniel) 2:23
15 Rave On Buddy Holly (Petty/Tilghman/West) 1:49
16 Come On In My Kitchen Robert Johnson (Johnson) 2:50
17 A Mansion On The Hill Hank Williams Sr. (Williams/Rose) 2:35
18 Tom Joad, Part 1 Woody Guthrie (Guthrie) 3:29
19 Tom Joad, Part 2 Woody Guthrie (Guthrie) 3:31
20 Johnny B. Goode Chuck Berry (Berry) 2:38
21 Angel Eyes Frank Sinatra (Dennis/Brent) 3:46
22 I Walk The Line Johnny Cash (Cash) 2:44
23 Walking The Dog Rufus Thomas (Thomas) 3:39
24 John Henry Pete Seeger (Trad, Arr.Seeger) 4:28
25 Summertime Blues Eddie Cochran (Capehart/Cochran) 1:58