‘Nightshift’ and ‘Turn Back the Hands of Time’ were performed live by Bruce Springsteen on ‘The Tonight Show’. Following his performance of Frank Wilson’s ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’ earlier this week, Springsteen sang two songs from his latest soul covers album, ‘Only the Strong Survive,’ during his three-night appearance on the talk show.
In a recent episode, Springsteen performed the album track ‘Turn Back the Hands of Time,’ which is a cover Tyrone Davis’ namesake original, released in 1970.
After the performance, Springsteen made his final appearance on the talk show last night to play his cover of the Commodores’ 1985 classic ‘Nightshift’. Last month, that cover was originally made available as a single for ‘Only The Strong Survive’.
Although Springsteen’s three-night residency on ‘The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’, which was his first time appearing as a musical guest is over, The Boss is scheduled to return to the show for a Thanksgiving episode later this month.
Springsteen put an end to the debate over the lyrics to his 1975 song ‘Thunder Road’ in a lengthy interview with Fallon. The song’s opening line is ‘Mary’s dress waves,’ however the Boss stated that for 50 years he has substituted the last word with ‘sways’ during live performances.
The tracklist for ‘Only The Strong Survive’ also includes soul renditions of songs by Jerry Butler (the album’s title track), Frankie Valli (‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore’) and The Temptations (‘I Wish It Would Rain’) in addition to Springsteen’s take on Davis, Wilson and the Commodores.
In a four-star review of the album, a popular site wrote: “The Boss shines a light on the greats of the past and leans into his full vocal prowess with this beautiful celebration of soul music.”
Springsteen said that he had abandoned an entire record to make room for ‘Only The Strong Survive,’ a day after its release. In an interview with Edith Bowman, Springsteen discussed the project that was put on hold. He said: “I made an entire record that I threw out, and it’ll show up in different places, and there were some good things on it but didn’t feel quite right.”
Sikha Sohan