Mar 102011
 

Superchunk singer Mac McCaughan knows how to cut to the core of a song. We last saw him do it by paring down Jay Reatard’s ripping “My Shadow” into a haunted confession. Now, he strips away the synth layers and drum bursts from Bruce Springsteen’s “Bobby Jean” to reveal a new emotional core.

The acoustic strumming arguably fits the lyrics better than the blasting Born in the U.S.A. original. A regretful remembrance supposedly written upon the departure of Little Steven from the E Street Band, “Bobby Jean” pleads for one chance to say goodbye. McCaughan delivers the message like a Romeo whose Juliet has moved to Frisco. He stands on the lawn singing his heart out to a second-story room where someone he cared for used to live.

Mac McCaughan – Bobby Jean (Bruce Springsteen cover)

DOWNLOAD MP3

Check out more at Superchunk’s website.

Cover Me is now on Patreon! If you love cover songs, we hope you will consider supporting us there with a small monthly subscription. There are a bunch of exclusive perks only for patrons: playlists, newsletters, downloads, discussions, polls - hell, tell us what song you would like to hear covered and we will make it happen. Learn more at Patreon.

  5 Responses to “Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan Strips Away the Bombast of “Bobby Jean””

Comments (4) Pingbacks (1)
  1. It seems that when he stripped everything away he stripped away the proper lyrics too.

  2. I like this, it’s good, but don’t front on the Born in the U.S.A. version. give me a break!

  3. Yeah, way to miff the lyrics (and chords!) on the air, guy. That said, at least he soldiers on… it would’ve been way worse had he stopped in the middle to find his place.

  4. Also, IMO the only thing kind of weird about Bruce’s original version is the sax tone at the end. Doesn’t it sound more compressed and mechanical than usual?

 Leave a Reply

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

(required)

(required)