Bruce Springsteen Archives

The Best Cover Songs of October 2022

Posted by Ray Padgett at 10:13 am No Responses »

Oct 312022

Avril Lavigne & All Time Low – All the Small Things (Blink 182 cover)

One way you can tell millennials are getting old: There are now nostalgia-bait festivals catering to the music of their (our) youth. Such was the case with When We Were Young, the emo and pop-punk fest in Vegas a couple weeks ago with Paramore, My Chemical Romance, Bright Eyes, and dozens more. A video high point is this extremely fun and infectious cover of “All the Small Things” by All Time Low and Avril Lavigne, performed right after Blink 182 announced they were getting back together. Best part: When the entire crowd hollers alone to “Work sucks / I know”! Continue reading »

Cover Me Q&A: What’s your favorite cover of an instrumental?

Posted by Staff at 12:00 pm 1 Response »

Jul 202022

Welcome to Cover Me Q&A, where we take your questions about cover songs and answer them to the best of our ability.

Here at Cover Me Q&A, we’ll be taking questions about cover songs and giving as many different answers as we can. This will give us a chance to hold forth on covers we might not otherwise get to talk about, to give Cover Me readers a chance to learn more about individual staffers’ tastes and writing styles, and to provide an opportunity for some back-and-forth, as we’ll be taking requests (learn how to do so at feature’s end).

Today’s question pairs up with our previous Q&A about favorite instrumental covers: What’s your favorite cover of an instrumental?
Continue reading »

The Best Cover Songs of June 2022

Posted by Ray Padgett at 11:13 am No Responses »

Jun 302022

Angel Olsen – Greenville (Lucinda Williams cover)

Angel Olsen dropped two terrific covers this month. Her version of Dylan’s “One Too Many Mornings,” recorded for the TV show Shining Girls, features haunting electronic textures underpinning her voice. It’s a surprisingly un-folky cover of one of Bob’s early folk songs. Her version of Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels on a Gravel Road standout “Greenville” is just as good, guitar echoing behind her mesmerizing double-tracked vocals. Continue reading »

Shawn Mendes Plays It Straight on “Dancing in the Dark” Cover

Posted by Brendan Shanahan at 12:00 pm 1 Response »

Jun 012022

As a part of Tommy Hilfinger’s Classics Reborn ad campaign, Canadian pop star Shawn Mendes has recorded a cover of the Bruce Springsteen hit “Dancing in the Dark.”

For Tommy Hilfinger, “Reborn” must just mean “covered by a recent star,” as the track is almost identical to the original. Mendes’ softer, more pop vocal is the only real difference, and if anything, highlights how good Springsteen’s vocal was in the original. It’ll do the job for this ad and the audience it’s going for, but if you’re a fan of the Boss, there are more interesting covers elsewhere. Continue reading »

The Best Cover Songs of May 2022

Posted by Ray Padgett at 12:35 pm No Responses »

May 312022

Arcade Fire – As It Was (Harry Styles cover)

We kick off this month’s list with not one but two Harry Styles covers! And both performed for the BBC Live Lounge, no less, which clearly went all-in on promoting Harry’s new solo album. First up is Arcade Fire, also currently doing the promo rounds for their own new album, tackling Harry’s new song “As It Were.” It speaks to how much classic-rock Styles has in his DNA that the song fits perfectly in Arcade Fire’s anthemic-rock template. Never ones to not go out, the cover features multiple twelve-string guitars and a dude playing a giant rack of tubes with a hammer. Continue reading »

The Best Cover Songs of April 2022

Posted by Ray Padgett at 12:42 pm 2 Responses »

Apr 292022

Aimee Mann – Brooklyn (Steely Dan cover)

If you missed the whole brouhaha when Steely Dan dropped Aimee Mann as their opening act, it’s too long to recap here. To skip to the end, Mann tweeted, “All is forgiven if Donald [Fagan] just tells me what Brooklyn is about.” And he did! So, at a recent show at City Winery, she covered it. All does indeed appear to be forgiven. Continue reading »