Bruce Springsteen has given us some of the greatest rock songs ever made. “Born to Run.” “Thunder Road.” “Born in the U.S.A.” The man from New Jersey has been one of the best-selling musical artists in American history since his debut album came out in 1973.
But here is something you might not know. The Boss didn’t keep all his best songs for himself. He handed a few gems to other artists over the years, some by choice, some by coincidence, and at least one because a friend asked nicely backstage.
See if you remember where you first heard any of these.
“Blinded By the Light” — Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
This one actually started on Springsteen’s own debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., back in 1973. The album didn’t catch on right away, though. Then, in 1976, British group Manfred Mann’s Earth Band recorded their own version for their album The Roaring Silence, changing a few of the lyrics along the way.
Their version shot to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Most people assumed it was always their song. According to the band’s frontman, Chris Thompson, Springsteen was not happy about it. Thompson recalled Springsteen’s complaint to Guitar Player magazine: “[Springsteen] was upset that it had ‘douche’ in it, and that we’d actually changed some of the words. Because ‘wrapped up like a deuce’ were not the original words. They were ‘cut loose like a deuce,’ and I didn’t really want to sing that. I don’t know why.”
“Because the Night” — Patti Smith Group
Patti Smith’s passionate love song from her 1978 album Easter is one of the great tracks of that decade. What most people don’t know is that Bruce Springsteen started writing it and then got stuck.
He had recorded a strong chorus and some mumbled ideas, but couldn’t pull the rest of the song together. Smith eventually got a chance to listen to those unfinished pieces and finished what he had started, adding her own lyrics.
Springsteen later reflected on how it all came together: “I was just happy because I realized I had written a great chorus, which I knew. But I didn’t have the rest of the song! I had me mumbling a few things and had a great hook; I knew that… A great hook, as great as one can be, is still not a great song. And so [Smith] turned it into a great song.”
The finished song reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Protection” — Donna Summer
The Queen of Disco released 17 studio albums in her career, and her 1982 self-titled tenth album included a little help from The Boss. Summer’s manager reached out to Springsteen, who agreed to write a song for the record. He went further than that; he also played guitar and sang backup vocals on the recording.
Springsteen had originally planned to give Summer a different song called “Cover Me,” but his manager Jon Landau talked him out of it. Springsteen kept “Cover Me” for himself, and it ended up on his 1984 album Born in the U.S.A., reaching number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. The song he did write for Summer, “Protection,” earned a Grammy Award nomination.
“From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)” — Dave Edmunds
Springsteen wrote this one for his 1980 album The River, but it didn’t make the final cut. It might have stayed in a drawer forever, except Springsteen personally handed it to Dave Edmunds after the two met backstage at a show in Wembley.
Edmunds told the story vividly: “I never met Bruce, and I didn’t know he knew me from anyone else, really. I went along to a gig in Wembley, and I was in this backstage area… someone tapped me on the shoulder, and it was one of the crew, and he said, ‘Bruce wants to see you,’ and I was whisked back to the dressing room. And Bruce said he had a song for me. He sang it on the spot, picked up the guitar, and sang it… and it was perfect for me. ‘It’s yours, man!’ he said. A couple of weeks later, Bruce made a rough cassette (just guitar and vocal) and gave it to me.”
Edmunds released his version on his 1982 album D.E. 7th, and it peaked at number 28 on the Billboard Rock Chart. Springsteen later released his own recording on the bonus disc of his 2003 album The Essential Bruce Springsteen.
“Light of Day” — Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Director Paul Schrader originally wrote a movie script with Springsteen in mind — and the original title was Born in the U.S.A., which Schrader said inspired Springsteen’s 1984 album of the same name. Springsteen ultimately passed on acting in the film, but he did agree to write a song for it.
The movie, eventually titled Light of Day and released in 1987, starred Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett. Springsteen’s song of the same name was performed by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts for the soundtrack. Schrader later shared this memory with Creative Screenwriting magazine: “I met with Bruce, he was flirting around with being in movies, then he decided he didn’t want to do it because of the whole control issue. Bruce is nothing if not a control freak. So he gave up the idea of being in a movie… I go into a record store, I pick up an album, and sure enough, there it is, Born in the U.S.A.! I looked inside, and he credited me.”
“Pink Cadillac” — Natalie Cole
Springsteen first released “Pink Cadillac” as the B-side of his 1984 single “Dancing in the Dark.” Three years later, Natalie Cole, Grammy Award winner and daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, recorded her own R&B version, reportedly at the suggestion of her producer. It appeared on her 1987 album Everlasting and climbed to number five on the Billboard Hot 100.
Cole was candid about her initial hesitation. She later wrote in her 2000 autobiography: “I thought to myself, ‘I’m too old to be doing this kind of stuff.’ I couldn’t imagine myself onstage rockin’ to the music like Tina Turner. But ‘Pink Cadillac’ turned out to be a big song, and it took us all over the place… The song became very big in Europe. It was wild and a lot of fun. I was really very surprised.”
Word got back to Springsteen, too. Cole recalled that he was blown away by her version — and thought it was very cool that a woman could take the song and make it come out so great. The two never actually spoke about it, but that reaction said plenty.