Janey, Don't You Lose Heart by Bruce Springsteen (cover)
 

This song is from the B side of the single "Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen in 1985. "Janey, Don't You Lose Heart" was suggested by chippygreen here on the AGF when he commented on my thread in Show & Tell on Bruce's song, "I'm On Fire" from a couple weeks ago.

I tried to do this as an acoustic song, but to me it just didn't sound right. I left a couple of channels of my Taylor 514CE in the recording, but I also overlaid my Rickenbacker 360 12-string. For me, that brought the song to life. The Rick 12-string is also two recordings, one left, one right. The Taylor acoustic sound tends to thicken up the sound of the Rick 12-string, but otherwise, at least for me, it's hard to hear the acoustic guitar in there even though it is mixed at a higher level than the electric 12-string.

With the electric 12-string it sounds as if the late Tom Petty were doing a cover of a Bruce Springsteen song to my ears, except with my singing voice.

I did the sax solo from the original Bruce recording using a Fender Stratocaster since I can't play the saxophone at all. :) This is such a basic rock & roll song, sort of in the mode of Buddy Holly. With drums and bass and electric guitar, it has sort of a street dance sound to it that I remember so vividly from my college days in the late 1960s. The sound is kind of infectious. :D

I hope you like this -- thanks for listening. And thanks to chippygreen for suggesting this song. I hope he feels that this came out well. :)

- Glenn

Excellent job, I'm always up for a Springsteen song.

Thanks so much Teleplucker!

I'm glad you thought that this came out okay! I appreciate your comments! :)

- Glenn

Two great Springsteen songs in a month! Glenn, you made it a happy Friday for me. I thought this was a great recording - the instrumentals were spot on and I like the slightly more wistful take you had on the vocals. (Confession, I sang along with you on the video). Is that you on backup vocals? It blended very well. Also really nice job on the sax/strat solo. I miss Clarence Clemons, what a talent.

A throwback to the E Street Band at its apex - thanks so much for doing this and making it happy foot tapping Friday for me!

Thank you Chippy!

I'm glad you thought this came out okay! :) And I'm glad you sang with me!

Yes, that was also me on the harmony vocals. I sang the harmony part twice and panned one full left, the other full right. I didn't video the backup vocals so they didn't show up in the final video.

I'm so glad you like how this came out! It was a foot-tapper, for sure!! :D Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! :)

- Glenn

Great job on that Glenn. Yes, the harmonies were especially nice. They were always very big part of that song’s appeal to me.

You can hear Nils Lofgren’s voice very clearly, especially near the end. I think that may be one of if not the first recordings he ever made with Bruce. I saw the E street band do that song once many years later, and Bruce unexpectedly called Nils forward to sing the second verse. The fans gave a big cheer when they realized what he was doing. Of course Nils nailed it.

Slight correction, that song did not make it onto the Born in the USA album (unless there is some type of special box edition released later that I don’t have). I think it was a B-side on one of the singles, though. I believe the first commercial album release was on Tracks which was a compilation of songs that didn’t make it onto albums the first time around.

Loved it!

Thanks Bob!

Thanks for your interesting comments! You are right that this song was not on the album, "Born in the USA." I got mislead by something on the Internet but in looking up the album, it's not there. So I'll change my OP.

Regarding the harmonies on that song, I did bring them up in the mix to be a little bit more audible because the lead vocal was so low and not terribly interesting during the chorus. So I appreciated the harmony lines for this song, too.

Interesting that you got to see the E Street Band perform live. That would be an experience!

Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment, Bob!

- Glenn

I like it Glenn but I think it sounds more like a “Byrds” song done this way than Petty. Petty definitely was influenced by them so it’s understandable.
The background harmonies and the folk/country flavor come through.
That’s a good thing because I’m a huge Byrd’s fan.

Hi rokdog!

Thank you! Yes, I am a huge Byrds fan, too. And you are probably right; it may sound more like Roger McGuinn covering Bruce. I certainly was very strongly influenced by Roger McGuinn's use of the Rickenbacker 12-string. Even my playing the Rick 12 with my fingers and a thumb pick is closer to McGuinn's style than it is to Tom Petty's style.

I also appreciated the harmony sounds on this song and wanted to bring them out a little more than I usually do.

Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! Much appreciated!

- Glenn

Tremendous, Glenn! Love, Love the Rickenbacker! Gimme Petty, Gimme Byrds, Gimme Glenn!
Best,
LarryK

Thank you Larry!

You put a big smile on my face! I love that Rick electric 12-string, too, and I don't get very many chances to use it. It sure has a wonderful sound!

Thanks for your supportive comments! It's very humbling for my name to be used in the same sentence with McGuinn and Petty. :)

- Glenn

Another gem Glenn singing and playing are really great.

I was thinking about this too. I wanted to say the first time I heard it was on the E Street Band Live 1975-1985 set but nope it's not there. Wikipedia says it was a B side to "I'm Goin Down" (from Born In the USA) but I don't recall having that single. It's definitely on Tracks, which I have but I remember hearing it years before that release. Now it's just bugging me where I first heard it and why I knew it so well before the Tracks release.

Thank you Started!

I'm really pleased that you felt this came out well! Thanks for your kind and supportive words of encouragement! I appreciate your listening and taking time to comment here! I hope all is well for you!

- Glenn

The truth is, I am not clear about where I heard this song. I had forgotten about it until you mentioned it!

Take care!

- Glenn