Dagens nye Bruce Springsteen-forløber for soulcover-albummet Only the Strong Survive, der udsendes om et par uger, er hans sødmefulde version af Aretha Franklin’s 1970-arrangement af Ben E. King-singlen ‘Don’t Play That Song’ fra 1962. Men når Springsteen giver sangen her og tager dens hookline-ord ‘you lied’ i sin mund , så er det umuligt ikke at sende tanker tilbage til Springsteen selv i slut-70’erne og den på det tidspunkt så anderledes sorgfuldt dramatiske ‘Sad Eyes’-sektion i liveudgaven af hans eget mægtige Born to Run-hovednummer ‘Backstreets’, hvor hun netop løj og svigtede ham som aldrig nogen før eller siden. Her en af de allerstærkeste versioner af den dengang hver aften semi-improviserede fortælling ‘Sad Eyes’, denne fra Boston, Massachussets, 25. marts 1977…
‘…And I remember these kids that night
They set fire to this abandoned farmhouse
That was about half a mile up the tracks
And they had these machines down there
And they had these engines down there
And we could see the flames shooting out across the sky
‘Til it caught in the field
We sat up on the hood and watched it rushing towards us
Watching the flames rushing toward us
Watched it rushing toward us across the field
‘Til we ran back on the tracks
And started heading back into town
And then
And then
And then she kissed me
And then she kissed me
And then she kissed me
And then she kissed me
Waa-ooh mmmmm hmmm, hey
And then she promised
And then she promised
And then she promised
And then she lied
And then she lied
And then she lied
And then she lied
She lied
She lied
She lied
Pretty li-li-li-li-li-li-lies
Pretty li-li-li-li-li-li-lies
And I was just wishing
I remember praying that God would send some angels
And blow this whole damn town right into the sea
I remember wishing that God would send some angels
And blow this whole fucking town right into the sea
Just wishing that God would send some angels
And blow this whole damn town right into the sea
Just blow this whole
Just blow it into sea
Just blow it all away
Just blow it all away
Just blow it all away
Blow it all away!
Blow it all away!
Make it go away!
Blow it all away!
Just blow it all away!
Just blow it all away!
Just blow it all away!
Just blow it all away!…’