Mary Chapin Carpenter has covered Bruce Springsteen’s hit “Dancing in the Dark” as well as his less well known “My Love Will Not Let You Down.”
On Wednesday, I did a post on some of my favorite Bruce Springsteen covers, by women. In it, I asked for suggestions for more, and people came up with so many good covers — many of which I had not heard before — that I decided to put together this follow-up post, compiling videos for them.
Since a couple of people have brought it up, I want to mention that I did not include Patti Smith’s “Because the Night” since she co-wrote it, and I therefore consider it a collaboration, not a cover.
Also, in some cases, people suggested videos for which YouTube videos do not seem to be available, so I was not able to include those.
(UPDATE: There have been five more installments in this series, bringing the total number of songs to 150. Here is an index to all the songs.)
So here they are. (Lots of good stuff here. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions!)
Here are the songs, in alphabetical order (by artist)
MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER: “Dancing in the Dark”
MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER: “My Love Will Not Let You Down”
JEN CHAPIN: “Born in the USA”
COWBOY JUNKIES: “Brothers Under the Bridge”
COWBOY JUNKIES: “Thunder Road”
ANI DiFRANCO: “Used Cars”
CRISTINA DONÀ: “Badlands”
KATHLEEN EDWARDS: “Human Touch”
CHRISSIE HYNDE: “Nebraska”
AMY MACDONALD: “Dancing in the Dark”
MARIA McKEE: “Backstreets”
RUTH MOODY BAND: “Dancing in the Dark”
SUZI QUATRO: “Born to Run”
SERENA RYDER: “Racing in the Street”
SLEATER-KINNEY: “The Promised Land”
TEGAN & SARA: “Dancing in the Dark”
HOLLY WILLIAMS: “No Surrender”
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8 comments
Jay, what about Melissa Etheridge covering Born to Run at the Kennedy Center Honors? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP7RQdVZKBY
That’s in part 1: http://www.njarts.net/pop-rock/springsteen-covered-by-women-the-best-of-the-best/
Awesome list.
The first time I heard a stripped down version of Dancing though was Lelia Broussard….I know there is a lot of Dancing in the Dark on the list but give it a listen….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0elkc8lnIZE
Maybe Helen Schneider’s “Hearts of Stone” qualifies for part 3?
http://youtu.be/suTLLHbZgT4
Sara Bareilles, I’m on Fire speaks for itself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhysu3peJek&list=RDlhysu3peJek
Aloha Jay, I would like to recommend a couple of other great Springsteen covers done by women. Lucy Wainwright Roche and Martha Plimpton paired to cover “Hungry Heart” on Roche’s ep “8 More”, and Linda Ronstadt and Emmy Lou Harris did a great cover of “Across The Border” on their joint album “Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions.” Check them out.
Patty Griffin. Very few can do Bruce!
Another Amy MacDonald cover to consider…BTR….(several versions on youtube..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK-_Ruahtjg