Credit: Press

Watch Bruce Springsteen perform two covers on The Tonight Show

Thu 17 November 2022 13:47, UK

Bruce Springsteen performed live renditions of ‘Nightshift’ and ‘Turn Back the Hands of Time’ on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon over the last couple of nights. Both tracks come from The Boss’ recently released soul covers album.

The covers album, titled Only the Strong Survive, was released last week to rave reviews and showed Springsteen at his most passionate with delightful covers of Frankie Valli, Commodores, The Temptations, Ben E. King and many more.

As part of his three-night residency on The Tonight Show, Springsteen performed Frank Wilson’s ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’ earlier this week. On Tuesday’s episode, Springsteen played ‘Turn Back the Hands of Time’, a cover of Tyrone Davis’ original, released back in 1970, before Springsteen was a star.

Following these performances, the Boss offered his lungs to a striking stage rendition of the Commodores’ 1985 song ‘Nightshift’. Springsteen’s version of ‘Nightshift’ was released last month as a preview single ahead of Only the Strong Survive.

Although Springsteen’s three-night Fallon residency, which marked his first appearance on the show as a musical guest, has ended, he is set to return to the show for a Thanksgiving special later this month.

During Springsteen’s appearance on Monday, Fallon quizzed the 73-year-old on a debate of 47 years regarding the lyrics of 1975’s ‘Thunder Road’. Fans have long disputed whether the classic track opens with the slam of a screen door followed by “Mary’s dress”, either “swaying” or “waving”.

The Boss revealed to his fans’ amusement that the LP sleeve had the lyrics incorrectly printed as “waves” and that he had sung “sways” for almost 50 years.

“This record is almost 50 years old,” Springsteen said before discussing the error in his lyrics. “Fifty years ago, I was a sociopath. I was insane about every single detail that had anything to do with music: my album, my album cover, my lyrics. I went over everything with a fine tooth comb so everything would be perfect and completely accurate.”

As Springsteen enlightened the audience, Fallon comically bent down in front of the camera on his knees and shouted, “Come on!”

“This is wrong, this is wrong,” Springsteen asserted with a smile. “I’m telling you this is wrong – how did that happen?” He then laughed as he threw the record to one side.

Watch Springsteen’s performances of ‘Turn Back the Hands of Time’ and ‘Nightshift’ below.