The original versions of songs on Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Only the Strong Survive’ (LISTEN HERE)

by JAY LUSTIG
springsteen soul covers originals

The original cover of Tyrone Davis’ “Turn Back the Hands of Time.”

As you may have heard, Bruce Springsteen is planning to release a new album of soul covers, Only the Strong Survive, on Nov. 11, and has released the first single, “Do I Love You (Indeed Do).”

Springsteen said in a press release, “I wanted to make an album where I just sang. And what better music to work with than the great American songbook of the Sixties and Seventies? I’ve taken my inspiration from Levi Stubbs, David Ruffin, Jimmy Ruffin, the Iceman Jerry Butler, Diana Ross, Dobie Gray, and Scott Walker, among many others. I’ve tried to do justice to them all — and to the fabulous writers of this glorious music. My goal is for the modern audience to experience its beauty and joy, just as I have since I first heard it. I hope you love listening to it as much as I loved making it.”

Here are the original (or, at least, earlier) versions of all the songs on the album:

“Only the Strong Survive,” Jerry Butler

“Soul Days,” Dobie Gray

“Nightshift,” The Commodores

“Do I Love You,” Frank Wilson

“The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore,” The Walker Brothers

“Turn Back the Hands of Time,” Tyrone Davis

“When She Was My Girl,” The Four Tops

“Hey, Western Union Man,” Jerry Butler

“I Wish It Would Rain,” The Temptations

“Don’t Play That Song,” Aretha Franklin

“Any Other Way,” Jackie Shane

“I Forgot to Be Your Lover,” William Bell

“7 Rooms of Gloom,” The Four Tops

“What Becomes of the Brokenhearted,” Jimmy Ruffin

“Someday We’ll Be Together,” Diana Ross & The Supremes

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