Bruce Springsteen’s ‘If I Should Fall Behind’: Twenty covers (WATCH VIDEOS)

Bruce Springsteen’s 1992 “Lucky Town” album included the song, “If I Should Fall Behind.”

I’m in alignment with most Bruce Springsteen fans in believing his best work, as a songwriter, came in the ’70s and ’80s. But what’s your choice for his best song since then? “The Rising”? “My City of Ruins”? “Streets of Philadelphia”? “The Ghost of Tom Joad”?

It’s a hard question to answer. But if I had to say, I think I might go with “If I Should Fall Behind,” the sublime ballad — and perhaps his most powerful love song, ever — from his 1992 Lucky Town album.

It’s also, possibly, one of his songs from the ’90s and beyond that has been covered the most (and, very probably, the one that has been performed at the most weddings). In the NJArts.net five-part series of Springsteen songs covered by women, there are six covers of “If I Should Fall Behind”; only “I’m on Fire” and “Dancing in the Dark” (both from 1984) rank higher. Dion also recorded a nice version of it, the same year that Springsteen did.

Anyway, I thought of all this when I came across the video below, of bluegrass legend Little Roy Lewis and Lizzy Long performing the song at this weekend’s Wind Gap Bluegrass Festival in Wind Gap, Pa. (not far from the Delaware Water Gap), and decided to put together a collection of different versions of “If I Should Fall Behind,” through the years, including an instrumental version from the Ball de Gegants (Giants Ball) in Berga, Spain, in 2016; E Street Band member Nils Lofgren’s own version; and, as a bonus 21th video, a version in which Lofgren other band members help Springsteen out with the vocals).

If there are any notable covers of this song that you think I missed, please let me know in the comments section, below.

Enjoy!

LITTLE ROY LEWIS AND LIZZY LONG

DION

LINDA RONSTADT

“BALL DE GEGANTS” CELEBRATION

FAITH HILL

PAUL CARRACK

NILS LOFGREN

MARGO TIMMINS

JUBILANT SYKES

MOVING MOUNTAINS

ROBIN & LINDA WILLIAMS

CINDY BULLENS

MARTYN JOSEPH

THE HENRY GIRLS

CATIE CURTIS

ARI HEST

ROSE COUSINS

RECKLESS KELLY

GRANT MCLENNAN

P.J. MURRIHY & ISLA GRANT

BONUS VIDEO:

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND