THE BAND'S JUST BOPPING THE BLUES

Live Feb 1972 version

Well it's a Sunday night, sitting at the bar all alone
And you're feeling kind of tired but you're not tired enough to go on home
Well sit back and hang loose because the band's just bopping

Well you might dig boogie-woogie or maybe you like to rock and roll
Well I wanna tell you how music saves me right down in my soul
Oh have you heard the news, the band's just bopping blues

Yeah stay for a song now, hold on and we'll play you something you need
Yeah when my man plays his guitar, there's some new girl, some young girl who knows what we need
Oh now ???, because the band's just bopping blues

Alright
Yeah

On a Sunday night, sitting at the bar all alone
Feeling kind of tired but you ain't, you ain't tired enough to go home
Sit and hang loose because the band's just bopping blues

Info

The above lyrics are for a live performance of THE BAND'S JUST BOPPING THE BLUES at The Back Door in Richmond, VA, with The Bruce Springsteen Band. The exact date is unknown, but it's from the February 1972 residency at The Back Door (see section below). Whenever performing THE BAND'S JUST BOPPING THE BLUES, Springsteen mentions the day of the week in the first line. On this version he sings "it's a Sunday night", narrowing the possible dates to 06, 20, and 27 Feb 1972.

1972 Residency at The Back Door

The Bruce Springsteen Band played nine shows at The Back Door in Richmond, VA, during three of the four weekends of February 1972 (04, 05, 06, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, and 27 Feb 1972). They played one show each night and they were the sole act on the bill. Soundboard and audience recordings from these shows circulate among collectors.

Soundboard recordings for 8 tracks, taken directly from Tinker West's original reel tapes, are in circulation. The exact dates for the 8 tracks are not known but it is more likely that all of them come from the same show, probably from the final weekend of the residency. Audience recordings for 13 more tracks are also in circulation. The exact dates are not know but it is more likely that most of them come from the final weekend's performances. A soundboard recording consisting of 14 more tracks is currently in very limited circulation. The recording comes from the 25 Feb 1972 show and is likely the complete show. An audience recording consisting of 5 more tracks is also in circulation and, according to Brucebase, can be identified with some confidence to date from the 26 Feb 1972 show.

A reel-to-reel tape containing the soundboard recording of the 25 Feb 1972 show was auctioned in June 2014 on Sotheby's (see photo below). According to the auction house, the tape comes directly from the collection of John Hammond, "perhaps requested in an attempt to ascertain if the performer that he was so taken by as a solo acoustic act could similarly engage a live audience fronting an electric band." The tape features a printed label with hand-written setlist, but some of the songs are misidentified.

Reel-to-reel tape containing the soundboard recording of the 25 Feb 1972 show in Richmond, VA

References

Much of the above information about the 1972 residency at The Back Door is taken from Brucebase.

Request

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Available Versions

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Page last updated: 07 Apr 2016