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DREAM BABY DREAM
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 Ticket stub for the 28 Oct 2005 show at TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA [Taken from Brucebase] |
Live History
Bruce Springsteen debuted DREAM BABY DREAM on 11 May 2005 at Rosemont Theatre in Chicago, IL. That was the ninth official date of the Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour. From then on, the song closed every single show on the tour, making a total of 64 appearances. On 20 Jul 2005 in Bridgeport, CT, Springsteen dedicated that night's performance of DREAM BABY DREAM to its writer, Suicide's Alan Vega, who was in attendance. The live 28 Oct 2005 performance of DREAM BABY DREAM in Boston, MA, was officially released in 2008 on the Dream Baby Dream various artists EP. See "Official Releases" section below for more details.
[Click here to display/hide detailed Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour performances list]
Springsteen's Version
Springsteen played his modified version of Suicide's DREAM BABY DREAM on the pump organ with synthesizer in the background (played by his keyboard technician Alan "Fitz" Fitzgerald). At the end of the song, he just stands up, focuses the mantra directly at the crowd before him, "I just wanna see you smile", and then walks off the stage while singing the last line, with the synthesizer still playing and the lights dimming.
Springsteen told Mojo: "It's a mantra and it works because the night is filled with so much narrative and detail and then at the end there's just those few phrases repeated and they are the essence of everything else I'm saying and doing in the course of the evening. The night opens and opens and then, at the end, when you think it can't open any more it does and it's completely embracing. It's yeah, I guess... I have an eye for a lot of detail and this is a lesson in, uh, 'What is a song?' It's so purely musical, that's what's beautiful about it, it's so simple and so purely musical."
Alan Vega's Comments
Alan Vega attended Springsteen's 20 Jul 2005 show in Bridgeport, CT. "I'm still high from that show. Now I can die. Not only he's playing 'Dream Baby Dream,' but it's the big encore song, the last song of the show," Alan Vega told Backstreets Magazine in an interview. "A lot of bands have done my stuff, Suicide stuff [...] Thank god, finally somebody did their version of it. He interpreted my song, he did it his way, and such a great way that I'm going to have to sing it that way, or not sing it at all anymore!" In the interview, Vega talked about Springsteen's version of DREAM BABY DREAM, the Bridgeport show, how he first met Springsteen, the Nebraska album, and much more... At the end of the interview, when asked what's his favorite Springsteen song, Vega answered "'Dream Baby Dream.' On my death bed, that's the last thing I'm going to listen to. I'll play it at my funeral." The full interview can be found in the Winter 2005/2006 (#83/84) issue of Backstreets Magazine.
Springsteen and Suicide
"I've liked Suicide for a long time," Springsteen told Mojo in an October 2005 interview. "I met the guys late in the '70s in New York City, when we were in the studio at the same time. You know, if Elvis came back from the dead I think he would sound like Alan Vaga. He gets a lot of emotional purity. I came across 'Dream Baby Dream' again because Michael Stipe included it on a compilation and I thought maybe I could do it."
In a December 1984 Rolling Stone interview, Springsteen told Kurt Loder that Suicide was among the bands he was listening to lately. "They had that two-piece synthesizer-voice thing. They had one of the most amazing songs I ever heard." He added that "Frankie Teardrop" was one of the most amazing records he ever heard.
Official Releases
Springsteen's live 28 Oct 2005 performance of DREAM BABY DREAM in Boston, MA, was officially released in October 2008 (06 Oct 2008 in the UK and 28 Oct 2008 in the USA) on Dream Baby Dream, a UK-only various artists 10-inch vinyl EP (Blastfirstpetite, catalogue # PTYY 017). The release commemorated Suicide vocalist Alan Vega's 70th birthday. It was limited to 8,000 copies, pressed in two different runs of 4,000 each. It comes in a black-and-white cardboard picture sleeve with individually numbered sticker on rear. The track was also available for official download in mp3 or FLAC formats on the Blast First (Petite) label's website, and in mp4 format on iTunes. According to Backstreets, the seven-minute audio track is taken from a yet-to-be-completed live DVD from the Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour.
Springsteen's live 28 Oct 2005 version of DREAM BABY DREAM was also included in October 2008 on Alan Vega 70th Vinyl Series Radio Promo CD # 1, a UK-only various artists promotional CD5 EP (Blastfirstpetite, catalogue # PCD 001). The disc comes in a clear plastic sleeve. Although actually being a promotional pressing, this EP was also sold commercially by the label itself via its official website.
Credits / References
Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake) for the lyrics help. Some info about the above official releases is taken from Lost In The Flood.
Available Versions
List of available versions of DREAM BABY DREAM on this website:
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