Bruce Springsteen churned out so many hits from his 1984 mega-smash album Born in the U.S.A. that it wouldn’t have been surprising if one or more of those songs found themselves getting a bit lost in the shuffle over the years in terms of lasting popularity and impact. That fate hasn’t befallen “Cover Me,” however, as it’s a song that still sounds as immediate and impressive as it was the day folks first heard it.
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But did you know that Springsteen originally wrote this song to give away? And did you also know that, in a low-key way, the song turned out to be a crucial one on Springsteen’s path to superstardom? We’ll explain all of that, as well as the meaning behind this enduring ‘80s hit.
Landau to the Rescue
By 1982, Bruce Springsteen had already written and demoed so many songs for the album that would become Born in the U.S.A. that giving one away didn’t seem like it would be all that damaging. He was asked to write a song for Donna Summer, and he came up with “Cover Me” as a result.
When he put together a demo of the song with the E Street Band, manager/producer Jon Landau immediately sensed hit single potential. If you’re looking for how Landau contributed to Springsteen’s success over the years, look no further than his sense of how Springsteen’s seemingly endless trove of songs could be manipulated into ideally furthering his career path. In “Cover Me,” Landau heard a song that could convey its message with force and clarity, something that would immediately make its presence felt the first time you heard it and each time afterward. In other words, an ideal song to become a hit.
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Landau had travelled this path before with Springsteen. The Boss had originally written “Hungry Heart” as a potential song for the Ramones, only to have Landau convince him to release it on his own. The song turned into Springsteen’s breakthrough at pop radio, hitting the Top 10 in 1980.
Landau won the argument with “Cover Me” as well. Springsteen went back to the drawing board and wrote “Protection” for Summer. Meanwhile, he not only kept “Cover Me,” but also, once again under urging from Landau, decided to include it on Born in the U.S.A. He would even choose it for the album’s second single, which would turn out to be a crucial move in terms of solidifying his newfound pop audience.
Seconding That Emotion
Why is “Cover Me” such an important song in the Springsteen legacy? Well, to answer that, we have to go back again to “Hungry Heart.” In the ‘70s, Springsteen had ascended to a fairly high rung on the rock ladder without laying down anything resembling a runaway hit single. (Unless, that is, you count Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s frantic cover of “Blinded by the Light,” which was an unlikely No. 1 hit.) For all his desire to write songs and albums that would last in the minds and hearts of his audience, he wasn’t immune to the charms of being a pop hitmaker, like many of his heroes from the ‘60s had been.
“Hungry Heart” seemed to put him on that path. But then he made what seems now like an ill-advised choice for the second single from the 1980 album The River when he selected the soulful ballad “Fade Away.” It barely scraped the Top 20. Looking back at it now, Springsteen could probably have done a lot better on radio with any number of songs from that double album. It was a missed opportunity, and in the music world where the sands of time run exceedingly fast, you just don’t get that many chances.
When Springsteen came bursting out of the gate with “Dancing in the Dark” as the first single from Born in the U.S.A., he was back in much the same position as he had been four years earlier. But any fears that he’d suffer a similar fate with his second single this time were doused when “Cover Me” soared into the Top 10, even without a video. From there, the floodgates opened, and the album produced an incredible seven Top 10 hits.
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What Is “Cover Me” About?
Springsteen needn’t have uttered a word, and “Cover Me” still would have been captivating, based simply on the strength of one of the most searing E Street Band performances on record. That urgent, twitchy rhythm is impossible to resist, and it’s been the backbone for many a thrilling live workout by the band. Fans, in particular, all dive in on the section in the bridge when Springsteen sings the words “the wild wind blowing.”
As for the meaning, it’s pretty straightforward—which is likely one of the reasons why Landau heard hit potential in it. The narrator finds the world around him to be filled with obstacles and disaster, and his only recourse is for his lover to protect him from it. Not necessarily in a physical sense, but more so as a psychological and emotional buffer against all the bad.
Now promise me, baby, you won’t let them find us, Springsteen pleads. Hold me in your arms, let’s let our live blind us. He doesn’t want anything to do with anything the outside world has to offer: Turn out the light, bolt the door / I ain’t going out there no more.
His only recourse: I’m looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me. When you put the simplicity of those lyrics together with the potency of the music, “Cover Me” is an unstoppable combination. With apologies to the wonderful Ms. Summer, it’s a good thing Bruce Springsteen eventually heeded the sage advice of his longstanding partner Landau to deliver that one-two punch himself.
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