4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)

4^th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) first appears on Bruce Springsteen’s second album, the 1973 release The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle. There were no singles released from the album; however, Sandy and Rosalita, became fan favorites, and received radio airplay prior to the release of 1975’s Born to Run. Sandy was released as a single in Germany in 1975.

The Hollies recorded Sandy as a single in 1975, and included it on their album, Another Night. Their version only received minor airplay, and only reached the 85^th spot on the American pop chart.

I'm a fairly big Springsteen fan, but Sandy was never really one of his songs that jumped out at me. I always preferred songs like E Street Shuffle and Rosalita when listening to Wild and Innocent. I actually got the idea to feature this song after listening to the Hollies cover and really enjoying it. I've never listened to them back to back before, so I'm interested to see what the outcome will be.

Bruce Springsteen:

The Hollies:

Yeah I know, it’s another super long song. Sorry about that. It’s totally worth listening to though.

Okay, so this song is super good. I know it’s all slow and stuff, and it’s long. But seriously, it’s so poetic and it’s a great story. It paints a great word picture. I should have loved this song way sooner. It’s going to be another tough decision. The Hollies have awesome harmonies and a string arrangement, and Springsteen has the accordion. I'm not exactly sure whether those last two things are positive or negative qualities of their perspective versions. As close as it is, it’s not really hard to choose. Springsteen wins. His performance is so emotional. It’s like he’s living the song while he sings it. That just makes me believe in the song so much more.