Coverinfo

1978-07-16 - MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM, NEW ORLEANS, LA ( at 0:27:10 )
Bruce reportedly covered  the song back in 1965 with his early band The Castiles. For sure Bruce performed Honky Tonk with the E Street Band once during the Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour. An attendee recalls that "the show started about forty minutes late because the stage motor burned out and they couldn't move the stage back so some people didn't have seats. They were offered their money back but wanted to stay. Bruce came out and apologized for the delay and said he and the band would try to make up for it with the show.

Songinfo

"Honky Tonk" is a rhythm and blues instrumental written by Billy Butler, Bill Doggett, Clifford Scott, and Shep Shepherd. Doggett recorded it as a two-part single in 1956 It peaked at number two for three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, and was the biggest R&B hit of the year, spending thirteen non-consecutive weeks at the top of the charts."Honky Tonk" became Doggett's signature piece and an R&B standard recorded by many other performers. According to historian Priore, this was the first rock 'n' roll instrumental hit. 

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