Jerry Butler - Hey, Western Union Man

First performance: no live dates


Coverinfo

Bruce Springsteen released the song on his 2022 album Only The Strong Survive.
 
 
The album was anounced with the single Do I love you ( indeed I do ). Do I love you ( indeed I do ) is the leading single from Only The Strong Survive album. It was released on digital platforms on 29 Sep 2022, the same time the album was officially announced. A music video for the song was simultaneously released on Bruce Springsteen's YouTube channel. The video was directed and edited by Thom Zimny. Only The Strong Survive is Bruce Springsteen's twenty-first studio album. It is officially released on 11 Nov 2022 on Columbia Records. It consists of 15 tracks, all of which are covers. This marks the second time that Springsteen releases a cover album following We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions in 2006. The album is "a collection of fifteen soul music greats," as described in the press release. It "celebrates soul music gems from the legendary catalogues of Motown, Gamble and Huff, Stax and many more." Springsteen commented: "I wanted to make an album where I just sang. And what better music to work with than the great American songbook of the Sixties and Seventies? I've taken my inspiration from Levi Stubbs, David Ruffin, Jimmy Ruffin, the Iceman Jerry Butler, Diana Ross, Dobie Gray, and Scott Walker, among many others. I've tried to do justice to them all and to the fabulous writers of this glorious music. My goal is for the modern audience to experience its beauty and joy, just as I have since I first heard it. I hope you love listening to it as much as I loved making it."
The announcement was made by Springsteen himself who addressed fans in a pre-recorded video posted online.
In anticipation to the announcement, Springsteen dropped hints on his social media accounts over the course of the previous three days. On 26 and 27 September, he shared each morning a photo of a road and of a steering wheel respectively, without any caption or comment. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
On 28 September, he posted a 26-second promo clip of a vintage car FM radio dial turning to different stations and listening in for a few seconds, each station playing a different song from the upcoming album.
 
 
  
 
 
 
Only The Strong Survive track list:

Only the strong survive (Jerry Butler cover)
Soul days  (Dobie Gray cover)
Nightshift (Commodores cover)
Do I love you (Indeed I do ) (Frank Wilson cover)
The sun ain't gonna shine anymore (Frankie Valli cover)
Turn back the hands of time (Tyrone Davis cover)
When she was my girl (Four Tops cover)
Hey, Western Union Man (Jerry Butler cover)
I wish it would rain (The Temptations cover)
Don't play that song ( you lied ) (Ben E. King cover)
Any other way (Jackie Shane cover)
I forgot to be your lover (William Bell cover)
7 rooms of gloom (Four Tops cover)
What becomes of the brokenhearted (Jimmy Ruffin cover)
Someday we'll be together (Diana Ross & The Supremes cover) 
 
Media:
 

Songinfo

"Hey, Western Union Man" is a 1968 soul single by Jerry Butler written by Butler with Kenny Gamble, and Leon Huff. The single was Jerry Butler's second number one R&B hit on the Billboard chart, where it stayed for a week. "Hey, Western Union Man" was also part of a string of Top 40 crossover hit that Jerry Butler had during the late 1960s.
 
 
  

Bruce on the artist

Lyrics

Oh, western union man send a telegram to my baby
Send a telegram, send a telegram, oh
Send a telegram to my baby
This is what I want you to say
I want you to tell her that I'm all alone
I tried to call her on the phone
Tell her I'm in misery and think she's avoiding me
And if the telegram don't do
Send a box of candy too and maybe some flowers
Tell her that I miss her for hours and hours
Send a telegram, send a telegram
Hurry up, send a telegram, man, to my baby
Do you hear what I say
Oh, western union man, send a telegram
Oh, send a telegram to my baby
Western union man, hey, send a telegram, oh
Send a telegram, send a telegram, oh
Send a telegram, man, to my baby
This is what I want you to do
Listen, tell me, have you got a boy you can send
This is what I want him to do
Put him on his bike right away
See if he can get my message through
Maybe tomorrow but mail it right away
I want the girl to know that I missed her
Something like yesterday
Send a telegram, send a telegram, oh
Send a telegram, man, to my baby
Do you hear what I say
Oh western union man why don't you send a telegram
Well send a telegram to my baby
Western union man, send a telegram
Oh send a, send a telegram, send it
Send it, send it, send it, right on to my baby
Do you hear what I say
Hey western union man, send a telegram, oh
Send a telegram to my baby, hey