Coverinfo
Bruce covered the song 3 times :
Bruce kicked off the 23rd annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor which was presented to Jon Stewart. He performed the song together with
Gary Clark Jr.Later he returned to the stage for a solo acoustic performance of "Born To Run".
Link to Brucebase for listening:
media
In celebration of John Lennon's induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a solo artist, Come together was planned to be performed by Elton John and Rod Stewart, but the latter didn't make the ceremony because of an earthquake that hit Los Angeles shortly before the event. According to Brucebase, while Bob Weir, John Popper, and others were performing onstage, the production personnel approached Bruce Springsteen with a lyrics sheet to Come together. Springsteen politely refused, repeatedly. The producers then asked Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose who was at the next table. Rose agreed and then pulled up a chair next to Springsteen. After a minute or two of conversation, Rose put the song's lyrics on the table and the two hovered over the paper for a few minutes. When the stage was cleared, they got up, walked onto the stage, and performed the song, without any rehearsal or practice.
1973-03-24 Student Center, Lewiston, NY
The setlist of this gig is incomplete but it was one show, double bill, with Bruce and the boys headlining and local country-rock group Old Salt opening. But a contributor to the Greasy Lake website writes: "The ticket was $1.00 and about 150 - 200 kids showed up but the band played like there were 10,000. Bruce was wearing a newsboy cap and he was all over the place. Thin, full beard, leather jacket and a tee shirt. He exploded right in front of us. I had never seen anything like him or the band. I think they played about three hours. I was physically exhausted and can only imagine how Bruce and the Band felt. I remember some of their early songs and I also remember "
Devil with the Blue Dress On". I think they played "
Come Together" by the Beatles too. When it was over, we were exhausted. I went to breakfast late that night at a diner and there they were. I said hello, told them how great the show was and made small talk. Bruce could not have been nicer. Clarence too. A few months later they came back to NU and there were probably 1000 people there." The show was held indoors in the 350-seat Student Center. The show was not a sellout, with a reported 300 tickets sold. Given Springsteen was a virtual unknown at the time, this gig at Niagara received an unprecedented amount of pre and post concert press coverage in the school's modest campus newspaper, all articles written by students. The student who orchestrated this event (Kerry McNamara) was obviously a serious Bruce fan. A student reporter even seems to have travelled south to get a brief but fascinating interview with Bruce a couple of weeks before this show. In this interview Bruce mentions he is now playing "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)", including "Fun, Fun, Fun", as a special encore (a tape exists of it from February 14 at VCU). In addition Bruce mentions "
Ring Of Fire" and the instrumental "
Apache" as two cover songs he's been incorporating into his recent shows. The first encore was "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" (with "
Fun, Fun, Fun") and the second encore was "
Twist And Shout". The title of the third encore is not mentioned. This is the longest verified Band performance up to this point and one of the very few two-hour shows Bruce did in 1973.
Songinfo
"
Come Together" is a song by the Beatles written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is the opening track on the album Abbey Road and was also released as a single coupled with "
Something". "Come Together" started as Lennon's attempt to write a song for Timothy Leary's campaign for governor of California against Ronald Reagan, which promptly ended when Leary was sent to prison for possession of marijuana.
Bruce on the artist
"The Beatles were cool. They were classical, formal, and created the idea of an independent unit where everything could come out of your garage. The "Meet the Beatles" album cover, those four head shots. I remember, I seen 'em at J. J. Newberry's. It was the first thing I saw when you ran down to the five–and–ten cent store. There were no record stores. There weren't enough records, I don't think, in those days. There was a little set by the toys where they sold a few albums. And I remember running in and seeing that album cover with those four headshots. It was like the silent gods of Olympus. Your future was just sort of staring you in the face. I remember thinking, "That's too cool. I'm never gonna get there, man, never." And then in some fanzine I came across a picture of the Beatles in Hamburg. And they had on the leather jackets and the slick–backed pompadours, they had acned faces. I said, hey, "Wait a minute, those are the guys I grew up with, only they were Liverpool wharf rats." So minus their Nehru jackets and the haircuts – so these guys, they're kids. They're a lot cooler than me, but they're still kids. There must be a way to get there from here. "
Lyrics
Here comes old flat top, he come grooving up slowly
He got Joo Joo eye-ball, he one holy roller
He got hair down to his knee
Got to be a joker, he just do what he please
He wear no shoeshine, he got toe jam football
He got monkey finger, he shoot Coca-Cola
He say, "I know you, you know me"
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free
Come together, right now, over me
He bag production, he got walrus gumboot,
He got O-no side board, he one spinal cracker
He got feet down below his knee
Hold you in his armchair, you can feel his disease
Come together, right now, over me
Right!
Come!
Come
He roller coaster, he got early warning
He got Muddy Water, he one Mojo filter
He say, "one and one and one is three"
Got to be good looking 'cause he so hard to see
Come together, right now, over me
Ah!
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeahhh
Come together, yeahhh
Ahhh
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeahhh