Bruce covered the song only once : 

 

1968-09-28 Off Broad Street Coffee House, Red Bank, NJ (Early)

 

Two shows, double bill, with Bruce Springsteen headlining and performing solo/acoustic and a folk group called The Founders opening. Some of the titles from the setlist are covers - "If I Needed Someone" is a Beatles tune, "Hey Joe" was covered by several artists in the mid-late 60s (most famously by Jimi Hendrix) and "Wayfaring Stranger" is a traditional song. "Fly Against The Wind" and "It's Too Late" are titles Brucebase has been unable to match to any artists of the period. The remaining three, "The Earth Is Broken", "Carnival Song" and "Troubadour", are known 1967-68 songs titles by singer/songwriter Tim Buckley, a favorite of Springsteen's at the time. The mentioned 9 song setlist emanates from an alleged 83 minute audience recording of Springsteen performing solo and live, sometime in 1968. The audio is not specifically linked to this show, details have been placed here merely as a logical reference point. A private collector claims to have this audio in their collection (obtained many, many years ago). The sound quality is alleged to be quite good. Brucebase was informed of the audio several years ago and was provided with basic details of titles/running time by the actual collector who claims to have it. However Brucebase has been unable to listen to even snippets of the audio and, as such, we cannot verify that the claim is genuine. Intriguingly however, one of the song titles provided, "Inside The Castle Walls" has subsequently turned out to be a verified Springsteen composition from this era.The existence of this composition only became known in 2005, which lends some credence (but not compelling proof) to the claim the audio is real.

 

FLY AGAINST THE WIND / HEY JOE / IT'S TOO LATE / THE EARTH IS BROKEN / CARNIVAL SONG / TROUBADOUR / WAYFARING STRANGER / INSIDE THE CASTLE WALLS / IF I NEEDED SOMEONE

 

"If I Needed Someone" is a song by the Beatles, written by George Harrison. It was released in December 1965 on their album Rubber Soul, except for in North America, where it appeared on the 1966 release Yesterday and Today. The song reflects Harrison's nascent interest in Indian classical music and, through its folk rock styling and use of Rickenbacker twelve-string electric guitar, it serves as an example of the influences exchanged between the Beatles and the American group the Byrds during the mid 1960s. Harrison wrote "If I Needed Someone" as a love song to Pattie Boyd, the English model whom he married in January 1966.