Vibrations ( The ) - Hang On Sloopy

First performance: 14/01/1984


Coverinfo

Bruce performed the song 4 times at full and 2 times as a snippet:
 
 
  
 

1985-01-17 Rhinoceros Club, Greensboro, NC
With The Del Fuegos. Nils Lofgren is also present.
 
1984-01-14 Patrix, New Brunswick, NJ 
John Eddie
 
 
  • Snippets
during GLORY DAYS 
2002-12-16 Value City Arena, Columbus, OH
during LIGHT OF DAY 
1999-11-17 Value City Arena, Columbus, OH 
 

Songinfo

"Hang On Sloopy" is a 1964 song by Wes Farrell and Bert Berns, originally titled "My Girl Sloopy", it was first recorded and made a hit by R&B vocal group The Vibrations. Rock band The McCoys later covered it.
 
 
 

Bruce on the artist

1984-01-14 - PATRIX, NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ
 
In the middle of 'twist and Shout - Hang on Sloopy':
 
"(sings ´Hang on Sloopy´) And then…..Sloopy defied her daddy….and she went out…. (someone: ´Where did she go ?´) where did she go ?….she went to Asbury Park…..and she went into a place….and people were doing something strange….something she´d never seen before (chuckles) being that she was such a young child…..and what they were doing (?) was it a bird what they were doing ? (crowd: ´No´) was it a plane (?) (crowd: ´No´) was it the Big Man ? (crowd: ´No´) was it twisting ? (crowd: ´Yeah´) gimme that ´G´-verse….(goes back to ´Twist and Shout´)…."
 
The Del Fuegos:
 
One musician was on the rise, the other at the peak of his popularity. And one night in the mid-1980s, their worlds collided, as Dan Zanes, leader of the up-and-coming band The Del Fuegos, shared the stage with superstar Bruce Springsteen. Dan Zanes: "It was right after our first record 1984's The Longest Day came out. We were down in North Carolina playing at the Rhinoceros club, and Springsteen was playing the'‘enormo dome' The next night. It was his Born in the U.S.A. tour, and he was the biggest rock star in the world at that point. "As we were getting ready for our set, we saw E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren milling around the club, and we asked him if he wanted to play a tune with us. He said yeah, so we went back to the dressing room and stood in a circle going over 'Hang on Sloopy' so we all had the same version in our brain. "Then the Boss walked in, and he said, 'Hey, you guys are great. I really love your album.' We couldn’t believe that he had listened to the record, and he mentioned the song that he liked. It was outrageous. "So we asked him if he wanted to do a tune, and he said yes. We went over 'Stand by Me' and 'Hang on Sloopy.' "Springsteen watched the set, and it was the only time in my life I had ever seen the audience on a horizontal plane rather than a vertical plane. It was a very small club, and people were climbing on top of each other to watch him play ['Hang on Sloopy'] with us, so all we could see were faces from the floor to the ceiling. "He was just as generous as he could be, and he gave us all a hug at the end of the night. I can't remember that I ever hugged a guy before. "Then we got in the car at the end of the night, and they were talking about it on the radio. We called all our friends in Boston and said, 'You're not going to believe what happened to us.' "It was a great night, and also it was something that people talked about for a long time. And in a way, for a lot of people, it was kind of an endorsement from the Boss." 
 

Lyrics

Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy hang on
Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy hang on
Sloopy lives in a very bad part of town
And everybody yeah, tries to put my sloopy down
Well Sloopy I don't care what your daddy do
Cause' you know Sloopy girl I'm in love with you
And so I say now
Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy hang on
Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy hang on
Sloopy let your hair down girl let it hang down on me
Sloopy let your hair down girl let it hang down on me
Come on Sloopy, Come on Sloopy
Come on Sloopy, Come on Sloopy
Well it feels so good
You know it feels so good
Shake it, Shake it, Shake it Sloopy
Shake it, Shake it, Shake it Yeah
Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy hang on
Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy hang on