There are typically two ways to pull off a perfect cover: by either channeling the original as closely as possible in your own voice, or by completely re-imagining it. Bruce Springsteen found a new, third way on his cover of Jesse Malin‘s “She Don’t Love Me Now.”
The song from punk stalwart Malin’s 2015 album New York Before the War originally had a strolling blues rock vibe spiked by horn stabs and pointedly down-strummed electric guitars. In The Boss’ hands, the latest single from the upcoming Malin benefit album Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin (Sept. 20) sounds like it could have easily fit on Springsteen’s 2022 R&B/soul covers LP, Only the Strong Survive.
“Bruce gave it that Stax-soul-thing that we were dreaming of when we recorded the original. It’s so surreal to me,” said Malin in a statement. Indeed, in Springsteen’s hands — and with the backing of Malin’s band — the song sounds like a lost soul classic, complete with tasty Hammond organ and a perfectly placed saxophone solo from the E Street band’s Jake Clemons.
“Oh, you don’t love me when you say/ Oh, all I got is lost/ I’m hanging on that cross/ All I got and all I wanna and all I got is/ Oh, she don’t love me now, she don’t love me now,” Springsteen croons on the song that will appear on the all-star album whose proceeds will benefit Malin’s Sweet Relief artist fund as the beloved punk troubadour continues his recovery from a spinal stroke he suffered last year that left him partially paralyzed.
In addition to Springsteen, the album will feature covers of Malin’s songs by Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, Lucinda Williams and Elvis Costello, Butch Walker, Dinosaur Jr, The Hold Steady, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello with late MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, the Kills’ Alison Mosshart and the E Street Band’s Steven Van Zandt, Alejandro Escovedo, Spoon, Graham Parker, Ian Hunter, Low Cut Connie, Rancid, Agnostic Front, Murphy’s Law and more (see full track list below).
“Bruce’s generosity, honesty and support are equally as powerful as his songwriting and performing,” Malin added of the rock icon who in 2007 recorded a duet on a song Malin wrote for his later mother, “Broken Radio.” “Bruce is one of the guys. He walks it like he talks it. You spend some time with him, and it feels like you’ve known him for years. He’s like my friends in Queens, sitting around talking about Sinatra, the Clash, and the Pogues. He has that passion and excitement for life.”
The 57-year-old former D Generation lead singer and solo artist said that while he was working on his recovery from the stroke in Argentina last year he had no idea his friends and the album’s producers were reaching out to so many A-list artists for cover versions of his songs. “When I heard these versions, especially ‘She Don’t Love Me Now,’ it took me out of a dark time. I felt excited about life again, in a way that only music can do,” Malin said.
Previously released singles include Armstrong’s take on “Black Haired Girl” and “Prisoners of Paradise” by Bleachers.
After a long break during his recovery, Malin will return to the stage at the Beacon Theatre in New York for one of the biggest hometown shows of his career on Dec. 1 and 2, with tickets still available for the second night. After a full set from Malin and his band, special guests at each show will perform their versions, including Lucinda Williams, Jakob Dylan, Butch Walker, J Mascis, Adam Duritz and David Immergluck of Counting Crows, The Hold Steady, and Alejandro Escovedo and more guests to be announced.
Watch the lyric video for “She Don’t Love Me Now” below.
Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin track listing:
1. Prisoners of Paradise (feat. Bleachers)
2. Oh Sheena (feat. Counting Crows)
3. She Don’t Love Me Now (feat. Bruce Springsteen)
4. Black Haired Girl (feat. Billie Joe Armstrong)
5. Brooklyn (feat. Dinosaur Jr.)
6. About You (feat. Frank Turner)
7. Turn Up the Mains (feat. Alison Mosshart, Wayne Kramer, Tom Morello, Steven Van Zandt, Mike Watt & Joey C.)
8. Room 13 (feat. Lucinda Williams and Elvis Costello)
9. Don’t Let Them Take You Down (Beautiful Day) (feat. The Wallflowers)
10. The Way We Used to Roll (feat. Spoon)
11. Shane (feat. Rocky O’Riordan)
12. In the Modern World (feat. Butch Walker)
13. High Lonesome (feat. Susanna Hoffs)
14. Greener Pastures (feat. Graham Parker)
15. Meet Me At The End of the World (feat. Alejandro Escovedo)
16. Death Star (feat. The Hold Steady)
17. Riding on the Subway (feat. Tommy Stinson and Ruby Stinson)
18. St. Mark’s Sunset (feat. The Walker Roaders)
19. Dead On (feat. Ian Hunter)
20. Almost Grown (feat. Danny Clinch and Christopher Thorn with Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country)
21. Shining Down (feat. Aaron Lee Tasjan)
22. When You’re Young (feat. Low Cut Connie)
23. All The Way From Moscow (feat. Willie Nile)
24. No Way Out (feat. Rancid)
25. You Know It’s Dark When Atheists Start to Pray (feat. Gogol Bordello)
26. God Is Dead (feat. Agnostic Front)
27. Frankie (feat. Murphy’s Law)
