The next time you’re playing Springsteen trivia and you get this old softball:
How many Born in the U.S.A. songs charted as singles?
…stump your questioner by answering eight instead of seven.
Because in addition to “Dancing in the Dark,” “Cover Me,” “Born in the U.S.A.,” “I’m on Fire,” “Glory Days,” “I’m Goin’ Down,” and “My Hometown,” one other song made a brief appearance on the Billboard charts.
Except it was the Country chart rather than the Hot 100, and it didn’t chart until 1986.
Oh, and Bruce Springsteen wasn’t the recording artist.
Jeff Stevens and the Bullets recorded “Darlington County” as their debut single and took it to #69 on the U.S. Country chart.
The single was successful enough to earn Stevens a live television performance on The Nashville Network in 1987.
That success led the way to their 1987 debut album, Bolt Out of the Blue, which featured their Springsteen cover, advertise prominently on the album cover.
The album didn’t break through. Neither did their follow-up self-titled album. None of their singles cracked the Top 40 on any chart, and the band finally broke up in 1990. Stevens went on to a successful career as a songwriter and producer.
The story of Jeff Stevens and the Bullets is a short one, but it earned Bruce an eighth charting single (as songwriter, at least) from his landmark album.
© September 11, 2020
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