Bruce Springsteen released his first two albums 50 years ago, in 1973 — a year in which the top-selling single happened to be Tony Orlando & Dawn’s “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree.” Every fan of popular music was aware of “Tie a Yellow Ribbon,” of course, and Springsteen had not yet broken through the mainstream. But anyone who was aware of both would have undoubtedly seen them as representing opposite ends of the musical spectrum.
It took a half-century, but Springsteen and Orlando were finally onstage together, Oct. 29 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, standing next to each other as they sang backing vocals to the show’s grand finale, which was the Joe Cocker arrangement of The Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends.” It’s not that I never thought I would see this. I never could have even conceived of it happening.
