I added a chapter to our 2003 "Boss Week" Special this time around so that I could feature ANOTHER great Springsteen "Tribute" track.
This one has become quite a Forgotten Hits Favorite over the past several years. It's done by a band called Big Daddy ... and we've recounted the premise of THEIR existence several times in the past.
In a nutshell, the whole idea was that this '50's cover band (called Big Daddy, naturally) was out on tour when (as explained on their debut album):
"While on a USO tour of Southeast Asia in 1959, Big Daddy was captured by Communist forces and held captive until the mid-'80's, at which time they were rescued by C.I.A. forces and subsequently returned to the United States. While being held at Camp David for de-briefing, they were given sheet music of contemporary hit songs so that they could rebuild their repertoire and get back to the only work they knew ... making music. Of course, not having heard the evolution of rock music during the quarter century they spent imprisoned in the jungles of Laos, they arranged and performed these songs the only way they knew how ... in the classic styles of the 1950's. Rhino Records got wind of the recordings made by Big Daddy at Camp David recording studio and immediately signed them and released the album ... hey, it could've happened!!!"
It was a VERY clever concept that I ALWAYS thought would have made for an EXCELLENT movie! (Of course, that never happened ... but Big Daddy DID develop quite a "cult" following over the years ... including THIS very big fan right here.)
NOTE: I found out later that in 1991, screenwriter Ira Hefler wrote a script based on the whole captivity story ... and "Big Daddy ... Stranded In The Jungle" ran for eight weeks at The Groundlings Theatre in West Hollywood.
One of their first releases was Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing In The Dark". While the single never charted here in The States, it DID reach The Top 20 in Great Britain, where Big Daddy was touring at the time.
(If you've never heard this before, you're in for a real treat ... incredibly, they imagined this with a "Pat Boone Treatment" ... and it actually WORKS!!!)
Sit back and enjoy the Big Daddy version of Dancing In The Dark ... and thanks again for sticking with us all week long for our Tribute to Bruce Springsteen!!!
