Bruce Springsteen thought long and hard while prepping and recording his new R&B covers set, Only The Strong Survive. Exclaim! transcribed some of Springsteen's chat with Elizabeth Bowman, in which he revealed he tossed a lot of material by the wayside in order to get the set exactly how he envisioned it.
“The Boss” admitted, “Initially, it was really hard. I was picking material and I'm going, 'It's hard to sing somebody else's songs, and get them to sound authentic and it's coming out of you.' So I made an entire record that I threw out, and it'll show up in different places, and there were some good things on it but didn't feel quite right.”
He went on to say, “I've been getting a lot better at picking them, but initially it was the trial and error of: 'What can I sing well?' So that was the process, but at the end of the day. I think the main thing the record is it's joyful, and a lot of fun, and tips my hat, and is a tribute to, like I say, all my mentors and masters, and all those great records and those great productions.”