Rock and roll has always been about movement—whether it’s the rhythmic sway of Chuck Berry’s guitar or the uncontrollable urge to dance. When the genre first took shape, no one was sure if it was just another passing fad, but one thing was certain: it made people feel something. Bruce Springsteen loved that about rock, but for him, the best music didn’t just make feet move—it hit straight to the heart. Covering certain songs, for him, was like walking on sacred ground.
Every musician has that lightning-bolt moment when a song changes everything. For some, it’s The Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction, for others, it’s a Motown classic. But Springsteen saw rock and roll as more than just music—it was almost a religion. Given its deep roots in blues, which has always had a spiritual undertone, it made sense that the most powerful rock songs carried that same weight.
He captured that sentiment in Thunder Road, referencing Roy Orbison’s Only the Lonely not as just a hit song, but as something deeper—an anthem for those searching for catharsis. However, for real heartache, soul music often carried the rawest emotion, and no one embodied that more than The Temptations.
Springsteen found something profoundly moving in David Ruffin’s voice, especially in tracks like I Wish It Would Rain. While The Temptations had the polished dance moves and harmonies that defined the Motown sound, it was Ruffin’s raw, soaring vocals that took everything to another level. His emotional intensity on My Girl was undeniable, but for Springsteen, I Wish It Would Rain was on an entirely different plane.
“‘I Wish It Would Rain,’ you’ve gotta be nuts to try and sing that song after David Ruffin sang it,” Springsteen admitted when he covered the track later in his career. “But I found my own little part of it, and I found my place in it, and it was such a beautiful, beautiful song. I found the hurt and the centre of human emotion in it. I just felt great. It came out great, so we used it.”
Even with Springsteen’s signature gravelly voice, matching Ruffin’s sheer intensity was an impossible task. But what made the cover stand out was how much he respected the original. Much like the grandeur of Born to Run, Springsteen knew how to channel drama into his performances. While he never tried to compete with the Temptations’ perfection, his version served as a heartfelt tribute.
Springsteen has built a career on delivering some of the most passionate performances in rock history, but when it came to David Ruffin, he knew better than to think he could match that magic. He may have had plenty of classics under his own belt, but even The Boss knew when he was standing in the shadow of greatness.
