Van Morrison's influence can be heard in this song, as "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" closely parallels his romanticization of Belfast in such songs as "Cyprus Avenue" and "Madame George" from the 1968 album, Astral Weeks.

"Sandy" showcases the wistful side of Springsteen; Los Angeles Times writer Robert Hilburn later wrote that "the verses [were] whispered as if he was singing into his girlfriend's ear." Instead, he recorded the high, clear voice of Suki Lahav, overdubbing it repeatedly, to give a choir-like effect. "Sandy" also attracted the attention of other musicians; it was one of the two Springsteen songs that drummer Max Weinberg knew when he auditioned for Springsteen's E Street Band in late 1974. Once Born to Run made Springsteen a major rock figure, "Sandy" received additional airplay on progressive and album oriented rock formats.

Live performance history

"Sandy" was included on Springsteen and the E Street Band's best-selling 1986 box set Live/1975–85, in a 1980 Nassau Coliseum performance that nevertheless had a "club feel" to it. Its sequencing in the box set represented the opening stages of the journey that the core characters in Springsteen's work take;

Within the E Street Band, the song was heavily identified with Danny Federici's accordion part, which is the main musical element. "Sandy" was played several times late on the first leg of the 2007–2008 Magic Tour, including Federici's final regular appearance in November 2007 before taking a leave of absence for melanoma treatment. When Federici made his only return to the stage after that, on March 20, 2008, appearing for portions of a Springsteen and E Street Band performance at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, "Sandy" was the one song that he requested be performed. Following Federici's April 17, 2008 death, "Sandy" was performed in tribute to him, with Roy Bittan taking over the accordion part. In July 2008, the live EP Magic Tour Highlights was released, with the final Federici performance of "Sandy" the closing track. The song has been played live about 230 times.

Personnel

  • Bruce Springsteen - vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, recorder
  • Clarence Clemons - saxophone
  • Danny Federici - accordion
  • David Sancious - electric piano
  • Garry Tallent - bass
  • Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez - drums
  • Suki Lahav - choir vocals

Covers

The Hollies recorded a single of "Sandy" (under that title) in 1975, and included it on their Another Night album. Released on Epic Records in the U.S. in April 1975, it only achieved minor airplay, reaching number 85 on the U.S. pop singles chart. Nonetheless, Record World called it a "winning ballad." It had better success in New Zealand, reaching number 12 on their singles chart. Though released as a single, it did not reach the chart in the UK, though in London it made no.15 on Capital Radio's 'Capital Countdown' Top 40. While not a big hit unto itself, The Hollies' use of "Sandy" presaged other artists mining the early Springsteen songbook for material, a notion that would soon be exploited to much greater commercial success by Manfred Mann's Earth Band and others.

Air Supply recorded "Sandy" for their 1985 album Air Supply. Singer-songwriter Richard Shindell recorded what has been described as a "near-holy reading" of this song for his 2002 live album, Courier.

Jason Heath and the Greedy Souls recorded a version in Los Angeles, 2009 which is officially endorsed by Bruce Springsteen. The band line up features the original E Street Band keyboardist and accordion player Danny Federici's son, Jason Federici. The song was released through Springsteen's website and a video can be seen on YouTube.

Swedish artist Ulf Lundell made a Swedish version of the song called "Sanna, (Nyårsafton Åre 1983) (Sandy)". The song was dedicated to his daughter Sanna, and instead of taking place on 4th of July, it takes place on New Year's Eve.

Ben E. King covered the song on the 1997 tribute album One Step Up/Two Steps Back: The Songs of Bruce Springsteen.

New York hard rock band Kiss released a single titled "Shandi", from their 1980 album Unmasked, with the song title being inspired by Springsteen's Sandy according to Paul Stanley, the only member of Kiss to work on the recording of the song in the studio, although all four members of the group appeared in the song's promotional video clip.

Dutch group Theu Boermans en de groep covered this song in a Dutch language as Venlo'67

Legacy

This song was chosen by Tony Blair as one of his Desert Island Discs, apparently because he listened to it many times when he was courting his future wife Cherie Booth.

Madam Marie

One of the song's most famous lines is:

:Did you hear, the cops finally busted Madam Marie,

:for tellin' fortunes better than they do ...

The "Madam Marie" mentioned in the song was a real-life fortune teller on the Asbury Park boardwalk named Marie Castello, who died June 27, 2008, aged 93.

Springsteen offered memories and condolences of her on his website, saying:

Springsteen said some of the same remarks on stage during the next show on the Magic Tour, dedicating a performance of "Sandy" in Gothenburg, Sweden on July 4, 2008, to her. Similar dedication took place in Helsinki, Finland a few days later.

The dedication, word-by-word, from Gothenburg:

:We always send this one out to Danny,

:and just a few days ago, Madam Marie,

:who was the gypsy teller in the Asbury Park

:boardwalk passed away, she was 98,

:that's a lot of fortune-telling.

:There's enough mystery lost in the world,

:we need all the fortune-tellers we can get,

:so tonight we're gonna send this one out to

:Madam Marie...

Springsteen incorrectly noted she died at 98; she was in fact 93. The song has always been dedicated to Danny Federici since his death on April 17, 2008, as this was "his" song, featuring a prominent accordion throughout the song.

References

  • Lyrics, at Bruce Springsteen official web site