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Donna Summer. Springsteen, 1983.
Released on Album
Donna Summer (Donna Summer, 1983)
Donna Summer: lead vocals, cody
Roy Bittan: acoustic piano
Louis Johnson: bass
Steve Lukather: guitar
David Paich: synthesizer
Greg Phillinganes: synthesizer
Jeff Porcaro: drums
Steve Porcaro: synthesizer programming
Bruce Springsteen: guitar solo, backing vocals
Ernie Watts: saxophone
PROTECTION - V1 3:30 LM-4 / MI / GS / MILM / UH / BUERM
PROTECTION - V2 3:35 released on the album "Donna Summer" 1982
PROTECTION - V3 uncirculated
Note: "Protection" V1 is the demo recorded for Donna Summer by Bruce Springsteeen and the E Street Band at The Hit Factory on February 23, 1982. Earlier in the year, David Geffen had contacted Jon Landau to ask if Springsteen would write a song for Donna. In response, Bruce wrote "Cover Me", but after hearing it, Landau said, "You aren't giving this one away". Even though he disagreed, Springsteen wrote another song, "Protection", in early February. A song of the same name, which consists of six short acoustic demos, recorded during The River sessions in 1979, was bootlegged on Lost Masters Volume VIII in the 1990s. It is not clear whether Springsteen or the bootleggers titled it, and it was never published or copyrighted like the rest of the Springsteen catalogue. It bears little in common musicly or lyrically with this song, composed three years later, and copyrighted on March 8, 1982.
The demo of "Protection" was sent to Summer and her producer, Quincy Jones, and it was arranged for Roy Bittan and Bruce to fly out to Los Angeles to cut the track. On March 8, they arrived at Westlake Audio Studios, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, where Summers's tenth album, "Donna Summer", was in production. Bruce struck up a friendly relationship with Jones, who he would work with again in 1985, recording "We Are the World". He also apparently got along with Donna, sleeping on her couch that evening as they worked on the song. He played guitar and provided backing vocals for the recording V2, which consisted of multiple takes. Quincy was thoroughly impressed, later saying Bruce "was one of the nicest people I have ever worked with…The man has more musical knowledge than a lot of people think and has a deep sense of commitment to music. You could feel his spirit in the sessions." It is not clear whether one of the takes was a vocal duet with Donna V3. The album was released later in the year, without the success of her disco records of the 1970s, but she was nominated for the Grammy, "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance". Springsteen has never performed the song in concert, although it was rehearsed in early 1988 for the upcoming Tunnel Of Love tour.
Studio Sessions: The River
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