David Bowie tried to cover Bruce Springsteen but gave up after the Boss hated his effort

'David was quite taken by meeting Bruce'

David Bowie with dyed red hair and a yellow suit, circa 1974. (Getty Images)

During the 1975 recording sessions for Young Americans, David Bowie planned on covering Bruce Springsteen’s “It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City” for the album.

However, when The Boss visited the studio, everything changed. In an interview with Uncut (via NME), producer Tony Visconti detailed how, after Bowie played Springsteen the cover, the track was abandoned after a private talk between the two legends.

“David was quite taken by meeting Bruce,” Visconti wrote. “We played ‘Saint’ to him and he kept a poker face the whole time. He said nothing when it was finished.

“David took him into another room for a private chat. By the time Bruce left, he was more pleasant and said his goodbyes to the rest of us. David and I never worked on ‘Saint’ after that, although it was finished or re-recorded eventually with someone else.”

Bowie’s version of the track - which appeared on Springsteen’s 1973 debut album Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ - eventually came to light in 1989 on the box set Sound + Vision.

Bowie was recently nominated for this year’s Mercury Prize alongside the likes Radiohead, Laura Mvula, and Michael Kiwanuka.