Best Bootlegs: Bruce Springsteen – Merry Christmas From Asbury Park

December 5th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Holidays-Celebrations, Music

Because I may not know music, but I know what you should like

… and where to find it¹

Nobody Rocks Christmas Like Bruce Springsteen

That title may sound familiar because last year, a Heck Of A Guy post, Nobody Rocks Christmas Like Bruce Springsteen, offered a few Springsteen holiday tunes. This year, we can point readers to a new and improved version. Mchuck22 has contributed a nifty composite of Springsteen songs to the bigO audio archive, noting

My goal was to create a one-disc sampler of the best tracks from the Asbury Park Convention Hall holiday shows – structured loosely along the lines of a typical show. I tried to include a good mix of Christmas favorites and essential Springsteen tracks.

And, mchuck22 has succeeded. Check out the tracks (the date refers to the Springsteen concert at which the song was recorded):

Deck The Halls (12/08/01) (894k)
Incident On 57th Street (12/08/01) (12.6MB)
Blue Christmas (12/17/00) (5.9MB)
Christmas Day (12/06/01) (9.0MB)
Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight) (12-08-03) (6.1MB)
Shine Silently (12/17/00) (8.9MB)
The Wish (12-08-03) (7.7MB)
Kitty’s Back (12/17/00) (14.3MB)
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (12/06/01) (4.6MB)
My City Of Ruins (12/17/00) (8.7MB)
I Don’t Want To Go Home (12/17/00) (5.4MB)
Rosalita (12/17/00) (10.3MB) (10.3MB)
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (12/17/00) (7.9MB)
WMMR Christmas Message (831k)

The tracks are MP3s with a sample rate of 192 kbps. The downloads are directly from the site (rather than through a service such as Rapidshare) and require no decompression or use of codes or passwords. According to the site, “As far as we can ascertain, these tracks have never been officially released on CD.”

Download MP3s

These downloads are available for a limited time only. If you wanna rock with Bruce this holiday season, get these downloads now.

Download at BigO: Bruce Springsteen – Merry Christmas From Asbury Park

Bonus: Found Art OR Cover Art Is Where You Find It

Ever wonder where they find the cover art for bootlegs?

1. The Cover Art: Immediately below is a screenshot from the BigO website with the cover art for Bruce Springsteen – Merry Christmas From Asbury Park:

2. The Heck Of A Guy Art: Immediately below is a screenshot of the Heck Of A Guy post, Nobody Rocks Christmas Like Bruce Springsteen, with our own homemade cut and paste image:

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This post is part of the Heck Of A Guy Best Bootlegs Series. An explanation of this project is included in the first post in this category: Best Bootlegs: Otis Redding – A Soupçon Of Soul. [↩]

Tags: bruce springsteen

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2 Comments so far ↓

Tweets that mention Best Bootlegs: Bruce Springsteen – Merry Christmas From Asbury Park -- Topsy.com // Dec 6, 2009 at 3:18 pm

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Bruce Springsteen!, Jessie Brewer. Jessie Brewer said: RT @blogness 1heckofaguy.com blog spotlights Springsteen's Asbury Park Christmas shows: http://tinyurl.com/yjyxtsk [...]
Tweets that mention Best Bootlegs: Bruce Springsteen Merry Christmas From Asbury Park -- Topsy.com // Dec 6, 2009 at 3:18 pm

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Bruce Springsteen!, Jessie Brewer. Jessie Brewer said: RT @blogness 1heckofaguy.com blog spotlights Springsteen's Asbury Park Christmas shows: http://tinyurl.com/yjyxtsk [...]

And We’re Still Making Love In My Secret Life – Julie’s Story & Video

... I never had a chance. I was - and this is the only word that fits - smitten. I still am.

She was smart and quick-witted, although it would take me 3 years to recognize that she was, in fact, much smarter than me, and then another 2 years to forgive her for that. She was also good-
looking and unabashedly sexy.

And, we fell madly, irredeemably, unflinchingly in love.

Complementing the unlikely story of how Julie and I met, fell in love, and - 2 husbands, 1 wife, and 2 careers later - spent an outrageously wonderful 20 years together before her death in 1999, a video, set to the poignant "In My Secret Life" by Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson, is now available that evokes the role Julie, who died 10 years ago, continues to play in my life.

The written account of the story (think When Harry Met Sally meets Waiting For Godot) starts, appropriately, at This Is How A Love Story Began

The video can be found at And We’re Still Making Love In My Secret Life - A Video For Julie

Now – Another Other Leonard Cohen Album

Another Other
Leonard Cohen Album

Now, Another Other Leonard Cohen Album, the second collection of unreleased Leonard Cohen songs joins the popular The Other Leonard Cohen Album to offer fans of the iconic singer-songwriter a total of 3 CDs of musical treats. Another Other Leonard Cohen Album includes the following tracks plus liner notes by Sylvie Simmons.

1. Je Veux Vivre Tout Seual
2. Kevin Barry
3. Die Gedanken Sind Frei
4. Store Room
5. As Time Goes By
6. Don’t Go Home with Your Hard-on
7. Blessed is the Memory
8. Silent Night
9. Dead Song
10. Another Saturday Night
11. Ballad of the Absent Mare
12. Guerrero
13. The Butcher
14. Un As Der Rebbe Singt
15. Song to the Machines
16. If It Be Your Will
17. Thirsty for the Kiss
18. A Thousand Kisses Deep
19. I Tried To Leave You
20. Whither Thou Goest
21. Mr Cohen Must Be Going

More information and MP3 downloads are available at Presenting Another Other Leonard Cohen Album

The Other Leonard Cohen Album

Track List: Vol 1
1. Feels So Good (The Other Blues Song)
2. Book Of Longing
3. The Darkness
4. Puppets
5. Lullaby
6. Do I Have to Dance All Night (1976)
7. Blues By The Jews

Track List: Vol 2
1. Red River Valley
2. Never Got To Love You (Duet with Anjani)
3. Can't Help Falling In Love
4. Ride Around
5. The Union Makes Us Strong
6. We Shall Not Be Moved
7. To Love Somebody
8. The Hypnotist (Poem)
9. Chelsea Hotel #1
10. There's No Reason Why You Should Remember Me
11. Streets Of Laredo
12. Do I Have To Dance All Night (1980)

More information and MP3 downloads are available at Now Available - The Other Leonard Cohen Album

Leonard Cohen Tour Highlights Videos

Heck Of A Guy offers 3 videos of clips and photos from The Leonard Cohen World Tour:

1. The Original Heck Of A Guy Dear Leonard Cohen - Thanks For The Tour. I Hope It Was Good For You, Too. Video Celebration Of The First 14 Months Of The 2008-2009 World Tour can be viewed at
Thanks For The Tour

2. A video, focusing on the Summer 2009 concerts can be seen at Thanks Again For The Tour - The Encore Video

3. The highlight video celebrating the Fall 2009 USA concert series is online at Thanks, Leonard Cohen, For Coming To The USA - Video Celebration

Do I Have To Dance All Night Film Festival

"Do I Have To Dance All Night" was performed many times in concerts but was never released in the US.

As part of my crusade to popularize this song, I've cobbled together 2 videos - one for the semi-funky 1976 version with Laura Branigan and one for the 1980 more gypsy, less disco version - that kinda sorta fit the music.

Both videos include links to keys to the sources of the clips and the identities of the backup singers and others who are featured.

The complete story of "Do I Have To Dance All Night" is available at The Best Leonard Cohen Song You've Never Heard (Probably)

Leonard Cohen & Joni Mitchell? Yes, They Were

Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen had a fling in the 1960s that, for unspecified reasons, was short-lived, with Cohen instigating the parting.

It was then and is now a complex connection. In 1988, Cohen said, I'm still very friendly with Joni - I had dinner with her before the tour, and I have the same admiration for her as you do. But I think it was Noel Harrison who came up to me in the LA Troubadour and said "How do you like living with Beethoven?"

The full story is at Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell: Just One Of Those Things

Heck Of A Guy

A pastiche of posts, featuring song, dance, snappy chatter plus notes on prose, poesy, love, lust, life, and beyond