The Fever for a bootleg

Through the years there have been several bootleg songs and concerts that music fans have sought out. There was the original lost“Smile” album by the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley’s last concert, loads of Bob Dylan songs, and scores of Grateful Dead concerts.

Over time, many of these bootlegs came out as official releases. Eventually the music companies just have to give the fans what they want. By releasing the bootlegs themselves, the artists get back control of the material and how it’s presented in better quality. I’m sure there’s publishing rights involved too.

In Chapter 19 of Mix Tapes and Stuff, Mix Tape says he wants to find a Springsteen bootleg called The Fever.

In 1986, a majority of rock fans saw Bruce Springsteen as the in-shape, loud, and jeans-wearing star touring for the Born in the USA album. On the radio, WNEW-FM 102.7 played a Springsteen bootleg that sounded nothing like Born on the USA. It was called The Fever.” The station had a Top 5 at 11pm every night and every night that song was the most requested, unless a new song from another artist came out.

The Fever was recorded in 1974. It’s slow and Clarence Clemon’s saxophone plays a big part in the song. It’s mostly piano and saxophone. It didn’t sound right on The Wild and Innocent and E-Street Shuffle album or Born to Run so it was given away to Southside Johnny for his “I Don’t Want to Go Home” album. Steven vanZandt produced the album. The song was later recorded by The Pointer Sisters as “She’s Got the Fever.” It can be found on their greatest hits compilations.

Fans had heard of the song for years, but it was never released by the record companies. Springsteen hadn't played the song live so there were no concert bootlegs around. Die-hard Springsteen fans sought out other fans for copies of the song. Some independent stores had copies, but stores weren’t allowed to sell those. Fans heard of the song, but few got to hear it.

There have been loads of Bruce Springsteen bootlegs floating around for years. He gave in and released the Tracks boxed set in 1999. This collection was full of past bootlegs. There were small bootleg releases earlier like the bonus tracks on the Greatest Hits compilation. The Fever was not on those collections. Interviewers asked Springsteen why. He had to give the people what they wanted and officially released the song on the 18 Tracks single album.

Here's the Springsteen version: