The Fever (Bruce Springsteen song)
"The Fever" is an early Bruce Springsteen song, recorded and released on an extremely rare 7" demo to promote the band, coupled with 'Rendezvous', a live track recorded in New York, although the venue and date remain a mystery - Rendezvous opens with Bruce calling out "New York! Go ahead, Max!". The single was released under The Jersey Devil and was pressed on Bruce Records, which was Springsteen's own independent label for his band. The Fever itself was performed by Springsteen in concert beginning in March 1973. It was recorded in 914 Sound Studios in May 1973, during sessions for Springsteen's second album The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, but was only used as a demo by manager Mike Appel's Laurel Canyon publishing arm and renamed "Fever For the Girl". In early 1974 Appel sent it to several progressive rock radio stations, where it became a "turntable hit" in the ramp-up of Springsteen expectations prior to Born to Run. The original Springsteen recording finally achieved an official release surfacing in 1999 on his 18 Tracks outtakes collection- the live b-side has never been officially released since in any other format, although a different live version is on 18 Tracks and Tracks (Bruce Springsteen album) and a studio cut of Rendezvous was released on 'The Promise' CD in 2010. The Fever was recorded by UK singer Allan Rich in 1975 but failed to make much impact. In 1976, it was recorded on Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes' debut album I Don't Want to Go Home, entitled as "The Fever", and became better known. In 1979, The Pointer Sisters recorded the song under the title "(She Got) The Fever", for their album Priority.
