PIPELINE is an instrumental originally released by The Chantays in 1962. See the below section for more details. As far as it's known, Bruce Springsteen covered the song once in 1980 and once in 1990. See the "Band Rehearsal Version" and "Live History" sections below for more details.
PIPELINE is an instrumental written by Brian Carman and Bob Spickard and originally released by The Chantays as a single in 1962. The song was also included on The Chantays' 1963 album Pipeline.
Bruce Springsteen rehearsed The Chantays' PIPELINE with the E Street Band on 22 Feb 1980 at his Telegraph Hill Road property in Holmdel, NJ, nicknamed "Telegraph Hill Studios". This wasn't a true studio; it was a converted barn that Springsteen and the band used to practice songs around the time The River was being cut in studio. Working out arrangements cuts down pricey hours at The Power Station where the album was recorded. Of course, PIPELINE was never considered for the album; the song was played just as a band warm-up exercise.
A significant amount of The River sessions audio that has surfaced unofficially comes from these Telegraph Hill sessions. Unfortunately the audio quality leaves much to be desired. It sounds as if a single boom recording mike was used and Springsteen's vocals are buried under the instruments on virtually all these recordings.
This band rehearsal of PIPELINE can be found on The Lost Masters Vol. 11 (Labour Of Love) bootleg. The song is incorrectly listed as Johnny Smith's WALK, DON'T RUN (later covered and made famous by The Ventures) on this bootleg.
PIPELINE was performed off-tour on 29 Oct 1990 at Tom Petty's House in San Fernando Valley, CA, during a gig with many of the guests at the party, including various Heartbreakers, Roger McGuinn, and Jeff Lynne.
Please contact me if you have any information about the 29 Oct 1990 gig at Tom Petty's House. You send an email to or use the below form.
List of available versions of PIPELINE on this website:
PIPELINE
