How quickly will a new Springsteen album follow Nov. 25’s ‘High Hopes’ release?

Bruce Springsteen will release a new single, “High Hopes,” next Monday. The bigger question is how quickly will a new studio album, his 18th, follow?

Yesterday, the internet ran wild with rumors that Springsteen would put out “High Hopes” today, but last night his website, brucespringsteen.net, squelched that by putting up a single cover and news that the tune will come out next Monday, Nov. 25.

Now speculation is that a new Springsteen album, his first since 2012″s “Wrecking Ball,” could come out as early as January, according to Billboard.

Fans know that Springsteen has been in the studio, including while he was on the road in Australia, where it seems that “High Hopes” was recorded.  “We”ve never had a recording session during a tour in our lives,” he told Rolling Stone. “We did a couple of things that I wanted to put down. So that was very exciting.”

Springsteen included a version of the tune in the 1996 documentary, “Blood Brothers,” but next Tuesday”s rendition was recorded this summer with Rage Against The Machine”s Tom Morello. The guitarist was filling in for Steven Van Zandt, who was filming “Lillehammer.” 

Since 2002″s “The Rising,” Springsteen has released six studio albums and he told Rolling Stone that he”s feeling prolific. “I have a lot of material. I still feel like I”m in the middle of the well.”

Springsteen is on a little break from touring right now, and presumably in the studio. After coming off the road in late September, he said, “A week or two later, after stopping [touring], I”m in the studio working, making a demo.”

 In January, Springsteen and the E Street Band will play South Africa for the first time, which makes it a little doubtful that we”ll see the new album before those Jan. 26-Feb. 1 shows, but it”s good to know it”s coming. His last two sets were both released in the first quarter. Given that he is playing in South Africa the night of the Grammy Awards (Jan. 26), he won’t have that platform to kick off the new set like he did “Wrecking Ball,” or the Super Bowl half-time, which he used to promote 2009’s “Working On a Dream,” which came out a few days before the game.

Below is a loose-limbed version of the song performed by Springsteen and the band in Australia earlier this year.Under that is the Havalinas’ original version. Unlike Springsteen’s take of Jimmy Cliff’s “Trapped,” he stays pretty faithful to the original here.

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