Five decades into his career, and Bob Seger is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down. Today, the Detroit rock legend gave the world a first taste of his upcoming album I Knew You When, a gritty rock cover of Lou Reed’s deep cut “Busload Of Faith.”
The song first appeared back in 1989, as the third single off Reed’s “return to form” album New York. In Seger’s hands, the song gets a little bit of a harder edge, maybe a more Rolling Stones-esque vibe thanks to the musical accompaniment of his longstanding Silver Bullet Band. That being said, he sings it in Reed’s signature vocal drawl. Interestingly, he tweaked some of Reed’s original words, most notably inserting the line, “You can’t depend on the president” where it was originally written, “You can’t depend on the churches / Unless there’s real estate that you want to buy / Can’t depend on a lot of things/ You need a busload of faith to get by.”
I Knew You When is set two drop a little less than two months from now on November 17. It’s the first new offering from Seger since Ride Out, which dropped back in 2014. Check out Seger’s take on the track above and compare it to the Reed original below.
