''Dedication'' is a 1981 album by American singer Gary U.S. Bonds. The album was a critical and commercial success, marking a comeback for Bonds after several years out of the limelight. ''Dedication'' was the first of two albums on which he collaborated with Bruce Springsteen & the

E Street Band The E Street Band is an American rock band, and has been musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. For the bulk of Springsteen's recording and performing caree ...

, the second being '' On the Line'', released the following year, 1982. The musicians accompanying Bonds on the album include many members of the

and the

Asbury Jukes Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes are an American musical group from the Jersey Shore led by Southside Johnny. They have been recording albums since 1976 and are closely associated with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. They have recor ...

. The album includes three songs written by Bruce Springsteen, one written by

Steve Van Zandt Steven Van Zandt (né Lento; born November 22, 1950), also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin ...

, and several covers of songs from

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

, Jackson Browne, and others. It also features a duet between Bonds and Springsteen on the track "

Jole Blon Jole Blon or Jolie Blonde is a traditional Cajun waltz, often called "the Cajun national anthem" because of the popularity it has in Cajun culture. The song was popularized on a nationwide scale by a series of renditions and references in late 194 ...

". Bonds' early 1960s sound had been a major influence on both Springsteen and Van Zandt. The songs written by Springsteen, including the cover of "Jole Blon", were originally intended for his 1980 album, '' The River'', but he felt they fit better with Bonds and his versions of them have never been released although he has performed most of them live, often featuring Bonds as a special guest. The album produced several singles. The Springsteen-penned " This Little Girl" was a major success, peaking at No. 7 in '' Cash Box'' and at No. 11 on the ''Billboard'' pop chart. It also reached No. 5 on the

mainstream rock chart Mainstream Rock is a music chart in '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched i ...

, as well as the

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

traditional "Jole Blon", which garnered some

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-orien ...

airplay. The album itself reached No. 27 on the pop album chart and No. 34 on the R&B album chart. Music writer Dave Marsh called ''Dedication'' "one of the most successful comeback albums in rock & roll history". The album was re-released in 1994 on the Razor Edge label of

Razor & Tie Razor & Tie was an American entertainment company that consisted of a record label and a music publishing company. It was established in 1990 by Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld. Based in New York City (with additional offices in Los Angeles an ...

music, and then again in 2009 on BGO Records, paired with '' On the Line''. In a 2016 career retrospective interview with Pods & Sods, Gary revealed that a few additional songs and outtakes recorded during this time may eventually be released.

Track listing

# "

" (Traditional; arranged Michael Hurley and

Moon Mullican Aubrey Wilson Mullican (March 29, 1909 – January 1, 1967), known professionally as Moon Mullican and nicknamed "King of the Hillbilly Piano Players", was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. He was associated with t ...

) - 3:25 # " This Little Girl" ( Bruce Springsteen) - 3:42 # "Your Love" (Springsteen) - 3:28 # "Dedication" (Springsteen) - 3:11 # "Daddy's Come Home" (

Steven Van Zandt Steven Van Zandt (né Lento; born November 22, 1950), also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandoli ...

) - 6:22 # " It's Only Love" (

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

) - 3:04 # " The Pretender" ( Jackson Browne) - 6:12 # "Way Back When" ( Gary U.S. Bonds, George Bruno) - 3:58 # " From a Buick 6" (

) - 4:25 # "Just Like a Child" (Leroy Anderson, John Clemente, Lou Conte) - 3:43

Personnel

Musicians: *Gary U.S. Bonds - lead vocals * Bruce Springsteen - guitars, backing vocals (solo "Jole Blon") *

- bass, fuzz bass, guitar, bongos, backing vocals *

Roy Bittan Roy J. Bittan (born July 2, 1949) is an American musician best known as a long-time member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. Nicknamed "The Professor", Bittan joined the E Street Band in 1974. He plays the piano, organ, accordion and synthe ...

- keyboards *

Clarence Clemons Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist for The E Street Band. Clemons released several s ...

- saxophone, backing vocals *

Danny Federici Daniel Paul Federici (January 23, 1950 – April 17, 2008) was an American musician, best known as the organ, glockenspiel, and accordion player and a founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. In 2014, Federici was posthumously induct ...

- accordion, keyboards *

Garry Tallent Garry Wayne Tallent (born October 27, 1949), sometimes billed as Garry W. Tallent, is an American musician and record producer, best known for being bass player and founding member of the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band si ...

- bass * Max Weinberg - drums * Additional musicians: **

Chuck Jackson Chuck Jackson (born July 22, 1937) is an American R&B singer who was one of the first artists to record material by Burt Bacharach and Hal David successfully. He has performed with moderate success since 1961. His hits include "I Don't Want to ...

Ben E. King Benjamin Earl King (né Nelson; September 28, 1938 – April 30, 2015) was an American soul and R&B singer and record producer. He is best known as the singer and co-composer of " Stand by Me"—a US Top 10 hit, both in 1961 and later ...

- vocals **

Ellie Greenwich Eleanor Louise Greenwich (October 23, 1940 – August 26, 2009) was an American pop music singer, songwriter, and record producer. She wrote or co-wrote "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Be My Baby", "Maybe I Know", "Then He Kissed Me", "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", ...

, Carol Williams, Ula Hedwig, Brenda Hilliard, Carole Sylvan, Brenda Joyce Hillard, & Mikie Harris - backing vocals **John Clemente - bass **Rusty Cloud - keyboards **Lou Conte & Rob Parissi - guitar **Rick Gazda - trumpet, backing vocals ** La Bamba - trombone **

Eddie Manion Ed Manion (born February 28, 1952), also known as Eddie "Kingfish" Manion, is an American saxophonist, who plays both tenor and baritone sax. As a solo artist, he released his own instrumental album titled Nightlife in 2015. Manion is currently a ...

- tenor saxophone **Mike Micara - drums **Michael Spengler - trumpet **

Joey Stann Joey Stann is an accomplished saxophonist who has worked as a sideman and has recorded with a long list of rock and roll luminaries. Stann performs primarily on the tenor, Alto saxophone and baritone saxophone and has contributed vocals and has ...

- baritone saxophone, backing vocals Production: *Gary U.S. Bonds, Bruce Springsteen,

, Rob Parissi, Lanny Lambert - producers *Garry Tallent - producer, associate producer *Larry Alexander,

Tony Bongiovi Anthony C. Bongiovi (born September 7, 1947) is an American record producer and recording engineer. He is the cousin of musician Jon Bon Jovi. Career Bongiovi has produced records by Gloria Gaynor, Talking Heads, Aerosmith ('' Classics Live''), ...

Bob Clearmountain Bob Clearmountain (born January 15, 1953) is an American recording engineer, mixer and record producer. He has worked with many major acts, including Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Toto (band), Toto, Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams, with whom he ...

Neil Dorfsman Neil Dorfsman (born May 31, 1952) is an American sound engineer and record producer, best known for his work with Dire Straits, Bruce Hornsby, Mark Knopfler, Paul McCartney and Sting. He won Grammy Awards for Best Producer for Bruce Hornsby's ...

, Bill Scheniman - engineers *Raymond Willhard, Dave Greenberg, Jeffry Hendirkcson, Garry Rindfuss - assistant engineers *Larry Emerine &

Stephen Marcussen Stephen Marcussen is the founder and chief mastering engineer at Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California, United States. He has been mastering music since 1979. Biography Marcussen's introduction to music recording happened in 1976 when, at ...

- mastering *

Jimmy Wachtel Jimmy Wachtel is an American photographer, art director and designer based in Los Angeles. He has designed album covers for big artists such as Joe Walsh, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Michael Stanley, Jo Jo Gunne, John Cougar, and Buckingham Ni ...

- design, photography *Gloria Von Jansky - hand lettering *Dane Lawing - art directionGary U.S. Bonds - Dedication
/ref>

References

{{Authority control 1981 albums Gary U.S. Bonds albums Albums produced by Steven Van Zandt EMI America Records albums Albums with cover art by Jimmy Wachtel