The 1980 Bruce Springsteen Hit That Was Almost A Ramones Song

"Hungry Heart" is a Bruce Springsteen song that sounds even cooler today, but it was originally one that Springsteen wrote for another famous musician. That act was the Ramones, punk rock pioneers and legends who pushed a gritty sound that was decidedly different from the bar band-meets-Americana vibe of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. But to Springsteen, exciting music could come from all kinds of groups, and he liked the Ramones enough to take up lead singer Joey Ramone on a request to compose a song for the simple, straightforward, and edgy band.

In 1979, Springsteen witnessed a Ramones show at a club in his home base of Asbury Park, New Jersey, then spoke with the frontman afterward. "Joey asked me to write a song for 'em," Springsteen recalled in the liner notes for his 1995 "Greatest Hits" collection. That tune, composed in one night, became "Hungry Heart," notably a Springsteen smash and not, as initially intended, a Ramones recording. Here's how Springsteen saved the song and propelled his career to new heights. 

After meeting up with the Ramones following a New Jersey concert, Bruce Springsteen got to work. "I went home that night and wrote this," Springsteen claimed of "Hungry Heart" in the booklet packaged with "Greatest Hits." Then he made a demo and played it for Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone. When he got a listen, he politely declined on behalf of his band and suggested Springsteen record it himself, an idea supported by Springsteen's manager. "I played it for Jon Landau and, earning his money, he advised me to keep it," Springsteen added. It's worth noting that only a couple of years earlier, Springsteen gave an unfinished "Because the Night" to Patti Smith, who made it her signature hit.

Throughout the 1970s, Springsteen's albums were praised by critics and sold well enough, but he wasn't much of a singles artist until "Hungry Heart." The first single from the 1980 double-length LP "The River" turned Springsteen into a pop star. The track peaked at No. 5 on the Hot 100 in the last week of 1980, the first of 12 career Top 10 singles for Springsteen. 

Not only did his album sales ratchet up, but the song changed the makeup of Springsteen's fanbase. "I'd had a hard-core following of young men who made up a high percentage of our live audience, but 'Hungry Heart' brought in the girls and proved Top 40 radio's power to transform your audience," he wrote in his memoir "Born to Run."