Robbed Hit of the week 4/20/15 - Bruce Springsteen's "Fire"...

"Fire" - Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
from the album Live 1975/1985 (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #46

This week's "robbed hit" comes from the "Boss" himself, Bruce Springsteen, who proved his fanbase clout by debuting at #1 on the albums chart with a 5-record live box set, and landing a top-ten pop hit with the pacific rock remake of "War". The follow-up single from the set was the first time he released a classic song he wrote as a single.

Originally, "Fire" was recorded for his Darkness On The Edge Of Town album, but was cut from the final listing.

Instead he gave the song to rockabilly performer Robert Gordon, who released the track in the spring of 1978 with legendary rock guitarist Link Wray and Bruce playing piano on backup...

But it was the version from the Pointer Sisters in 1978 that blew this up, eclipsing all other Springsteen tracks on the chart up to that point, peaking at #2...

For the box set/single live version of "Fire", Springsteen used his performance on the Darkness On The Edge Of Town tour from the Winterland in San Francisco in 1978...

Possibly because the song was so familiar in the Pointer Sisters version, and that it was a rather slow-paced song for the "Boss", it stalled under the top-40 in February of 1978. It did manage to climb to #14 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart. Internationally, the single made the top-40 in Ireland, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

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For the "official" video for the song, a different live take was used, with his 1986 appearance at the Bridge Street Benefit (also in the Bay Area)...

...and just because.