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Three Superb Non-Bruce Songs Featuring the Professor of the E Street Band
Roy Bittan is the true Piano Man
When it comes to rock and roll piano players, only a handful ever take center stage; Little Richard, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Billy Joel, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder are some that immediately come to mind, but they are also lead singers. Most, however, labor in the background, anchored to a stool and usually placed off to the side of the band. Benmont Tench of the Heartbreakers, for example, spent basically his whole life to Tom Petty’s right and most of you never knew his name.
You also may not know the name of the piano man who has spent nearly 50 years to Bruce Springsteen’s left onstage, and that is criminally wrong. He never towered over the band like Clarence “Big Man” Clemons (few could have, especially seated), but Roy “The Professor” Bittan has always been so much more than just “Bruce’s piano player.” From the moment he replaced David Sancious in 1975, Bittan has been as much the soul of E Street as anyone.
If you think that last sentence is simply more of my typical Bruce/E Street-worshiping hyperbole, consider his work on these five songs from his first album with the band: “Born to Run,” “Thunder Road,” “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” “Jungleland,” and “Backstreets.” That’s an entire career for most musicians, and Roy was just getting started.
But this isn’t another Springsteen edition of Rate-A Record and Roy isn’t just an E Streeter. He is one of those people who just has to be working, and for this installment I give you three killer tunes he brought his magic to that are not Springsteen songs. I bet at least one will surprise you.
“Paradise by the Dashboard Light” — Meat Loaf
In 1977, between recording two little Springsteen albums called Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town, Bittan stepped in to play piano and keyboards an album you might have heard of if you haven’t been living on Mars for five decades: Meat Loaf’s classic Bat Out…
