The story of this duet goes back some 30 years, when Steven Van Zandt sent “Ride the Night Away” to Jimmy Barnes via Geffen A&R man Gary Gersh during the run up to Barnes’ 1985 release For the Working Class Man. Co-written by Van Zandt and Steve Jordan, the song arrived as a rough demo recorded on a Dictaphone — nothing more than a scrap of an idea, with Little Steven scatting over it.
Gersh ended up as one of several producers on For the Working Class Man, an all-star effort that went to No. 1 in Barnes’ homeland of Australia but somehow didn’t make a ripple in the American market — despite the presence of collaborators associated with Journey (Jonathan Cain and Randy Jackson) and Fleetwood Mac (Mick Fleetwood and Billy Burnette), along with Waddy Wachtel, Charlie Sexton, Kim Carnes and Bill Payne of Little Feat.
Back then, “Ride the Night Away” was presented as a suitably polished rocker, with only Barnes’ gritty vocal there to rough things up. Though a fan, he’d actually never seen Steven Van Zandt perform with Bruce Springsteen and, in fact, wouldn’t until the E Street Band made its way to Australia and New Zealand earlier this year. Barnes finally got a chance not only to experience their marathon shows, but to finally reconnect with Van Zandt on “Ride the Night Away.”
Little Steven Van Zandt came to Barnes’ home, where they spent about 12 hours together talking and going through a few takes on “Ride the Night Away” together. By the third try, as we hear on Barnes’ newly released 30:30 Hindsight from Provogue, they’d nailed it — smearing some grease on those old grooves, then revving up into a soaring chorus bolstered both by a tough horn section and Van Zandt’s hound-dog bray. Little Steven then takes over for an eruptive solo that sends Jimmy Barnes into an unself-conscious squeal.
Everything that came before is forgotten forever.
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