Trapped

TRAPPED uncirculating

Note: While on the European leg of The River Tour in Spring 1981, Springsteen purchased a cassette tape of Jimmy Cliff music in the Amsterdam Airport, heard his 1972 recording of "Trapped", produced by Cat Stevens, and decided to incorporate it into his act. The band arrangement was rock, not reggae. Springsteen's take on the song was first performed on May 29, 1981 and remained in Springsteen's setlist for years, including at the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey on August 6, 1984, when it was recorded, and later released on April 23, 1985 on the album, We Are The World, mixed by Chuck Plotkin and Thom Panunzio. The album sold four million copies, and "Trapped" 1984 gained considerable airplay, the most of any of the tracks on the album other than the title song. Though it wasn't released as a single, it peaked at number one on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart. In 2003 the same version was added to the Bonus disc of The Essential. Regarding Springsteen's version of the song, Cliff commented in 1988, "I look at it as a compliment. He's an artist in his own right and he's written a lot of good songs, too." This was during the time that Springsteen released seven top 10 singles from Born In The U.S.A., and under different circumstances, "Trapped" could have easily been number eight. No studio version has surfaced.

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