Bruce Springsteen's new album is about to be released, recorded live in the studio in 5 days with the E Street Band. The most anticipated song by fans is If I Was the Priest, which Bruce sang at his audition in front of Columbia's Sir John Hammond (discoverer of Bob Dylan). It was 1972.

"The first time Springsteen met John Hammond, the legendary talent scout asked whether he had any songs that he would never perform live. Springsteen responded with this cowboy ballad about a town where Jesus is the sheriff and the Virgin Mary runs the Holy Grail Saloon. 'When he sang that song,' Hammond later recalled, 'I knew he could only be Catholic.' "

Here is the song with the 1972 arrangement: