Springsteen

My introduction to Bruce Springsteen was a late night cable showing of a documentary called No Nukes. The movie was made in 1980 and it was sometime between '80 and '83 that I was watching tv late one night, switching channels constantly no doubt, when I stumbled upon some sort of concert footage. There were all these people boooing (actually shouting "Bruuuuce" but I didn't realize that at the time) and I seem to recall some musicians backstage making some kind of snarky comment about Bruce and his fans.

Then they showed Bruce and the E-Street Band play "The River" and I was hooked. From that opening harmonica and then the lyrics. I have the worst memory in the world. I can't memorize shit. I did, at one time, manage to memorize this song though.

I don't know why that song caught me the way it did. I like that I can actually understand what Bruce is singing most of the time. And he writes lyrics that kick my ass.

In the late 80's and early 90's I drank a lot. My main concern was getting enough money together to be able to buy enough beer that night to get drunk. The Smiths and Bruce were the soundtrack for my life at that time, mostly Bruce though. My favorite bar was Hey Juan's. A chip on my shoulder and Bruce on my lips. I remember writing lyrics from Greetings from Asbury Park on bathroom walls with a Sharpie.

I had skin like leather and the diamond-hard look of a cobra
I was born blue and weathered but I burst just like a supernova

Bruce Springsteen has always been my 'favorite band' when asked, just like Cool Hand Luke has always been my answer for favorite movie. I sometime wander away from Bruce and don't listen to him for long periods of time but then I rediscover him. It's like coming home. This music has been etched deep into my soul by the acid of youth. I have plenty of other stuff I like and listen to, but none of it fits inside me like Bruce's earlier albums (Born in the USA is just about the cut off point. His newer stuff is good, but it doesn't reasonate within me)

That pure American brother, dull-eyed and empty-faced
races Sundays in Jersey in a Chevy stock super eight
He rides 'er low on the hip, on the side he's got Bound For Glory in red, white and blue flash paint
He leans on the hood telling racing stories, the kids call him Jimmy The Saint
Well the blaze and noise boy, he's gunnin' that bitch loaded to blastin' point
He rides head first into a hurricane and disappears into a point
And there's nothin' left but some blood where the body fell
That is, nothin' left that you could sell
just junk all across the horizon, a real highwayman's farewell

I can't really choose one song or even one album that I love more than the others. They all have their own vibe and it depends on how I'm feeling at any particular time. Most people would probably pick Born To Run as the pinnacle and they certainly have reason to. It has Thunder Road, which is one of those songs that I'm constantly juggling amongst my top song list.

The opening of Thunder Road is perfection.

The screen door slams
Mary's dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside
darling you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me

You got some good stuff filling in the middle of that album but then it ends with another great, great, song, Jungleland. Nine and a half minutes long, it does sometimes sorta drag, but the tasty parts are really good.

Outside the street's on fire in a real death waltz
Between flesh and what's fantasy and the poets down here
Don't write nothing at all, they just stand back and let it all be
And in the quick of the night they reach for their moment
And try to make an honest stand but they wind up wounded, not even dead
Tonight in Jungleland

It's freaking late again. I started this with the intention of writing a bunch about How Much I Love Springsteen but I'm losing interest in writing it at this point. It's just me nattering on.

One more thing about Bruce and The E-Street Band, they are great live. Way too many bands that put out good albums suck in concert. They need that producer fixing their shitty tracks with his computer. Not so with Bruce and the Band. And Bruce's onstage patter is really cool.

On the Live 1975-1985 cd set there is a version of Growin' Up during the middle of which he stops to tell a story about how his parents, how his dad wanted him to be a lawyer and his mother wanted him to be an author and at the end of the story he says "You guys, one of you wanted a lawyer and one of you wanted an author, well tonight you're gonna both just have to settle for Rock and Roll" and then the band kicks in to finish the song and it's just cool as hell

The version of The River on that cd set is great too. The story at the start is nifty.

Springsteen

My introduction to Bruce Springsteen was a late night cable showing of a documentary called No Nukes. The movie was made in 1980 and it was sometime between '80 and '83 that I was watching tv late one night, switching channels constantly no doubt, when I stumbled upon some sort of concert footage. There were all these people boooing (actually shouting "Bruuuuce" but I didn't realize that at the time) and I seem to recall some musicians backstage making some kind of snarky comment about Bruce and his fans.

Then they showed Bruce and the E-Street Band play "The River" and I was hooked. From that opening harmonica and then the lyrics. I have the worst memory in the world. I can't memorize shit. I did, at one time, manage to memorize this song though.

I don't know why that song caught me the way it did. I like that I can actually understand what Bruce is singing most of the time. And he writes lyrics that kick my ass.

In the late 80's and early 90's I drank a lot. My main concern was getting enough money together to be able to buy enough beer that night to get drunk. The Smiths and Bruce were the soundtrack for my life at that time, mostly Bruce though. My favorite bar was Hey Juan's. A chip on my shoulder and Bruce on my lips. I remember writing lyrics from Greetings from Asbury Park on bathroom walls with a Sharpie.

I had skin like leather and the diamond-hard look of a cobra
I was born blue and weathered but I burst just like a supernova

Bruce Springsteen has always been my 'favorite band' when asked, just like Cool Hand Luke has always been my answer for favorite movie. I sometime wander away from Bruce and don't listen to him for long periods of time but then I rediscover him. It's like coming home. This music has been etched deep into my soul by the acid of youth. I have plenty of other stuff I like and listen to, but none of it fits inside me like Bruce's earlier albums (Born in the USA is just about the cut off point. His newer stuff is good, but it doesn't reasonate within me)

That pure American brother, dull-eyed and empty-faced
races Sundays in Jersey in a Chevy stock super eight
He rides 'er low on the hip, on the side he's got Bound For Glory in red, white and blue flash paint
He leans on the hood telling racing stories, the kids call him Jimmy The Saint
Well the blaze and noise boy, he's gunnin' that bitch loaded to blastin' point
He rides head first into a hurricane and disappears into a point
And there's nothin' left but some blood where the body fell
That is, nothin' left that you could sell
just junk all across the horizon, a real highwayman's farewell

I can't really choose one song or even one album that I love more than the others. They all have their own vibe and it depends on how I'm feeling at any particular time. Most people would probably pick Born To Run as the pinnacle and they certainly have reason to. It has Thunder Road, which is one of those songs that I'm constantly juggling amongst my top song list.

The opening of Thunder Road is perfection.

The screen door slams
Mary's dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside
darling you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me

You got some good stuff filling in the middle of that album but then it ends with another great, great, song, Jungleland. Nine and a half minutes long, it does sometimes sorta drag, but the tasty parts are really good.

Outside the street's on fire in a real death waltz
Between flesh and what's fantasy and the poets down here
Don't write nothing at all, they just stand back and let it all be
And in the quick of the night they reach for their moment
And try to make an honest stand but they wind up wounded, not even dead
Tonight in Jungleland

It's freaking late again. I started this with the intention of writing a bunch about How Much I Love Springsteen but I'm losing interest in writing it at this point. It's just me nattering on.

One more thing about Bruce and The E-Street Band, they are great live. Way too many bands that put out good albums suck in concert. They need that producer fixing their shitty tracks with his computer. Not so with Bruce and the Band. And Bruce's onstage patter is really cool.

On the Live 1975-1985 cd set there is a version of Growin' Up during the middle of which he stops to tell a story about how his parents, how his dad wanted him to be a lawyer and his mother wanted him to be an author and at the end of the story he says "You guys, one of you wanted a lawyer and one of you wanted an author, well tonight you're gonna both just have to settle for Rock and Roll" and then the band kicks in to finish the song and it's just cool as hell

The version of The River on that cd set is great too. The story at the start is nifty.