Springsteen

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Might be my least favorite cut on a really, really good album.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

287. I don't think I've ever really thought deeply about "I'm Goin' Down" -- it's just there for me, dog. I like the playful vocals, especially the knocka knocka knocka part. The drum sound is ridiculous. It's kinda funny to see the Bruce Lover Man character get rejected so hard, not unlike the "Darlington County" fools. This was the 6th single off BITUSA, and reached #9. Ranked #64, calling it the 'dark horse" of the album.

No official video that I could find.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

288. I think you guys probably know this one. It's ranked No. 3 and is still a pretty powerful thing. It's hard to believe anyone would have--or still--interprets this as a jingoistic anthem.



Here's the Nebraska session cut which is trendy now to find the superior version and probably is without the obnoxious drum sound. To me the funny thing is discovering that "long gone daddy" and "cool rockin daddy" were written parts of the song and not spontaneous exclamations in the recording booth.

[Edgy MD]

I don't know which is more head-scratchy — that a song known for being misread gets stubbornly put all the way up there at #3, or that Springbone stripped it of all those chord changes which drive the passion in the original, but in their absence leave the eventual single version a real one-chord slog to get to the end.

I think it was a challenge for him to ultimately do the song all on one chord, to see how long the band can sustain energy and keep people engaged without a change. But maybe also it was also symbolically about the unchanging American landscape for the returned vet, with the sameness of every day closing another door and losing another opportunity.

Man, that original burns, though. That's a hero that is this close to snapping like John Rambo in First Blood.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

This verse:

[Verse 4]
I had a brother at Khe Sanh
Fightin' off them Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone
He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms, now

The pain he conveys in "They're still there, he's all goooooonnnne."

The whole song is big, loud, and in your face. I think Bruce is yelling the lyrics rather than singing them. I really like this.

The video, however, where they tried to synch up an actual performance with the record, is awful.

[batmagadanleadoff]

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

289. Back to an obscure one, "Gave It A Name." This was a Human Touch leftover that Bruce revived and recorded anew six years later. It includes the same "poison snake" line as "Big Muddy," and the same musings on sin passed through generations as many other Bruce works. Ranked #215

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

290. Like we were saying, they're still there, he's all gone.

"The Wall" is a Vietnam song that hits closer to home for Bruce, who memorializes young friends of his whose names are on the memorial wall in Washington. "Billy" in this song is actually a guy named Walter who was a guitarist in the Jersey Shore band the Motifs who Bruce looked up to. The drummer of his teenage band the Castilles also perished in Vietnam.

I think Bruce has a lot of guilt about Vietnam. He dodged the draft, telling the recruiter he was "homo" as he relayed to Dave Marsh back when that was okay to say.

This song is ranked #205. We are entering the hoe stretch of this--only 50 songs to go!

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

291. "Terry's Song" is an unlisted "bonus track" on the Magic album, separated from the rest of with a 10-second break. It's a tribute to Frank "Terry" Magovern who was Brice's personal assistant and bodyguard for more than 20 years. Magovern was a former Navy Seal and Jersey Shore club owner who legend has it fired a young Springsteen because audiences watching him were too rapt to buy drinks.

Bruce seemed to really like him. Ranked #212

[Edgy MD]

I think Bruce has a lot of guilt about Vietnam. He dodged the draft, telling the recruiter he was "homo" as he relayed to Dave Marsh back when that was okay to say.

If I recall correct, the account he essays on from the Live, 1975–1985 boxed set suggests breaking his leg in a bike wreck is what got him sprung, but I imagine they both could be true in part. Maybe he played both cards and doesn't know which one ultimately worked for him.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Bruce's motorcycle accident caused a concussion, not a broken leg, though. He has also said he told the recruiter he was currently on LSD.

292. Today's song is "It's a Shame" which is a cleaned-up leftover from the Darkness sessions. Sounds like another that Southside Johnny might have done better. Listen at 1:09--the riff for "Prove it all Night" is right there in the open. Ranked #222.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

293. Bruce in his Irish folk phase with a protest march about wealth inequality, "Shackled and Drawn." I kinda like this one. Ranked #191

[Edgy MD]

A good St. Patrick's Day selection.

The only thing I can offer about that one is that he could have been less Brucey on the vocals. It has the intimate storytelling of a Nebraska track — or even a River one — and back then, he'd respect the story by being a touch more articulate.

Somebody else could have a hit and a half with it. Steve Earle or fun. or somebody.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

294. Another Wrecking Ball song about wealth inequality builds to a surprise conclusion in "Jack of All Trades." Fun return of brass to a Springsong, plus a smoldedring guitar solo from guest E Streeter Tom Morello. Ranked #135

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

295. Inspired by the movie version of "Grapes of Wrath" Bruce delivers a movie-like tune about homelessness and justice, "The Ghost of Tom Joad." This song gets a lot of love including a #15 position in the All-Bruce countdown. Listening to it I hear latter-day Mark Knopfler not saying either guy ripped the other off.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

296. Bruce is so old that every member of his first band is dead, and they had quite a few different bass players and drummers. George Theiss was the original frontman of the Castilles* and was dating Bruce's sister Ginny when he invited the pimply young guitarist to join. Theiss' passing in 2018 left Bruce alone and inspired to write the reflective "Last Man Standing," which describes the world of the Castilles from Bruce's lofty perch as the worst's most beloved rock star.

*-named after the shampoo George used

Ranked #190

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

297. If you could ever pay me enough to buy the "Glory Days" single I'd eventually thank you for flipping it over and discoverin g the rollicking "Stand On It" which is a lot of fun musically and lyrically. Ranked #167

Bobby was leading the pack, he settled back and he got ready for the long haul
Well fifty yards from the finish line somebody roared up and they blew him into the wall
Well he rolled over twice, lucky to survive
Laying in the back of the ambulance more dead than alive
Somebody shouted "Man, you call that driving, why didn't you stand on it"



Here's Bruce doing it live in 85

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

298. "Cindy" almost made the cut for The River, and was a part of the abandoned single album The Ties That Bind.

It's a strange song for Springy. It's got those comic lyrics he uses in his rockabilly tunes but it's a gentle Buddy Holly pop song. It's also open ton interpretation-- is Bruce a goofy lovestruck dork or is he some kind of stalker? Cindy by the end of the song has engaged her parents to fight off Bruce since she couldn't do it on her own.

Our reviewer is not impressed, ranking this "cloying" song #307

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

299.
A beast should you wander in its path upon your ship and your flesh he’ll sup
You’ll disappear from this world ’til you’ve been swallowed up

A little awkward there, Bruce. That’s a clunky couplet from the otherwise intimate “Swallowed Up (In the Belly of the Whale)” from Wrecking Ball. This song was a bonus track and may not be on your physical or digital copy. Fits in with the elpee’s focus on poor vs. rich. Ranked #302

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

300. Mercy, does Bruce ape Roy Orbison on "Cynthia." This song was recorded in 1983 and slated for Born in the USA but didn't make the cut, probably because they thought they could only have one organ-rocker and that was "Glory Days."

Is the same chick from Cindy? (298 above)

Only 40 days to go

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

301. Ranked all the way up there at #55, "Take 'Em as They Come" is one of the highest-scoring "lost" tracks in the Springy catalogue. Recorded but abandoned for The River It's a power-pop tune in which Bruce duets with himself, which I don't recall happening much. Just like "Hungry Heart," the upbeat tune has dark lyrics with guns and switchblades and horror and regret, and shirley would have been a smash.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

302. Meet Raney, not Janey, star of "Black Cowboys." He's a poor kid from the Bronx and when his single mom takes up with a drug dealer, he steals his money and departs for the wide-open spaces he'd seen on TV Westerns. Fiction inspired by the non-fiction book Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation. Ranked #245

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

303. Bruce sets the I'm-at-the-age-where-death-is-any-day-now theme of his latest album with "One Minute You're Here." The orchestration and cowboy yodeling makes it sound like a leftover from Western Stars. I'd prefer you play something else from this countdown at my funeral. Ranked #228

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

304. Four songs that didn't make the High Hopes record were released on a Record Store Day EP called American Beauty including "Mary Mary," a pleasant break-up song in which Bruce rips off himself (specifically "We Take Care of Our Own.") Ranked #287

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

305. Southside Johnny turned this into his own showstopper but Bruce does a pretty good job with "The Fever" too. This song was recorded with the Wild & Innocent sessions and it retains that band's ramshackle charm that never really came back after Born to Run. Ranked #77

Fun fact, this song was released on cassette to various radio stations in 1974 in order to keep Bruce in the conversation between albums and became an underground hit in Houston.



Here's the Pointer Sisters coming down with a fever in 1979