Springsteen

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Springstone Song of the Day, episode 11

"Drive All Night" from THE RIVER
You can imagine Southside Johnny doing this one with a horn section. I personally think this one went on too long for a love song. Big sax solo and you're only halfway through.



ranked 47/340

[Edgy MD]

I really like where the organ comes in.

Glen Hansard has turned that song into his showstopper, and has gotten his wish once or twice of performing it with the originator.



I think, perhaps in Ireland and England, The River, and not Born to Run, is treated as Springsteen's masterpiece. I think the length of "DAN" is in part a product of the track — along with "Wreck on the Highway" as the closer — being developed to unify the album thematically. It sort of holds a place like "A Day in the Life" does for Sgt. Pepper or "The End" does for Abbey Road, unifying the emotions of the album, bringing some of the themes around full circle, as it approaches the close.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Makes sense. Still 8 plus minutes.

Today the Magical Wheel of Bruce (#12) gives us "Car Wash" from TRACKS

You could fit 4 Car Washes into one Drive All Night. Starts off like a downtrodden Bruce workin' man song then kicks into a happier "Darlington County" gear, then reveals its from a woman's point of view, so a workin' woman song. I didn't know any of this till just now. Ranked 241/340

[Frayed Knot]

Doesn't have quite the whimsey of Jim Croce's: Steadily Depressin', Low-Down Mind-Messin' Workin' at the Car Wash Blues
But it's still kind of fun anyway.

[Gwreck]

This thread needs Gwreck to chime in.

Not sure how I missed this thread for 8 months. An enjoyable read. Lots of interesting takes here.

Catching up on a couple of things:
-Saw Springsteen on Broadway, didn’t think it was half as good as others did when it got rave reviews. A solo show in a small venue is great, but it was a lot of repetition from his autobiography and on the whole Bruce thinks his childhood is more interesting than I do.

-Love the randomizer track selection. Not sure I agree that The River album is viewed as the masterpiece in UK/Ireland but the title track is certainly regarded as one of his absolute best - moreso than Stateside, in my estimation. Which is to take nothing away from the “Drive All Night” with Hansard, a big moment indeed for the crowd when he came out and it was clear what they were going to do together.

-Agree with the comment about Steven Hyden. Really looking forward to that book; he’s doing a signing in NY later this month which may have gone under-publicized.

[Edgy MD]

I had a good re-read of this thread earlier today and stumbled upon this money quote.

I lump him in with Billy Joel, Bon Jovi, Kiss and maybe Sinatra too.
I don't know why.

Obviously, three of the five are New Jersey legends, and while the other two come from Long Island and New York City, their association with those respective breeding grounds feels so self-conscious and shlocky and mercenary that it's more like they are anchored to the spiritual New Jersey embedded within those places.

[Gwreck]

There was show a while back that Springsteen brought out Joel as a special guest, and my recollection is that he described him and Joel collectively as opposite sides of the same tragic coin.

[kcmets]

The only embedded Spiritual NJ experience I've had was Seaside
Sarah. Used me for three days and nights as her 18 year old boy
toy and gave me her number and told me not forget about her but
the number was to a pizza place.

I haven't forgotten you, Sarah! (that could be a Bon Jovi song!)

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Today on Juice of Bruce, the manchild gives 'em a doubleshot, with "City of Night" PLUS "The Way" from THE PROMISE (13+14)

I'm impressed with almost all of Bruce's leftovers. "City of Night" feels like its some other artist, good groove, slowly builds in intensity. Then, at like 3-minutes there's 15 seconds of silence before "The Way" begins. That's our lowest-ranked tune so far but I got no problem with it and like the humming outro.

I don't know why these tunes are stitched together like this is but that's how they are meant to be apparently.

Ratings: "City of Night" 275/340
"The Way" 331/340

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Today's Springtime Melody (#15) is "Living Proof" from LUCKY TOWN (1992)

Bruce is thrilled with the birth of his son, SINGS it. rank 74/340

[Edgy MD]

Bruce has never been afraid of the odd false rhyme, but he just opens that song with "room" and "moon" (straight out of "Even the Losers") and keeps firing them out from there.

Not saying that's always a bad thing.

[Gwreck]

I don't know why these tunes are stitched together like this is but that's how they are meant to be apparently.

Not really. “The Way” was a hidden track at the end of the Darkness on the Edge of Town anniversary box he put out a while back. It just came after “City of Night.”

Bruce has said he really dislikes “The Way” but stuck it on there as a hidden track because others (including Jimmy Iovine) did like it.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Today on a Very Special Episode of Springsteen Random Song of the Day (#16), we visit with "Spirit in the Night" from GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK (1973).

"Probably the Bruce song I like best."
--Fman

"For mature audiences only. Lots of filthy, dirty sexin'."
--Edgy MD

"Janey don't know what she do to ya."
--Bruce



ranked 48/340 (seems low)

[Frayed Knot]

One of my faves. I'd find it impossible to rank this sort of thing but, yeah, it would be higher on my list as well.
In the early years, when his live shows were in smaller venues, this was his stroll through the audience song.

[metirish]

They played it in Dublin last night

[Edgy MD]

The breakdown verse leading into the outro always takes me by surprise. The proceedings at Greasy Lake are getting more and more intense, and then BAM! Janey says it's time to go.

[Edgy MD]

Eighty thousand on hand for that Croke Park show in Dublin, with a minor scandal because not everybody was able to get in on time for the show's start, because the ticket scanners didn't work too well in the daylight.



It was the last of four shows in Ireland, having just done Belfast, Kilkenny, and Cork. Some dude at the Irish Mirror is ... not a fan. On to London on Wednesday.

Setlist for the Croke Park show:

1. "Lonesome Day"
2. "Night"
3. "No Surrender"
4. "Two Hearts" (with a snippet of Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston's "It Takes Two")
5. "Ghosts"
6. "Darlington County"
7. "Reason to Believe" (tour debut, first time since 2016; with Noah Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky” guitar riff)
8. "The Promised Land"
9. "Spirit in the Night" (ALL NOIT!!)
10. "Hungry Heart"
11. "My Hometown" (tour debut; dedicated to Kevin Kane, Mayor of Freehold, NJ, who is in talks to establish a twinning relationship with Rathangan, Kildare, Springsteen's ancestral home)
12. "The River"
13. "Nightshift" (Commodores cover)
14. "My City of Ruins" (with band introductions)
15. "Last Man Standing" (acoustic, with Barry Danielian on trumpet)
16. "Backstreets"
17. "Because the Night" (Patti Smith Group cover)
18. "She's the One"
19. "Wrecking Ball"
20. "The Rising"
21. "Badlands"
22. "Thunder Road"
    
    Encores:
23. "Land of Hope and Dreams (with a snippet of The Impressions' "People Get Ready")
24. "Born to Run"
25. "Bobby Jean"
26. "Dancing in the Dark" (followed by further band introductions, because his band actually multiples during the show)
27. "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"
28. "Twist and Shout" (Top Notes/Isley Brothers/Beatles cover)
29. "A Rainy Night in Soho" (Pogues cover)

As Irish songs go, you can do worse than "A Rainy Night in Soho," but I'd've advised him against picking a Pogues song explicitly set in London.

No reports as yet of any flying wheelchairs.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Shirley you knew "Because the Night" is a Springsong on loan to the Patti Smith Group we'll be unwrapping here at some point.

But today (#17), it's the jangly, power-poppy, harmony-y "Party Lights" from the THE TIES THAT BIND, outtakes group. Small ripoff of "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" from the Byrds, but jesus, this somehow didn't make a double album. I salute you, Bruce.



ranked 295/340

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, I got that set list from setlist.fm, where they probably stick to a hard rule of what the source of a song is, thus they listed “Twist & Shout” as a Top Notes cover, as they are the original release artist, even though the song is associated with them by virtually nobody.

Except Springsteen maybe. And possibly Van Zant.

[Frayed Knot]

These days you don't wait on Romeos
you wait on that welfare check

That line would resurface elsewhere

as would: '...drop that little brat off at your mom's

[Gwreck]

as would: '...drop that little brat off at your mom's

When Springsteen started covering “Jersey Girl” in the early 80s, it was with a newly added verse…but it wasn’t until 2015 when the River anniversary box set came out that it was revealed that the verse had been lifted from this previously unknown/unheard outtake.

[cal sharpie]

Well, the Patti Smith Group recorded "Because the Night" before Bruce did (and she also added some lines) so the reference isn't wrong.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Today's Boss Platter of the Day (18) is "Sherry Darling" from THE RIVER. Sometimes you can feel this is out of place on the RIVER, or the other songs are out of place. The writeup from its ranking (72/240) quotes Bruce saying it should have been a single and come out in the summer. That would have made sense.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Bruce is on the loose today (19) with "Loose Ends" another RIVER outtake from TRACKS.

I never heard this until right now!!!! Incredible, coulda been the lead single.



76/340

[The Hot Corner]

I'm enjoying the random Springsteen songs. I was rather late coming to Springsteen's music. I wasn't really exposed to his music much until college (78-81). Most of my friends were out of state students (New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts) that kept raving about him. At first, I wasn't a fan, but over time he grew on me. As I got older and my musical tastes matured, I better appreciated the depth of his lyrics.

I have enjoyed hearing some deeper cuts that I had not heard before. I has been fun reacquainting myself to some of the classics that first hooked me, so long ago.