Springsteen

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Edgy MD
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Re: Springsteen

Post by Edgy MD » Sun Jan 19, 2025 1:39 pm

Followed "Hungry Heart" up the charts in early 1981, peaking at #20, though I'm sure any local charts would have placed it higher in the tri-state area.

I loved it. Good, clear, strong soul vocal with both the tones and words better articulated than the typical BS song of the time. I like the swelling organ on the verses giving way to the plaintive piano on the bridge. It has a four-bar-or-so break coming out of the bridge that goes back to the organ, but I feel like a sax solo would have shined in there.

I also like the false ending where Bruce seems to have left the studio but then keeps singing from the next room. James Brown would approve of that sort of drama.
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Johnny Lunchbucket
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Re: Springsteen

Post by Johnny Lunchbucket » Mon Jan 20, 2025 8:31 am

237. "Seaside Bar Song" was left off Wild & Innocent because its party vibe didn't quite fit the narrative Bruce was going for on that album. But it sounds to me as though some bits ("The highway is alive tonight" section and the "chrome wheels" line) were resurrected for "Born to Run." This is a fun song you should play at your next party. Ranked #116

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Re: Springsteen

Post by Johnny Lunchbucket » Tue Jan 21, 2025 7:57 am

238. Bruce considers generational anguish on a camping trip in "Long Time Comin'." For my $$ this is the most accessible of the Devils & Dust tracks and coulda been a radio single if he didn't "fuck it up this time." Makes for a powerful finish though. Ranked #154

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Johnny Lunchbucket
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Re: Springsteen

Post by Johnny Lunchbucket » Wed Jan 22, 2025 7:40 am

239.

I was trying to find my way home
But all I heard was a drone

Bruce foretells the future of New Jersey in "Radio Nowhere" the fist single from 2007's Magic. The single didn't go anywhere perhaps because it already did when it was called "867-5309-Jenny." I like this song even if the fuzzy guitar isn't really the Springsteen sound and the lyric is more literal than "57 Channels." Ranked #113

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Re: Springsteen

Post by Johnny Lunchbucket » Thu Jan 23, 2025 7:47 am

240. Another love-is-deathly-terrifying-so-who-needs-a-sax-player song from Tunnel of Love, "Valentine's Day." Ranked #86, or 46 slots below "Independence Day."

JUST 100 MORE BRUCE SONGS TO GO

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Re: Springsteen

Post by metirish » Thu Jan 23, 2025 8:07 am

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2025 7:40 am 239.

I was trying to find my way home
But all I heard was a drone

Bruce foretells the future of New Jersey in "Radio Nowhere" the fist single from 2007's Magic. The single didn't go anywhere perhaps because it already did when it was called "867-5309-Jenny." I like this song even if the fuzzy guitar isn't really the Springsteen sound and the lyric is more literal than "57 Channels." Ranked #113



Oh damn, yes, it sounds like Jenny
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Johnny Lunchbucket
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Re: Springsteen

Post by Johnny Lunchbucket » Fri Jan 24, 2025 7:34 am

241. The theme song for the Sean Penn movie "Dead Man Walking" known as "Dead Man Walkin'" I recall critics going nuts for how great a movie this was but I don't remember a thing from it. I also don't have a lot of memories of goateed Bruce with 7-inch sideburns. Ranked #200

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Re: Springsteen

Post by Johnny Lunchbucket » Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:22 am

242. Its got all the elements of a Bruce classic, the band rocks and harmonizes, the guy's in his car about to do something and the words make sense literally as well as symbolically. The final verse is just about as powerful as "the highway's jammed with broken heroes" bit --the music swells, a twister appears on the horizon and the guy is like fuck it, I'm driving straight into it. Dave Marsh theorized the driver could be The Magic Rat, grown up a little but still confused.

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Re: Springsteen

Post by Edgy MD » Sat Jan 25, 2025 2:30 pm

I had either not known or (more likely) forgotten that "State Trooper" was based directly on "Frankie Teardrop" by Suicide.

In retrospect, it sounds almost the other way around, and the sad and scary "Frankie Teardrop" can sound like a comedian trying to spontaneously free-associate a Springsteen Nebraska track on stage.


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Johnny Lunchbucket
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Re: Springsteen

Post by Johnny Lunchbucket » Sun Jan 26, 2025 9:00 am

243.
You'll be fine long as your pretty face holds out
Then it's gonna get pretty cold out


Damn Bruce. Pairs a sunny pop song to a doomful lyric in "You'll Be Coming' Down." Coming down meaning down, and not coming over. Ranked #251

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Johnny Lunchbucket
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Re: Springsteen

Post by Johnny Lunchbucket » Mon Jan 27, 2025 8:15 am

244. "Ghosts" from Letter to You is obviously meant to be a latter-day arena-pleaser. To me the lyric gets a little clunky at times and it sounds a little bit like "And the Walls Came Down" by the Call but lacks that one's thrill.

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Re: Springsteen

Post by Johnny Lunchbucket » Tue Jan 28, 2025 7:56 am

245. Unsure of himself in his new role as a husband Bruce looks for inspiration from his factory-workin dad Doug Springsteen in "Walk Like A Man," #150 on your all-Bruce countdown.

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Re: Springsteen

Post by Marshmallowmilkshake » Tue Jan 28, 2025 12:06 pm

I think these are some of Bruce's best, and most relatable, lyrics. It always hit me kind of personally - maybe because I got married five days after Tunnel of Love was released. I have so much respect for my father, and those first and last sections hit hard. I don't know if this is a song he plays live or whether it's just a great deep cut. But I think it's great. I know I'm out there alone in thinking this is his best album, but I love this pretty much start to finish.
I remember how rough your hand felt on mine
On my wedding day
And the tears cried on my shoulder
I couldn't turn away
Well so much has happened to me
That I don't understand
All I can think of is being five years old following behind you at the beach
Tracing your footprints in the sand
Trying to walk like a man

By our Lady Of The Roses
We lived in the shadow of the elms
I remember ma draggin' me and my sister up the street to the church
Whenever she heard those wedding bells
Well would they ever look so happy again
The handsome groom and his bride
As they stepped into that long black limousine
For their mystery ride
Well tonight you step away from me
And alone at the alter I stand
And as I watch my bride coming down the aisle I pray
For the strength to walk like a man

Well now the years have gone and I've grown
From that seed you've sown
But I didn't think there'd be so many steps
I'd have to learn on my own
Well I was young and I didn't know what to do
When I saw your best steps stolen away from you
Now I'll do what I can
I'll walk like a man
And I'll keep on walkin'
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Johnny Lunchbucket
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Re: Springsteen

Post by Johnny Lunchbucket » Tue Jan 28, 2025 1:46 pm

My ToL estimation has grown over the years and this countdown hasn't stopped that.
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Re: Springsteen

Post by Johnny Lunchbucket » Wed Jan 29, 2025 7:56 am

246. Anyone who's had someone close to them die has felt the odd sadness of encountering their belongings or objects. Bruce's "You're Missing" also suggests the eeriness of a 9-11 victim whose remains cannot be located. Ranked #124

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Re: Springsteen

Post by Gwreck » Wed Jan 29, 2025 11:37 am

Marshmallowmilkshake wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2025 12:06 pmI know I'm out there alone in thinking this is his best album
Not as far as you think. More than his others, it’s grown in critical estimation over time. I’d comfortably put it in his top 5 albums.
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Johnny Lunchbucket
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Re: Springsteen

Post by Johnny Lunchbucket » Thu Jan 30, 2025 7:48 am

247. Another leftover from Darkness, "The Little Things (My Baby Does)." 60s-style pop-soul would have been a Southside Johnny smash. Ranked #288

Last edited by Johnny Lunchbucket on Fri Jan 31, 2025 7:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Springsteen

Post by batmagadanleadoff » Thu Jan 30, 2025 10:06 pm

For youse Springsteen fanatics:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/musi ... 235236509/

The World's Hardest Bruce Springsteen Quiz.
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Johnny Lunchbucket
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Re: Springsteen

Post by Johnny Lunchbucket » Fri Jan 31, 2025 7:18 am

I got 35% on that test and the effects nearly blew up my phone. Lotta worthless knowledge to be rewarded there.

248. Bruce is addicted to wanderin' "The Wayfarer." As the reviewer points out, a dramatic flourish gives it a Western movie feel. Ranked #177

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Johnny Lunchbucket
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Re: Springsteen

Post by Johnny Lunchbucket » Sat Feb 01, 2025 8:47 am

249. After all these years there are still couplets in "For You" that don't make sense to me as though Bruce had a lot to say -just not all of it on the topic of a dying girlfriend. It's ranked #132 on your All-Bruce Countdown.

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Re: Springsteen

Post by Marshmallowmilkshake » Sat Feb 01, 2025 10:30 am

Confession: I like the Manfred Mann cover better.
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Re: Springsteen

Post by Edgy MD » Sat Feb 01, 2025 12:33 pm

If and when I'm leading a wild and raucous rock band, and I've just come off stage from my main set to wild cheers, and the steam is coming off my back as I breathe and rehydrate in the dressing room, preparing to go out and do a few more before sending my audience home, and my stage manager comes over to my seat to discretely give me the momentous and awful news that is just coming over the wire — that Bruce Springsteen has passed — the encore I'm going to go out and do is "For You."

In fact, I'll make sure that my band already knows it, because there's a whole bunch of sections in that song and a lot of exotic chord voicings, and I don't want them to all have to download the sheet music onto tablets and all going out there reading off their music stands for the first time. That would be a tacky and clumsy way to pay tribute, and I want our tribute to be meaningful.
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Re: Springsteen

Post by Johnny Lunchbucket » Sun Feb 02, 2025 10:35 am

250. Radio stations WNEW and WPLJ were so jacked about the forthcoming arrival of a new Springsteen album in '78 they broke the embargo date and began playing the first single, "Prove it all Night," before it was even available. As I've said before this to me is Springsteen's Jacob deGrom years, he was just unstoppable. The jam the band used to play live in the lead-in to this song is pretty hot; it was adapted as the tune "Frederick" by Patti Smith. Ranked #18





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Re: Springsteen

Post by Edgy MD » Sun Feb 02, 2025 4:48 pm

Thanks for that live version and walking your readers through that Patti Smith connection. Amazin' that the Wave album lists her as the sole composer of that song.

Also, Rundgren lets her get away with a squeakier-than-usual vocal on that track.
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Re: Springsteen

Post by Edgy MD » Sun Feb 02, 2025 6:38 pm

Patti Smith, by the way, collapsed on stage in Brazil earlier in the week. She appears to be OK, but deets are sketchy.
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