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Bruce Springsteen

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58) Born In The USA
Album: Born In The USA (1984)
Previous rank 55 (down 3)

BORRRRRRRRRRRRN IN THE USAAAAAAAAAAA

It’s 1985. You have reached the ultimate height of superstardom and this is the song (and album) that’s got you there.

I’m not going to bore you with all the Regan stuff because we’ve all heard it a million
rimes and it doesn’t get any more interesting. Or the meaning of the song.
This is stadium rock at its best. From the opening where Max is bashing his snare like he has a point to prove, Charlie on the synths, Roy on keyboards, it has you fist pumping like no tomorrow. Then throw in 40,000 odd people screaming at the top of their lungs and you’re getting the best possible experience for Born In The USA. Experiencing it live, the song takes on a whole new perspective. It is brilliant to see live. Bruce leaves no prisoners and it’s epic to see.

It’s not great lyrically, but what it is, is LOUD. This is the song you turn up if you want to piss off your neigbours – because it is that damn loud. The fact it is easy to sing along to, is probably why it is so popular, and for the fact that a lot of American’s have probably misinterpreted the lyrics, like Regan. Nonetheless though, it gets the crowd going. Obviously not my most favourite of Bruce songs but its catchiness gets it in there.

You’re doing it now aren’t you.

BORN IN THE USA!

The crowd here is great. Italians going nuts, brilliant.

 
57) Adam Raised A Cain
Album: Darkness On The Edge Of Town (1978)
Previous rank - 27 (Down 30)

I think I started it earlier, but I was never really a fan of 80s Bruce’s voice. Not sure why, I have always liked it from the Reunion Tour onwards. The drum mix from the Live 75-85 CDs seems too out there for me and I generally prefer live Bruce to studio Bruce, which is why I never really got into Adam Raised A Cain.

But as we all know, in November 2010 the Darkness Box Set was released and on that came, in what my opinion is the best thing on the discs, the Paramount Theatre performance. And on that of course, is Darkness played in its entirety.

So that gave me another chance to form an opinion on Adam Raised A Cain. The song opens with Bruce raging war against his guitar. The sound is raw and powerful, really shows no mercy to anyone. The bassline is absolutely kickass. It really carries the song from start to finish. Garry Talent does an amazing job, and is not praised often enough. I don’t think he’s actually written a more angry song. That guitar solo is really something else. You can hear him raging through each note, leaving everyone for dead in his path and not letting up.

Hard to believe you can generate this much passion - when you’re playing in front of nobody.

 
56) Youngstown
Album: The Ghost of Tom Joad (1996)
Previous rank – 54 (down 2)

When I first heard Youngstown on the Live In N.Y.C. DVD I did not like it. At all. I don’t know what it was, I think it was that it was a little too heavy for me at that stage and I was still pretty much into mainstream Bruce and was still delving into his catalogue and yet to discover his true potential.

But the years wore on and I thought I’d give it a go. Then it started to grow on me. Basically it’s about a steelworker who works in Youngstown, Ohio.

And it revisits a common theme in Bruce’s song – the division between the poor and wealthy.

Once I made you rich enough, rich enough to forget my name

Bruce sounds really throaty when he sings this. Having said that though, I think he delivers a great vocal performance. We are treated to Danny, or Charlie, now, on the accordion. And The Professor on keyboards. The highlight is obviously Nils’ solo. Probably his most famous one. It’s blistering. He is such an underrated guitarist it isn’t funny. Max delivers yet another more than convincing performance behind his drum kit too.

 
55) Candy’s Room
Album: Darkness On The Edge Of Town (1978)
Previous rank - 37 (Down 18)

Another song from Darkness. Strangely enough, I only really started loving this when they started releasing little snippets from the box set. I remember seeing the Paramount Theatre performance, turning my volume all the way up and listening to it on repeat.

Something about it grabbed my attention and didn’t let it go. It’s a furious song. It’s fast paced. It’s unrelenting. It’s intense. Three minutes of pure explosiveness. Three minutes of dynamite. The drum beat is fast and in turn Max really drives this song forward. Roy bashes away at his piano energetically. Bruce’s guitar solo is kickass. It’s dark, it’s gritty and it’s excellent.

The lyrics are kind of perverted. Then again it is about meeting up with a hooker.

Not much else to be said, really.

 

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54) Your Own Worst Enemy
Album: Magic (2008)
Previous rank 32 (down 22)

The second entry from Magic to make it in the list. A really underrated song in Bruce’s catalogue. I don’t really remember much about upon the first few listens with Magic, but I think some point a few years ago I started listening to it on my playlist, and it really grew on me.

The violin adds a great element. None of the instruments are too overpowering either, Bruce sounds like he is kind of crooning (I think), and the song sounds like it is sung in a key. It also sounds a tad churchy, but in a good way.

Apparently the song is about Bush. But listening to the lines

There’s a face you know
Staring back in the shop window
The condition you’re in
You just can’t get out of this skin

You could kind of get the impression that Bruce is singing about someone being their own worst enemy.

A song that is not played nearly enough, which is a real shame considering its quality. The violin adds a great element. None of the instruments are too overpowering either

Definitely one of the best songs off Magic.

A quality song when done acoustically too.

 
53) You’ll Be Coming Down
Album: Magic (2008)
Previous rank 39 (down 14)

A Magic double shot if you will. As far as I know, Bruce has only played it once live. I’m not quite sure why this is the case. Maybe it didn’t work well live, who knows? Having said that though, I do have the live version that they played and it sounds fine to me. I couldn’t pick out a fault with it; I thought it worked quite well.

It’s one of those songs that just takes a back seat on Magic. You know it’s there, but it never rears its head. It just sits back and enjoys the ride. Again, it’s not overly complex and we get treated to a solo from Clarence.

Various things I have read about this song differ. Some say it’s about Bush, others say a girl. All I know is that when I listen to it, it makes me feel happy. It’s got that cheery vibe about it.

 
52) Don’t Look Back
Album: Tracks (1998)
Previous rank 36 (down 16)

I’m kind of funny when I listen to songs. Some songs I will only listen to when the sun’s out, others only when it’s raining. But with Don’t Look Back, it’s one of those songs for me, which I can listen to at any time.

It’s another song in the countdown to appear off Tracks, and another song which didn’t make the cut on The River.

I was introduced to it on the Live In NYC album. Disc 2 never really got much attention from me until I bought Live in Barcelona, ironically. I thought I’d give it a go. This was one of the songs that grabbed my attention.

Sounds like a love song to me, whatever happens, the male and female character won’t regret their decisions.

Think it would be a great song to open shows with too.

 
51) E-Street Shuffle
Album: The Wild, The Innocent and The E-Street Shuffle (1973)
Previous rank 45 (down 6)

Bruce Springsteen: "I wanted to invent a dance with no exact steps. It was just the dance you did every day and every night to get by."

And that’s how it started. The real E-Street is in Belmar, New Jersey. It is where former piano player in the band, David Sancious’ mother lived.

The first song in the countdown to appear from the 1973 album, The Wild, The Innocent & The E-Street Shuffle. It’s a fun song; you can see Bruce, as well as the band enjoy performing it. And it’s one I have a smile on my face when I listen to it. Just evokes a whole heap of joy.

Power Thirteen, what a name for a character in a song too. Very unique. E-Street Shuffle involves heavy horn use too and the opening guitar work by Bruce is catchy as hell. Piano work is phenomenal too. And let’s not forget the ‘Ye-ah, yeah, yeah’!

What amazes me though is that this is on the end credits of the live in N.Y.C. DVD. I have no idea why they would not include it. Puzzling to say the very least.

Live is where this song excels though, especially after the Wrecking Ball Tour. The drum off, the additional horns, how loose it is on stage, perfect.

However, my favourite version of the song is from Hammersmith Odeon in 1975. Slower tempo, sounds more intimiate, song has a whole new feel. Best version for me. Nearly 14 minutes of musical brilliance. Almost has a jazzy feel to it. Oh Bruce, rip this bad boy out next tour!



Everybody form a line!
 
50) Human Touch
Album – Human Touch (1992)
Previous rank 29 (down 21)

For all the great things Bruce has brought us, you can’t really name too many positive reasons for breaking up the ESB. However, it didn’t completely back fire.

And that’s what leads us to entry 50, the halfway point, Human Touch.

From the 1992 album of the same name, it is probably the best song he wrote when he went solo (Joad fans will be cursing, but live with it).

This song really sets the stage alight when it’s done live. Bruce and Patti play it like a duet, sort of. Bruce of course commanding the stage as always, but Patti is just a little to his left. You can really see the chemistry between them when they hit the bridge and again toward the end of the song when they are sharing Bruce’s mic. What’s even better is how well this works with the ESB.

My favourite part of Human Touch is probably the outro. The band is rocking in full force and Bruce is wielding that Telecaster like a chainsaw, it’s brilliant.

In regards to the video clip, here is a funny story about it from another site;

“So then a few years pass, and Meiert hired me to shoot a band called the Rituals and we’re shooting all the view on materials, it’s always like rituals like ancient African rituals, and we’re shooting in this cave and we got this moving camera. There’s lightning-strikes machine, and we’re shooting weddings and all first strange ritualistic behavior. And then when shoot material with this girl in like a ‘30s or ‘40s apartment. Well, we’re shooting the girl and there’s lightning flashing, and they told me we’re going to New Orleans, and there’s going to a street car and a spark when it goes over the joint. And so I’m playing with that in this shoot as well, and there are interior lights coming through the windows.”

“In between takes, I look, and Springsteen comes walking into the studio. So I go, ‘Oh, f*ck. What the f*ck is he doing here?’ I’m thinkin he’s probably coming out to a meeting with Meiert to talk about either what’s he going to be doing in the future, or look at some video Meiert made for him. So I just keep my eye here on the camera, thinking I’ll just stay with the camera and he’ll leave eventually. I won’t to have to deal with this guy. I’m not going to talk to him. So we’re shooting another take and as we finished the take, I get tapped on the shoulder by Springsteen, and he goes, ‘Daniel, the circle becomes complete.’ He says, ‘You were right on how you wanted to light me. I was wrong. This [video you are on right now] is my song. We’re shooting here now, and this is the only way we could get you to do it. I want to apologize because you were right.’ And that turned out to be the video for ‘Human Touch’, which I think, is a great video in a lot of ways.”

You can see the full background story here:
http://goldenageofmusicvideo.com/?p=436

 
paddy18 said:
Bobby Jean is easily my favourite song off BITUSA and I think that the nostalgic feel that you describe has a fair bit to do with it. The last verse does it for me, coming straight from the bridge and concluding with the "just to say I miss you baby, good luck, goodbye, Bobby Jean" (love that bit). The Live 75-85 version is awesome. Would probably be in 50-60 range in my Top 100.

My City of Ruins is one truly shit hot song. All versions are brilliant are you're dead right about how moving it was at RLA2, with the crowd hushed and Bruce crooning softly with his arm outstretched, resting on the shoulder of his missing buddy. Like you, I wish I had seen it more than once, but it may have lost the impact a second time. For me, it was the highlight of the Tuesday night show.

Where the Bands Are. It's another that really stuck out to me when I heard Tracks for the first time. Would be in about the same position on my list as well. Great track and as you mentioned, it's hard to work out why this was left off the River and Crush on You made the final cut. I get the comparison with Ties (but it's not quite as good)

Take Em as They Come. Another solid choice. I'd be really interested to hear both this and Where the Bands Are if they were give the same heavy production as the tracks of Magic were given. I think I'd like both of them a lot more with the whole band "wall of sound" production, but most Bruce fans will disagree with me.


63 - 60...you've picked 4 really good tunes, with My City of Ruins being the only one that would be a lot higher on my list.

Looking forward to your next instalment, although I see that you have already put that up on the FB page o_O. Please keep putting them here as well, as I 'd rather give you my thoughts on this page rather than FB. Cheers
Click to expand...
Highlight of Melbourne2 is Rosie, no contest at all for me. But maybe it would have lost its impact being played on more than one occasion? Never thought of that.

Where The Bands Are is a great song, isn't it? I agree with what you said.

Don't worry, they will be posted on both sites :thumbsu: Takes more effort here which is why it comes afterwards.
 
Apparently back in Feb next year according to Triple M's facebook page (although they have since removed it) Aami Park Feb 15

Here's hoping :):):)
 
This is the pic they had up:

2ikbpsk.jpg
 
!!!!!! Planning overseas holiday for next year, going to clash with Bruce again !!!!!!!!

:mad::mad::mad:

Although Feb 15 in Melbourne wouldn't be terrible, as long as the other dates are AFTER that. Please. Currently firmly planned to be in NZ for 7 weeks finishing on that exact date ironically enough.
 

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Dates leaked by TripleM:

7 Feb - Perth Arena
11 Feb - Adelaide Entertainment Centre
15 Feb - AAMI Park, Melbourne
19 Feb - Allphones Arena, Sydney
22 Feb - Hope Estate Winery, Hunter Valley
26 Feb - Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Interesting. Was expecting stadium gigs in Sydney and Brisbane, assuming there will be no additional dates. Although he was only here for 2.5 weeks last time and did 10 shows. Looks like at least three weeks this time, and there's room for second shows everywhere. NZ will be spewing if they're left out again.

Surely Bruce is too big to worry about crappy Day on the Green gigs at wineries? :thumbsdown:
 

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Bruce Springsteen

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