And now I'm embarrassed by those posts because it's like, well, obviously I have this weird emotional connection to Nebraska, naturally I'm going to respond to the Nebraska voice the way I do.
But I'm genuinely curious whether other ppl also hear him as basically doing a different voice for each album?
― Lily Dale, Saturday, 11 September 2021 13:38 (two years ago) link
I can’t imagine listening to such a heavy emotional record on a commute.
Heh, my perpetually upbeat Australian brother in law had "Nebraska" is his truck's player on repeat and as we bounced around the farm doing chores I don't think he ever thought twice about it.
I think Bruce, for myriad complicated reasons, long suffered from low esteem, or imposter syndrome or whatever. ("I wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face.") I think a result of this was perhaps a desire to hide his true self, or at least try on lots of (literal and figurative) hats until he was able to define his true self. So you get the early Bruce and its novel mish-mash of Dylan and Van Morrison and early rock and roll or, as someone once astutely put it once, the '50s plus the '60s. He records "Born to Run" and ... sits on it for 6 months, because he's sure he ripped it off. Then Landau turns him on to a bunch of books and movies and suddenly Bruce shifts gears and scope. He's not singing about himself so much or what was once a conception of himself and/or New Jersey, he's singing about some bigger picture of America, and sometimes his place in it. He's also still fussing over song selection and working in the studio, second-guessing track lists all the way up to "BitUSA," worried about sounding contemporary and agnostic about being commercial, unsure which direction to go in.
"Nebraska," recorded by himself, is in a way an even further distillation of this American portrait, but this time a really reduced, really dark portrait of dark cloud America, on a much smaller scale. You get the sense Bruce thought it almost too intimate. That's what the demo captured, the sound of a guy going darker than he maybe wanted to go and, in the process, capturing a side of himself he maybe didn't like to see (or even that he knew was there and long tried to disguise). Maybe that explains the less than full (or full-voiced) commitment of Bruce on that record; he's singing things to himself that maybe make him feel uncomfortable, like he's cut to a deeper truth he'd more artfully couched in the past. This might be what so many Bruce neophytes are responding to when they claim they don't like Bruce, except for "Nebraska."
I think, getting to the point (too late), that in some ways "Tunnel of Love" gets his voice best. It's personal and dark, still, but Bruce (like "Nebraska," again working mostly by himself) is maybe more confident and comfortable with what he his projecting out into the world. He's successful in every sense so has the strength to bear its emotional honesty. The downside of that I think is that, having achieved this internal goal, he never really does it again. Everything since then, with a few exceptions, has been some degree of cautious or conservative, more or less, perhaps with the biggest exception of the "Seeger Sessions," where he is clearly having a blast.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 11 September 2021 15:51 (two years ago) link
https://books.google.com/books?id=nRTHPE2gZ0QC&pg=PA191&lpg=PA191&dq=bruce+springsteen+human+touch+guitar+world&source=bl&ots=FWuMU1hpR-&sig=ACfU3U1eauyqto0ihNdiLPjOpGE6sav_2Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjFhLCFpPfyAhWFMlkFHU0JBAIQ6AF6BAgkEAI#v=onepage&q=bruce%20springsteen%20human%20touch%20guitar%20world&f=false
See p. 196-197, re: "other people's fingerprints on their mind".
― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Saturday, 11 September 2021 16:15 (two years ago) link
Really one of the best interviews given by any musician that I've read
― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Saturday, 11 September 2021 16:20 (two years ago) link
Yeah, I think I have that one in a collection called "Talk About a Dream: The Essential Interviews of Bruce Springsteen."
Man, Neil Strauss. He's one of those writers that used to impress me, or at least I was impressed by his output, but then he just fell off a cliff. It began with his infamous Rolling Stone profile of Jewel that I actually clipped and saved, since it was one of the most ridiculous things I'd ever read.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 11 September 2021 16:33 (two years ago) link
Dovetails with what you wrote about a desire to hide his true self or try on lots of hats.
Honestly finding one's own voice is incredibly difficult, it's a major artistic achievement I would say, and his insight as to why is eloquent as anyone's
― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Saturday, 11 September 2021 16:40 (two years ago) link
Curious now to see the Jewel piece :)
― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Saturday, 11 September 2021 16:41 (two years ago) link
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/a-search-for-truth-about-jewel-233904/
At the house, I strip the guest bed of its myriad pillows and leave Jewel alone to talk with her mother in the kitchen. As I lie under the covers flipping, through a glossy color picture book of Alaska, Jewel walks in wearing a green zipper sweatshirt and either sweat pants or cotton pants, I can’t remember which, and gets under the covers with me. She lies on her left side, I on my right. Between our heads is a large pillow, which blocks part of her face. We keep pushing the pillow down as we talk so we can see each other completely and feel more intimate. But we know the pillow can never be removed completely: That would be too intimate.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 11 September 2021 16:52 (two years ago) link
Holy shit
― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Saturday, 11 September 2021 16:59 (two years ago) link
JEWEL: HOT, READY, AND ALASKAN!
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 11 September 2021 17:03 (two years ago) link
Hahahaha, omg that is so ridiculousC’mon Neil, were they cotton pants or sweatpants — I demand every detail of this rockcrit fantasy!
― tumblin’ dice outro (morrisp), Saturday, 11 September 2021 17:38 (two years ago) link
She's always crazy like that
― maf you one two (maffew12), Saturday, 11 September 2021 17:47 (two years ago) link
“Dear Wenner Forum: I always thought the letters you print were made up, and never believed anything like that would happen to me. Now I’m sure a believer! Last week started out like any other week in my unremarkable job as an interviewer of rock stars and other celebrities…”
― tumblin’ dice outro (morrisp), Saturday, 11 September 2021 17:51 (two years ago) link
C’mon Neil, were they cotton pants or sweatpants — I demand every detail of this rockcrit fantasy!
― tumblin’ dice outro (morrisp),
Yeah, that made me laugh too
― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Saturday, 11 September 2021 17:59 (two years ago) link
that's absurd. but what a great Springsteen interview. I hadn't read that one before. that "other people's fingerprints" thing is amazing, what a phrase.
The funny thing is that Nebraska has fingerprints all over it. Not quite the kind of fingerprints he's talking about here, but Springsteen wears his influences so much on the surface, you can easily listen to it and go "oh, here's Flannery O'Connor, here's Hank Williams, here's Suicide." And yet it doesn't keep the record from sounding like something totally original and distinctive. Of course that's a combo of influences you wouldn't find anywhere else.
― Lily Dale, Saturday, 11 September 2021 18:27 (two years ago) link
I think I've mentioned it before, but I once audited a lecture/class taught by Steve Earle that, over the course of a week, tracked the progression of Hank Williams to Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen and, ultimately, to Earle himself.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 11 September 2021 18:33 (two years ago) link
LMAO
That's awesome! Where was this?
― birdistheword, Saturday, 11 September 2021 20:09 (two years ago) link
Old Town School of Folk Music here.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 11 September 2021 20:26 (two years ago) link
Man, I miss that place. I used to live in Lincoln Square, my last home in Chicago before I left Illinois.
― birdistheword, Saturday, 11 September 2021 22:03 (two years ago) link
Ha, I used to live in Lincoln Square, too. I recently saw a Google Maps photo of the Old Town School of Folk Music location, which is now…an empty lot. But then, the 400-square-foot “rear cottage” I used to live in is now a multi-story condo complex, so I shouldn’t be surprised.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 11 September 2021 22:50 (two years ago) link
It still exists! But now it's a big multi-space complex.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 11 September 2021 23:21 (two years ago) link
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/bruce-springsteen-or-stephen-king
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 22 September 2021 13:25 (two years ago) link
I keep thinking some Christmas season I should write "Bruce Springsteen song or It's a Wonderful Life?" and send it to McSweeney's.
― Lily Dale, Wednesday, 22 September 2021 13:37 (two years ago) link
"Bruce Springsteen song or Sandwich."
1. Born to Run2. BLT3. Turkey Club4. Thunder Road5. Grilled Cheese6. Atlantic City7. PBJ8. The Price You Pay9. The Promised Land10. Reuben11. Rosalita12. Muffaletta
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 22 September 2021 13:49 (two years ago) link
13. Torta of Love
― Richard Marxist (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 22 September 2021 13:56 (two years ago) link
14. I'm on Rye
― Richard Marxist (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 22 September 2021 13:59 (two years ago) link
That Stephen King one is actually pretty clever - see the key on the bottom, they are all real references (if often vague enough to be easy to generate)
― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Wednesday, 22 September 2021 14:12 (two years ago) link
Ha, didn’t have time to study it or even get to the key but yeah.
― I, the Jukebox Jury (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 September 2021 14:14 (two years ago) link
15. Marbleland
― maf you one two (maffew12), Wednesday, 22 September 2021 14:21 (two years ago) link
16. Devils and Crust
― Richard Marxist (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 22 September 2021 14:23 (two years ago) link
17. Land of Hope and Pretzels
― maf you one two (maffew12), Wednesday, 22 September 2021 14:25 (two years ago) link
19. Jungleham
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 22 September 2021 14:31 (two years ago) link
20. Adam Raisin au Pain
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 22 September 2021 14:34 (two years ago) link
21. Used Carbs
― Richard Marxist (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 22 September 2021 14:44 (two years ago) link
incident on foccacia
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 23 September 2021 00:27 (two years ago) link
It's a Wonderful Life or a Bruce Springsteen song, here you go:
1.As a child, you watched your father being humiliated by someone richer and more powerful than him and swore that would never happen to you.
2.You feel a lifelong compulsion to help out your baby brother, even though he never does anything for you.
3.Your brother went off to war. You stayed home.
4.You feel trapped in this miserable little town and you’re going to get out, do great things, and take Mary with you.
5.You and Mary got married too young, and let’s face it, you’re not all that happy anymore.
6.You got Mary pregnant, and man, that was all she wrote.
7.You’re basically an honest guy, but when someone close to you commits a crime, you automatically cover for them.
8.The slow death of all your dreams has turned you into a seething mass of barely-controlled rage.
9.Overcome by the general crappiness of your life, you decide to drown yourself. You’re contemplating the water temperature when Clarence shows up and saves your life.*
*Technically this last one is a "Growin' Up" story rather than a song, but close enough.
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 23 September 2021 00:38 (two years ago) link
the answer is...yes?
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 23 September 2021 00:39 (two years ago) link
i love this
as far as I can tell, the answer to every McSweeney's "x or y" list is yes
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 23 September 2021 00:40 (two years ago) link
i see now the conceit
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 23 September 2021 00:41 (two years ago) link
I told my students that Bruce is my favorite singer and showed them a picture of him, bc I thought we'd bond more if they had something to make fun of me about. Mentioned offhand that today is his birthday (I was speaking French and birthday is a word they know) and for some reason they got all excited about that and crowded around one student's computer to look up this info and verify it. Middle schoolers are funny.
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 23 September 2021 23:06 (two years ago) link
Now that I think about it, I don't think I knew any of my teachers' musical tastes up to middle school with the exception of the music teachers: IIRC, they were fans of Lionel Richie and Bobby McFerrin. May help explain why I never got excited about music classes.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 23 September 2021 23:31 (two years ago) link
ooh la la, la chef
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 24 September 2021 01:24 (two years ago) link
le chef. dammit. i only have the compulsory Canadian 4 years, I'm sorry
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 24 September 2021 01:26 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDc5j0gpG3IThought the thread might enjoy this clip. I caught this on Twitter and started watching the show. It's ok. They could use the capoiera fighting alpaca a bit more.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Saturday, 25 September 2021 13:40 (two years ago) link
very belated xp: omg I just had a business idea so good it probably already exists. Local Hero, a Jersey-based sandwich shop using all ingredients sourced from local farms, including Bruce's.
― Lily Dale, Saturday, 25 September 2021 17:36 (two years ago) link
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2020/04/13/PAPP/e53ad3a8-4bf3-47da-8156-9d1b17f604cd-BruceHotDog.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 25 September 2021 18:14 (two years ago) link
Do you think if we got Jon Landau's blessing on the name Bruce would show up at our grand opening and pose like that with our signature sandwich?
― Lily Dale, Saturday, 25 September 2021 18:18 (two years ago) link
if we survive the signature sandwich debate
― maf you one two (maffew12), Saturday, 25 September 2021 18:33 (two years ago) link
70 year old man eats hot dog: details at 11
― calstars, Saturday, 25 September 2021 18:39 (two years ago) link