Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

(for what it's worth, i'd note there were plenty of jazz and jazz-adjacent players in springsteen's orbit in the early days: david sancious, ernest "boom" carter," randy brecker showing up on "meeting across the river," etc. and circa 1990, max weinberg was flirting w/jazz during his brief sideline as a label boss.)

sting-steen!

LOL, good point...I was hoping Springsteen would come up with something Ellingtonian rather than the smoothier, poppier stuff worthy of beer commercials.

It's probably no surprise that the jazz elements of the E Street Band kind of left with Sancious et al though Carter left his stamp on "Born to Run." (I think Weinberg says he's still unable to play what Carter plays on the record - it's ridiculously awesome.)

I looked up Weinberg's jazz endeavors - he has or had a big band, and they do "Kitty's Back," but it's not quite what I hoped.

I thought it was strange when he opened some (all?) River 2016 tours with NYC Serenade, with an orchestra. Didn't make sense thematically at all - only song with the orchestra, wrong album - nice as it was to hear.

sting-steen

If you need somebody, baby we were born to run

Caryn Rose has been banging on about "narrative arc" for years, here she is reviewing a 2012 show I saw in Austria: "Doing so [collecting sign requests] offers the possibility for great surprises, including this night's three tour premieres, but it also runs the risk of creating massive problems with pacing, flow, and the thematic arc of the show." It is indeed total nonsense, as bitw says a show is not a concept album. A greatest hits set is fine with me.

the thing is, it's not a hits show!

Yeah, I take your point. But even if it's a mix of hits and deep cuts, why should there be any kind of "narrative arc"? It's just a collection of songs, and I neither want nor need them to somehow hang together narratively or thematically. His main themes are pretty much present in everything he writes anyway!

to be fair, this is an artist who has literally explained the narrative arc of the "li-li-li-li-li" part of "the rising."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G_n8l-2SCQ

Fair point but it is kinda baked into the Storytellers format. You don't go on Storytellers and say "this is a word that rhymed with the word that ended the previous line."

"Well, see I had this line that ended with the word 'love,' so my choices were basically 'stars above' and 'like a glove,' or maybe stretch a bit and go with 'turtledove.'"

"At this point the rhyming dictionary was on fire in my hands."

Slightly apropos: William Faulkner wrote a short story called "The Bear," which includes an unbroken 1,800-word sentence. He was once asked an elaborate question about some thematic element. Death, truth, struggle, metaphor, existence, blah blah blah blah.

He thoughtfully sucked at his pipe for a minute and answered, "That... is a story about a bear."

Springsteen had the most perfect line in that series:

"How much of this was I thinking about when I wrote the song? None of it. How much of it was I feeling when I wrote the song? All of it. That's how they get written."

It kind of reflects one of his gifts as a lyricist - to put across an idea in the most distilled and relatable manner without oversimplifying or stripping it of character or nuance.

True bird. I am beginning to think the the answer to the thread's initial query is that this fellow is pretty much a classic, in most of the ways that matter

How much did you pay for your tickets?

Yeah that’s right. I’m gonna count your fuckin money. Cause this blue collar hero is anything but

Sorry
Enjoy your fantasy
We all have them

Seen reasonably likely that he ain't never gonna ride in no used car again

he's just gonna throw that money on the bed. then he's gonna go out walkin'.

And he'll be drinkin' ice-cold beer on the hood of a Dodge!

Well we can reasonably deduce that he's dying to walk

(And then we had sex in the caaaaaar)

Just spent the day in Freehold and Asbury Park, ask me anything.

Did either town rip the bones from your back?

Prob wasn’t there long enough

Just spent the day in Freehold and Asbury Park, ask me anything.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, April 4, 2023 4:48 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Did you get Jersey Freeze?

I got sushi, just like Bruce did when he was little.

You went to that fancy sushi place in Asbury? No, you have to go back. You messed the whole thing up.

Did have a conversation with the neighbor at the corner of E Street and 10th about his buddy in the fire department who knows a guy who knows a guy who's in the fire department with Springsteen's son. Also about his son who used to know a guy who knew Springsteen's personal chef who introduced him, and Springsteen was really cool.

We also played pinball on the boardwalk around the corner from the Stone Pony.

Riiight

Did you get chills? xp

Yeah that pinball museum is no joke

Re: Springsushi

Eel sashimi, junp a little lighter

Come on up for the ricing

Thunder Roll

Wasabi Street Band

Thunder Roe

that's a good one

The Ghost of Tom Roe'd

Roesalita?

Roe Surrender?

I think we have unlocked the key to Springsteen sushi puns.

The Rice That Binds

Sashimeeting Across The River

The Ramen Touch

Nori Days

My Tempura Will Not Let You Down

Born In The U N I

LMAO

She just said "Joe, I can't eat roe
I had it once, I can't have it any more"
She ate edamame, chicken teriyaki
She ordered California Roll
And I dropped to my knees, hung my head, and cried

and for my 19th birthday
i got a uni nigiri with some tobiko

Meet me tonight, for Atlantic ahi ...

Working on a Bream

Salmon Claus is Comin' to Town

(But seriously Omar won that round with the very elegant "Nori Days.")

I don't think that can be improved upon.