I always think Roy is the unsung hero.
I'd hardly say any of the E-Street band members could be called "unsung". Really, it's the most celebrated backing band ever, surely the best known in the RHOF (and actually the only one I'm aware of)
But I'd argue Bittan, Weinberg, Van Zandt and Clemons, each in their own way, made integral contributions to the "magic trick". If the only thing we had from Bittan were his performances with Bowie he'd still be a giant.
― cpl593H, Wednesday, 9 October 2019 17:32 (four years ago) link
FWIW I had an ambushed by unexpected emotion moment today with Racing in the Streets
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 10 October 2019 14:43 (four years ago) link
Totally expected, though, because it is a beautiful, heartbreaking song.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:27 (four years ago) link
There's a whole subset of Springsteen songs about life being so shitty you just have to get into your car and drive away, to escape, or worse. "Thunder Road," "Racing in the Streets," "Stolen Car," "State Trooper," "Hungry Heart" ...
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:30 (four years ago) link
"Cadillac Ranch."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:32 (four years ago) link
"worse" is when you have to meet some guys and do them a favour and along the way you pick up debts that no honest man can pay.Careful out there.
― maffew12, Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:34 (four years ago) link
Also, when a dream is a lie that don't come true.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:37 (four years ago) link
sometimes you're just tearing into the guts of *something* in the nightwoaaaaaaaa ohhhhh ohhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhI kid but it's his best moment
― maffew12, Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:39 (four years ago) link
Yeah it almost seems to the point of being a joke except that the songs are really good. xp
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:39 (four years ago) link
Oh, and "Born to Run," of course, with suicide machine vs. death trap a pretty horrible choice.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:40 (four years ago) link
no way manalso that gave us the Sopranos best moment
― maffew12, Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:44 (four years ago) link
Rhonda let's drive this chevy out into the switchblade nightlet's take all our shattered dreams and toss em out into the creekthat runs behind the pollution factory where the drunks allsing about the prom queen that they almost married
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:45 (four years ago) link
what's this, you got an advance copy of his poetry book?
― maffew12, Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:50 (four years ago) link
And another subset (related) about finding love and happiness but then being tempted away by the irresistible lure of easy money/the open road/unspecified "things."
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:57 (four years ago) link
I went to Rutgers and spent some time living and working in Jersey after so it's interesting to me how much the Boss and that whole aesthetic and emotional landscape is both a reflection of and an influence on a lot of people I know. There is a lot of *place* in his songs. I think the density of his lyrics is partly a reflection of the density of the place -- it's like a more packed form of country music where the country is industrial wasteland, suburban sprawl, and boardwalk towns.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 10 October 2019 16:01 (four years ago) link
Today I Learned that man alive is actually an AI Springsteen generator.
― Saint Buffy (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 10 October 2019 16:47 (four years ago) link
I think the density of his lyrics is partly a reflection of the density of the place -- it's like a more packed form of country music where the country is industrial wasteland, suburban sprawl, and boardwalk towns.
I like how - especially in Nebraska - he can take all that realist detail and give it a subtle twist through another dimension. You think this is all a John McPhee-level stacking-up of mundane detail, and then you gradually notice that everything's just a bit off kilter.
I think my favorite instance is "Open All Night," where it seems like he's just cataloguing a night drive - gas stations, pay phones, gospel radio and all - and then it dawns on you that he had two hours to go at the beginning of the song and he has three hours to go at the end, and this is Looking Glass Country and he's never going to get home.
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:03 (four years ago) link
i always wanted a little fact check wrt the guy who never smoked pop supposedly and lines like "Wizard imps and sweat sock pimps/Interstellar mongrel nymphs"
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:18 (four years ago) link
No real stoner would manage to match the syllable count on those two lines, Springsteen is a cop
― chr1sb3singer, Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:20 (four years ago) link
A Cop Who Never Smoked Pop.
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:21 (four years ago) link
he's never going to get home
It's almost as if he went out for a ride and he never went back.
― Saint Buffy (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:21 (four years ago) link
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:45 (one hour ago) link
Rhonda I know there's still magic somewhere out in those starsand I think we can find it if you have sex with me tonight in my caaaaaaaaaaarrrr!!!!
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:23 (four years ago) link
<Big Man takes a sax solo>
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:25 (four years ago) link
lol
― maffew12, Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:26 (four years ago) link
Re: Bruce never smoking pot - yeah, and then there's this performance of "Wild Billy" where he a.) seems super stoned and b.) introduces the song by offering to trade a song dedication for weed? (I think - he's mumbling so much it's hard to tell.) Great performance, though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAUrofM9DDs
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:26 (four years ago) link
To man alive: good, but it needs more road references or some place names, like
You're not sure if you should put out or waitThe answer is somewhere on the interstateBaby don't make me read between the linesAll the wisdom I need is beneath these Jersey pines
― Saint Buffy (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:29 (four years ago) link
I feel like someone needs to either code an auto-Brucenator, or start a crowdsourced Boss-imitation thread called "Sprilxsteen" or something
― Saint Buffy (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:32 (four years ago) link
Well I thought I saw the Jersey Devil out behind the WaWa last nightCarly calls taylor ham pork roll but I don't mindSo let's ride this jughandle til the wheels fall off this '87 pontiacI'm heading out to Six Flags and I don't know if I'm comin' back
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:34 (four years ago) link
how's that YMP?
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:35 (four years ago) link
First-rate!
Just make sure you get a Steinbeck character into the chorus and it's done.
― Saint Buffy (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:36 (four years ago) link
"Last night" is the touch that really makes it.
You might need to add a dream sequence and some father issues, though. And a gypsy curse.
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:41 (four years ago) link
this is killing me rn
― Saint Buffy (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:41 (four years ago) link
Out from under the shadows of the pulasky skywaySpeeding past the Sbarro sign at the Walt Whitman rest areaWe can ride this turnpike all night but the ride ain't freejust tell me what exit and I'll punch your ticket baby
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:42 (four years ago) link
Never knew my daddy, but he was a union manGypsy woman told him "do all that you can"I walked in a dream past the boardwalk sightsSaw John Steinbeck in those neon lights
We're almost there. Just need some chugging Roy Bittan chords through a Leslie speaker.
― Saint Buffy (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:47 (four years ago) link
Not so fast - if you want to beat Dylan at this game, you'll need crime, a character of indeterminate gender, and some sisters.
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 10 October 2019 17:53 (four years ago) link
wait so this song opened with sex in the caaaaarrrr?
― maffew12, Thursday, 10 October 2019 18:02 (four years ago) link
Lily Dale, you could be helping here - at least sketch out a verse, sheesh.
― Saint Buffy (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 10 October 2019 18:05 (four years ago) link
I am the Jon Landau of this song. I don't help, I just provide highbrow criticism.
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 10 October 2019 18:06 (four years ago) link
I think sex in the caaaaaaarrrr was a false ending? (To be followed by ONE TWO THREE FOUR! and the verse about the Jersey Devil.)
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 10 October 2019 18:09 (four years ago) link
ok.
A figure in green haunted my dreamMaybe a man, maybe a ladyMy sister heard a siren screamGypsy said "that was your maybe"
Rhonda was stuck in betweenBlood in the mist out by the beachVanished behind a smokestack screenThe cops arrived, she was out of reach
― Saint Buffy (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 10 October 2019 18:13 (four years ago) link
[unintelligible moaning]
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 10 October 2019 18:17 (four years ago) link
AND THEN WE HAD SEX IN THE CAAAAAARRRR! <sax solo>
― Saint Buffy (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 10 October 2019 18:19 (four years ago) link
SEX IN THE CAAAAAARRRR!SEX IN THE CAAAAAARRRR!SEX IN THE CAAAAAARRRR!SEX IN THE CAAAAAARRRR!SEX IN THE CAAAAAARRRR!SEX IN THE CAAAAAARRRR!
All right!
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 10 October 2019 18:22 (four years ago) link
Keep it rockin' boys!
― Saint Buffy (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 10 October 2019 18:23 (four years ago) link
How are you all doing these without using the word "sir"?
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 10 October 2019 18:40 (four years ago) link
Sex In The Car, Sir
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 10 October 2019 18:42 (four years ago) link
<Nils does a dance on a trampoline>
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 10 October 2019 18:43 (four years ago) link
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, October 10, 2019 12:42 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
I feel like it should actually be "Burnin' past the Sbarro sign..."
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 10 October 2019 18:47 (four years ago) link
Fair point, it's not really Springsteen unless something's on fire.
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 10 October 2019 18:54 (four years ago) link
or he gave away the g's
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 10 October 2019 18:55 (four years ago) link