Getting ready for the Bruce Springsteen concert in Austin this past Thursday night I went through all of his studio albums and picked out my favorites. Yes, some of his biggest songs are missing. Yes, the list might change on another day. You'll see that I favor those songs with the tightest lyrics, that flow with the music, that make you want to sing along. Here they are, in chronological order. And here's the Spotify playlist.
I got into Bruce with his 1973 album, The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, and then soon went back and picked up his first album, from earlier in 1973, Greetings From Asbury Park. I love a lot of those songs but it wasn't until Born to Run came out in 1975 (the one that landed him on the covers of Newsweek and Time, back when that was a big thing) that I feel that Bruce tightened his songwriting and music and produced some of the best rock 'n' roll ever.
Thunder Road (1975)
This is Bruce's masterpiece, the lyrics are required learning for any would-be Bruce fan. He wrote this when he was about 25:
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty but, hey, you're alright
Oh, and that's alright with me
Born to Run (1975)
For this song Bruce wanted to marry the power of a Roy Orbison vocal with a Phil Spector-type wall of sound. Has any song been more clear about what it's trying to say than this opening stanza?
In the day we sweat it out on the streets
Of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through the mansions of glory
Sprung from cages on Highway 9
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected, and steppin' out over the line
Oh, baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young
'Cause tramps like us, baby, we were born to run
The crazy thing, as we recently learned in his podcasts with Obama, is that Bruce probably didn't know how to drive when he wrote this!
After his long legal fight to gain control of his publishing, which left him near broke, Bruce returned in 1978 to spit in the face of anyone who tried to hold him down with the album Darkness On the Edge of Town, which included three of my favorites.
Badlands (1978)
I might have shouted these words the loudest Thursday night, and yes, it's still no sin!
For the ones who have a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me
I wanna find one place, I wanna spit in the face of these
Badlands, you gotta live it everyday
Let the broken hearts stand as the price you've gotta pay
Keep movin' till it's understood
And these badlands start treating us good
The Promised Land (1978)
Only the dogs understand!
The dogs on Main Street howl 'cause they understand
If I could reach one moment into my hands
Mister I ain't a boy, no I'm a man
And I believe in a promised land
Big Man sax break and then:
Well there's a dark cloud rising from the desert floor
I packed my bags and I'm heading straight into the storm
Gonna be a twister to blow everything down
That ain't got the faith to stand its ground
Blow away the dreams that tear you apart
Blow away the dreams that break your heart
Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted
Bruce has shown us he has that faith for fifty years!
Darkness On the Edge of Town (1978)
Does your spine tingle when Max hits the drum after the first verse and then, "Well if she wants to see me..."? Mine does.
Well they're still racing out at the Trestles
But that blood it never burned in her veins
Now I hear she's got a house up in Fairview
And a style she's trying to maintain
Well, if she wants to see me
You can tell her that I'm easily found
Tell her there's a spot out 'neath Abram's Bridge
There's a darkness on the edge of town
There's a darkness on the edge of town
Bruce put out The River, a double-record set, in 1980. So many great songs but two, very different, songs have stayed with me.
Sherry Darling (1980)
Maybe Bruce's most fun song to sing along with, this non-PC song takes no prisoners! My daughter Dara always plays this for me on our way back to our Massachusetts lake house from Yankee Stadium to power our drive.
Your Mamma's yapping in the back seat
Tell her to push over and move them big feet
Every Monday morning I gotta drive her down to the unemployment agency
Well this morning I ain't fighting tell her I give up
Tell her she wins if she'll just shut up
But it's the last time that she's gonna be riding with me
You can tell her there's a hot sun beating on the black top
She keeps talking she'll be walking that last block
She can take a subway back to the ghetto tonight
Well I got some beer and the highway's free
And I got you, and baby, you've got me
Hey, hey, hey what you say, Sherry Darling?
Wreck on the Highway (1980)
This might be Bruce's tightest song. The story just flows:
Last night I was out driving
Coming home at the end of the working day
I was riding alone through the drizzling rain
On a deserted stretch of a county two-lane
When I came upon a wreck on the highway
There was blood and glass all over
And there was nobody there but me
As the rain tumbled down hard and cold
I seen a young man lying by the side of the road
He cried, "Mister, won't you help me please?"
An ambulance finally came and took him to Riverside
I watched as they drove him away
And I thought of a girlfriend or a young wife
And a state trooper knocking in the middle of the night
To say your baby died in a wreck on the highway
Sometimes I sit up in the darkness
And I watch my baby as she sleeps
Then I climb in bed and I hold her tight
I just lay there awake in the middle of the night
Thinking 'bout the wreck on the highway
In 1984 came the Born in the USA album, which made Bruce a superstar. All great songs but I'm picking just one.
My Hometown (1984)
Bruce wrote about his hometown in the late 60s. Almost exactly the same thing happened in my hometown, Ossining, NY. "There was nothing you could do", was exactly how I felt.
In '65 tension was running high
There was a lot of fights
Between the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a Saturday night
In the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed, a shotgun blast
Now Main Street's whitewashed windows
Seems like there ain't nobody
Wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill
Across the railroad tracks
Foreman says, these jobs are going, boys
And they ain't coming back
In 1987 Bruce released Brilliant Disguise, recorded during a time when his first marriage, to Julianne Phillips, was falling apart, and his relationship with his backup singer, Patti Scialfa, was beginning. These two songs show his increasing maturity and vulnerability about relationships.
Tougher Than the Rest (1987)
The road is dark and it's a thin thin line
But I want you to know I'll walk it for you any time
Maybe your other boyfriends couldn't pass the test
Well, if you're rough and ready for love
Honey, I'm tougher than the rest
Check out
the video for this song for a real treat. While still officially married to Julianne you can see Bruce and Patti making goo-goo eyes at each other!
Walk Like a Man (1987)
Such a touching song, based on Bruce's relationship with his father, but doesn't it make you reflect on your own relationship with your father?
I remember how rough your hand felt on mine
And the tears cried on my shoulder
Well so much has happened to me
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
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
Well tonight you step away from me
And alone at the altar 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
Bruce released two albums simultaneously in 1992, Human Touch and Lucky Town, without the E Street Band. These two come from Human Touch:
Human Touch (1992)
Incredible song about basic human needs. First Bruce says it in the words:
I ain't lookin' for praise or pity
I ain't comin' 'round searchin' for a crutch
I just want someone to talk to
And a little of that human touch
Just a little of that human touch
Then, with the guitar. Then the most important line:
Oh girl, that feeling of safety you prize
Well, it comes with a hard hard price
You can't shut off the risk and pain
Without losin' the love that remains
We're all riders on this train
I Wish I Were Blind (1982)
Some of Bruce's prettiest writing and most desperate singing, although I think you would have to say the character is stalking his ex! One of my favorite songs to sing along with.
I love to see the cottonwood blossom
I love to see the message of love
But when I see you walkin' with him
When I see you with your man
I love to see your hair shining
In the long summer's light
I love to watch the stars fill the sky
The music plays you take his hand
I watch how you touch him as you start to dance
When I see you with your man
We struggle here but all our love's in vain
Well these eyes that once filled me with your beauty
And the light that once entered here
And this darkness is all baby that my heart sees
And though the world is filled
With the grace and beauty of God's hand
Oh I wish I were blind
When I see you with your man
1995's The Ghost of Tom Joad was Bruce's most political album. The writing on one song in particular is so crisp and tells such an important story it made this list.
Youngstown (1995)
Here in northeast Ohio, back in 1803
James and Danny Heaton found the ore that was lining Yellow Creek
They built a blast furnace here along the shore
And they made the cannonballs that helped the Union win the war
Here in Youngstown
Here in Youngstown
My sweet Jenny, I'm sinking down
Here, darling, in Youngstown
...
Well, my daddy come on the Ohio works
When he come home from World War II
Now the yard's just scrap and rubble
He said "Them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do"
These mills, they built the tanks and bombs
That won this country's wars
We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam
Now we're wondering what they were dying for
Bruce watched the World Trade Towers collapse from the Jersey shore and released The Rising the following year.
The Rising (2002)
The title song starts as a tribute to the first responders and ends in a prayer.
Can't see nothing in front of me
Can't see nothing coming up behind
Make my way through this darkness
I can't feel nothing but this chain that binds me
Lost track of how far I've gone
How far I've gone, how high I've climbed
On my back's a sixty pound stone
On my shoulder, a half-mile of line
...
I see you Mary in the garden
In the garden of a thousand sighs
There's holy pictures of our children
Dancing in a sky filled with light
May I feel your arms around me
May I feel your blood mix with mine
A dream of life comes to me
Like a catfish dancing on the end of the line
Sky of blackness and sorrow (A dream of life)
Sky of love, sky of tears (A dream of life)
Sky of glory and sadness (A dream of life)
Sky of mercy, sky of fear (A dream of life)
Sky of memory and shadow (A dream of life)
Your burning wind fills my arms tonight
Sky of longing and emptiness (A dream of life)
Sky of fullness, sky of blessed life (A dream of life)
Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight
Mary's Place (2002)
I love this song for its energy, for its defiance in the face of tragedy, for its knowledge that music can heal a broken heart. It starts out as a house party:
I got seven pictures of Buddha, the prophet's on my tongue
Eleven angels of mercy sighing over that black hole in the sun
My heart's dark but it's rising, I'm pulling all the faith I can see
From that black hole on the horizon, I hear your voice calling me
Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain, let it rain
Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain
Meet me at Mary's place, we're going to have a party
Meet me at Mary's place, we're going to have a party
Tell me how do we get this thing started?
Meet me at Mary's place
Meet me at Mary's place
Familiar faces around me, laughter fills the air
Your loving grace surrounds me, everybody's here
Furniture's out on the front porch, music's up loud
I dream of you in my arms, I lose myself in the crowd
I got a picture of you in my locket, I keep it close to my heart
This light shining in my breast, leading me through the dark
Seven days, seven candles in my window, lighting your way
Your favorite record's on the turntable, I drop the needle and pray (Turn it up)
And then all of a sudden we're at a concert
Band's counting out midnight, floor's rumbling loud (Turn it up)
Singer's calling up daylight, waiting for that shout from the crowd (Turn it up)
Waiting for that shout from the crowd (Turn it up)
Fast forward to the end of the decade, to another attack on Americans, this one by Americans. Bruce responded with Wrecking Ball.
Death To My Hometown (2012)
This extremely powerful song, in the form of an Irish jig, addresses the financial crisis, caused by men whose crimes have still gone unpunished. His response: rally the people to fight back through song!
Oh, no cannonballs did fly, no rifles cut us down
No bombs fell from the sky, no blood soaked the ground
No powder flash blinded the eye, no deathly thunder sound
But just as sure as the hand of God, they brought death to my hometown
They brought death to my hometown
No shells ripped the evening sky, no cities burning down
No armies stormed the shores for which we’d die
No dictators were crowned
I awoke from a quiet night, I never heard a sound
Marauders raided in the dark and brought death to my hometown, buys
They destroyed our families’ factories and they took our homes
They left our bodies on the plains, the vultures picked our bones
So listen up, my sonny boy, be ready for when they come
For they’ll be returning sure as the rising sun
Now get yourself a song to sing and sing it ’til you’re done
Yeah, sing it hard and sing it well
Send the robber barons straight to hell
The greedy thieves who came around
And ate the flesh of everything they found
Whose crimes have gone unpunished now
Who walk the streets as free men now
Bruce's most recent album of original material, Letter To You, has some of his finest writing. The title song definitely belongs on this list!
Letter To You (2020)
I view the letter as a summation of all the thoughts he's put in all his songs. We'll see if it represents the capstone of his career or just the encapsulation of the first 50 years!
I took all the sunshine and rain
All my happiness and all my pain
And the morning sky of blue
And I sent it in my letter to you
