Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXXV--Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run (Album)

Pop quiz:  What do F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, and Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run have in common?

Answer:  Each of them changed the way I would look at their individual art forms forever, taught me that art could transform you, and specifically that it could be epic and grandiloquent, violent and unexplainable, and hopeful yet ultimately triumphant (among many, many others).

When I first started Friday Night Jukebox, I thought about making it a mix of both albums and singles each week--but after researching the first one (for those with fuzzy memories, Crosby, Still's and Nash's "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"), I quickly realized an album would take a novel a week and I really don't have the time to write a novel a week.  But I've still always wanted to do Born to Run not only because, for better or worse, it's my favorite album of all time, but also because Bruce Springsteen as a music artist remains culturally relevant and has never stopped fighting the good fight these last forty-five some odd years since he first started with the Dylanesque Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.  And since tomorrow's my fifty-seventh birthday, I get a free "Gee, Wasn't Music Really Great Back in the Day?" card and I'm going to use it on Born to Run.

In the interest of not turning this into a novel, we'll dispense with Springsteen's history (New Jersey, won every award and honor imaginable, lots of record sales, heroic concert tours, the true heir to Woody Guthrie, a uniquely and unabashedly American artist), and give a (hopefully) brief recap of the album's eight songs and the oh, so glorious thirty-nine minutes of joy they still give me to this day:

"Thunder Road"--I'm not sure there's a more quintessential Springsteen song than this one.  It's got girls, cars, the shredded American dream, and yet despite it all, there's still a whole hell of a lot of hope on the horizon.  Favorite line:  "It's a town full of losers/And I'm pulling out of here to win..."

"Tenth Avenue Freeze-out"--Believe it or not, I wasn't exactly enamored with the album the first few times I heard it.  He may have been on the cover of Time and Newsweek in the same week when both were still relevant (and which is what made me buy the album in the first place), but I thought the album was kind of dull.  Except for this song--which stuck in my head and made me keep coming back for more and eventually very much made me a Springsteen and Born to Run fan for life.  Favorite line:  "And I'm all alone, I'm all alone/And kid you better get the picture/And I'm on my own, I'm on my own/And I can't go home..."

"Night"--While I would never say this was a bad song, it's the one on the album that's never really grabbed me.  It fits well with the album's theme, but not a song you wait for when seeing him in concert.

"Backstreets"--Surprisingly, bar none, my favorite Springsteen song.  "Born in the U.S.A." might be the best song he's ever written, but this is a close second.  A tale of love lost (and if there's anything rock and roll does well it's tales of love lost), Springsteen absolutely fucking nails this one instrumentally (think power chords), vocally (complete abandon), and emotionally (you can feel the hurt) from beginning to end.  Another in line of songs I can't sing along to without getting a lump in my throat.  Favorite line:  "Laying here in the dark/You're like an angel on my chest..."

"Born to Run"--Pete Townshend once said this song was the sound of "fucking triumph", and I'm certain I couldn't describe it any better.  Felt by many to be Springsteen's best song (deservedly), it's exploding intro is instantly recognizable and never lets up from beginning to end.  P-O-W-E-R--that would be "Born to Run."  Favorite line:  "The highways jammed with broken heroes/On a last chance power drive..."

"She's the One"--Another subject rock and roll does very well is the mystery of love, and how oftentimes someone we love gets in our heads and stays there forever--and that would be this song.  Often sung and played in machine gun bursts, it's "Born to Run" without the American overtones.  Probably the song I most underrate on the album.  Favorite line:  "But there's this angel in her eyes/That tells such desperate lies/And all you want to do is believe her..."

"Meeting Across the River"--A subtle masterpiece that is often forgotten among the power pop that makes up the rest of the album.  Springsteen paints a sparse (lots of subtle piano and sax) picture of a failed New York'New Jersey hood going for that one score that'll impress the big boys and more importantly, his girl, but somehow you know, despite his fervent hopes, that it'll never happen.  As good as any short story I've ever read and would make a hell of a movie.  Favorite line:  "Cause this guy don't dance/And the word's been passed this is our last chance..."

"Jungleland"--Sprinsteen's magnum opus, an eight minute opera about the characters and tragedies of New York City.  It's a tour de force with rollicking highs and whispered lows.  I've been listening to it for 42 years and I still find new moments in the song that amaze and delight me.  A grand ending to a classic album.  Favorite lyrics:  "Outside the street's on fire/In a real death waltz/Between what's flash and what's fantasy/And the poets down here/Don't write nothing at all/They just stand back and let it all be..."

Beautiful.

Can I just mention that the cover, in black and white, with Springsteen holding his guitar,leaning on Clarence Clemons back and smiling, while Clemons wails on his sax may just be the coolest album cover in the history of rock and roll.

If you have the time, enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee