No Surrender: Springsteen at Sixty-Two
July 24, 2012 12:07 AM   Subscribe

"I was raised out of steel here in the swamps of Jersey, some misty years ago..." The New Yorker's David Remnick profiles Bruce Springsteen.
posted by MonkeyToes (67 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 


I saw Bruce just last month in concert. It's all true. What was most amazing to me was how fat old Stevie Van Zandt was able to keep up.

The thing with the TelePrompter though, well ... kind of a spoiler. I didn't need to know about that.
posted by chavenet at 12:43 AM on July 24, 2012


In Jersey Springsteen is practically a folk hero. So many people have tales of Bruce, all of them about what a fantastic guy he is.

My Dad's:
One day in the late 70's, a friend of my Dad's was telling him he had to go check out this guy, that he was mind blowing. So he drives the hour or so to central Jersey and lo and behold it's Bruce. My dad goes to take a piss, and lo and behold next to him it's Bruce. Dad was a DJ on WFDU, and so after they had washed hands he asked if he could interview him, then went to the car to get his stuff and did it in the bathroom. My dad and his friends were Bruce groupies after that, following him all over Jersey. When it was time to find a band for the end of the year party at FDU, my dad arranged it so Bruce would play. Towards the end of his set, he said "Here's a song off of out upcoming album that we haven't really played yet" and that song was Born To Run.

Four years ago my Dad was drinking a beer next to Bruce at some thing in the city and said something along the lines of "You probably don't remember this, but..." and starts telling the boss this very story. Before he got far into it, Bruce looked at him and said "You're the guy from the bathroom!"

Bruce rules!
posted by Betty_effn_White at 12:46 AM on July 24, 2012 [19 favorites]


There are usually more African-Americans onstage than in the seats..

Totally true (and a bit harsh considering that there was often only 1 black onstage.) Even the late, great Clarence Clemens didn't make the E-Street band popular with among blacks. I mean Jersey is full of black folk, but you'll never hear "Born to Run" blasting out of a car in Camden unless there's a white dude behind the wheel.

Bruce is way more country than Jersey.
posted by three blind mice at 1:37 AM on July 24, 2012


if one had to guess, he has, over the years, in the face of high-def scrutiny and the fight against time, enjoined the expensive attentions of cosmetic and dental practitioners.

Springsteen's had plastic surgery?!

Seems... inauthentic?
posted by ambient2 at 2:42 AM on July 24, 2012


Never a fan. Mainly due to the ubiquitousness of the 'Born In The USA' single and that fargin' 80's BASH-BASH-BASH drum sound it had.

He seems a very nice guy though.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 2:47 AM on July 24, 2012


Does Springsteen's music resonate with the rest of non-americans here? I simply don't "get" it, and I "get" other forms of presumably indigenous USAian music such as country delta blues (Son House), Johnny Cash, David Allen Coe, etc. etc.

Somehow, it's like some first-person experience with the smells of blue-collar neighbourhoods in the industrial towns of Michigan was necessary, just like you have to understand the nomad's lament to get Capullo de Jerez

This is a quasi-duplicate post, but there was a critical typo, and I've already flagged the ther one
posted by syntaxfree at 3:17 AM on July 24, 2012


I never particularly cared for him, but he was at the first Jazzfest after Katrina with the Seeger sessions band, and it was one of the greatest concerts I've ever seen. He played "City of Ruins" and "When the Saints" on the main stage while the sun was setting and music at all the other stages had already stopped, and there wasn't a dry eye on the festival grounds. It was amazing.
posted by muckster at 3:19 AM on July 24, 2012 [4 favorites]


Here's a companion piece at Storyboard: an interview with David Remnick about "the art of the profile."
posted by muckster at 3:27 AM on July 24, 2012 [3 favorites]


The article mentioning that he watched Elvis on Ed Sullivan and turned to his mother and said "I wanna be just like THAT!" reminded me of one of my favorite photos of him, which I saw at an exhibit of Rock and Roll Photography a year ago; looks like it was taken in the late 70's or early 80's. According to the backstory, the photographer was passing by this New Jersey storefront right when a bunch of teenage girls who were also passing by had run into him as he was coming out, and the girls all squealed and screamed and asked him to pose for a photo. He said yes, and the photo is of the group of them posing for a picture.

You see one girl holding the camera, and the other four girls gathered around Bruce, two on either side of him, and all the girls are grinning and wide-eyed and you can just tell they're all also probably giggling and hyper -- they're fangirls -- and Bruce is in the middle, an arm around each of the girls on either side of him, and he's grinning and looking at the camera. But the KIND of grin he's giving, you can tell that what he's thinking has got to be, "MAN, being a rock star is AWESOME."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:15 AM on July 24, 2012


Does Springsteen's music resonate with the rest of non-americans here?

Well, that's a resounding yes for me and not a small number of other Australians. I don't know why, really, but something about early Springsteen just works for me.

Born to run, Nebraska and Darkness on the edge of town are all masterpieces in my book.

Nebraska is a work of art and gets listened to every few weeks in my house (or car), on average, and has been for years.
posted by deadwax at 4:55 AM on July 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


Does Springsteen's music resonate with the rest of non-americans here? I simply don't "get" it, and I "get" other forms of presumably indigenous USAian music such as country delta blues (Son House), Johnny Cash, David Allen Coe, etc. etc.

Well, yeah. Everyone "gets" sex, don't they:)
posted by Jody Tresidder at 4:59 AM on July 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


I can't say I've ever been a big fan of his music (especially that overwrought, headache-inducing "Born to Run" sound) but I've always liked the public person. Definitely seems to be a genuinely good guy.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:05 AM on July 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


Whatever the fuck authentic means in terms of multigazillion-dollar rock-and-roll stardom, Bruce seems to be it. You like what he says and you get the feeling he means what he says. He takes his job seriously and he takes people seriously. He's not a dumbass boy in a look-at-me suit. We should all love him.

But I still don't get into his music. Not much, anyway. (I'm also a Nebraska fan, but that's about it.) I always figured that, as with the Dead, it was the Springsteen concert experience that made it for a lot of people, and it wouldn't matter if the music were somewhat meh because... Bruuuuuuuce!
posted by pracowity at 5:06 AM on July 24, 2012 [2 favorites]


I don't know why, really, but something about early Springsteen just works for me.

Born to run, Nebraska and Darkness on the edge of town are all masterpieces in my book.


I go even earlier; Greetings and The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle are masterpieces. Totally agree on Nebraska, though.

After seeing tens of his shows and watching countless interviews, I've always been impressed with Bruce's intellectual approach to his job. He seems to be a genuine craftsman who strives to honor his art and his audience.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 5:20 AM on July 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


I've always had a lot of respect for Bruce, even though I've never been able to get into his music. I've tried, I've felt like a bad American at times for not being a fan.

Same goes the Dead too.
posted by COD at 5:25 AM on July 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


I actually am more take-it-or-leave-it about a lot of his albums. But something Jon Stewart said a couple years back absolutely is true - when he was introducing Bruce at the Kennedy Center Honors, he said that whenever Bruce performs, "he empties the tank". And man, that's true - he is an incredible, INCREDIBLE performer.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:26 AM on July 24, 2012 [5 favorites]


I'm still buzzing from seeing him two weeks ago in Hyde Park.
posted by Optamystic at 5:40 AM on July 24, 2012


As for the teleprompter thing, I really don't think it's a bad thing. On top of their own giant catalog of their own songs, plus all the other songs they've covered, they occasionally will play random songs that people in the audience request; not a chance they could do that without some sort of assistance.
posted by inigo2 at 5:42 AM on July 24, 2012


He seems to be a genuine craftsman who strives to honor his art and his audience.

This. A-and he's having a shitload of fun doing it.

His concerts are incredible because a) he cares b) he enjoys himself and c) as mentioned above, he empties the tank.

I also think this is reflected in the quality of the albums over time.

"Serious" Bruce is not fun; the earlier stuff is lots of fun. It's crazy teenage dreaming, rockin' with a great band, hoping to get laid, girl on the porch, watching fireworks, making love in the dirt fun.
posted by chavenet at 5:50 AM on July 24, 2012 [2 favorites]


Does Springsteen's music resonate with the rest of non-americans here?

Well, once, during a sold-out concert at the Feyenoord Stadion, some 50,000 Dutch citizens suddenly declared that they were born in the USA.
posted by likeso at 6:27 AM on July 24, 2012 [11 favorites]




"Serious" Bruce is not fun; the earlier stuff is lots of fun.

I grew up on fun Bruce, who was played early and often on Philadelphia-area radio because he was a (relative) local boy, and the rock-and-roll fun songs were stuffed into my ears. Most of that, I could now live without (though there's a small part of me that's confirmed in the holiday season the first time I hear Springsteen's "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town").

But I heard Bruce as an adult. My husband's cast-off copy of "The Ghost of Tom Joad" joined my rotation because I was struck so hard by "Youngstown," "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and "Sinaloa Cowboys." It was such a revelation to me to hear him so stripped down, so bare, after years of teen bombast, because I had never heard "Born in the USA" like this.

Then, years later, along came the excellent "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions." "John Henry" continues to blow me away, and damn if I don't sing it in the car with my kids, and when driving T-posts. "O, Mary Don't You Weep"? Swings with feeling. "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?" Springsteen and company have made these American songs their own, organic and alive and full of perspective, and that's an accomplishment.

This guy got more of the American dream than he ever bargained for, and I for one am glad to see that he still struggles with this. He talks about that a little bit in his SXSW address (sorry, print version): "And I knew I was never gonna be Woody Guthrie. I liked Elvis, and I liked the Pink Cadillac too much. I like the simplicity, and the tossed–off temporary feeling of pop hits. I liked big, fucking noise. And in my own way, I like the luxuries and the comforts of being a star. I had already gone a long way down a pretty different road." And from Remnick's profile, the fight he had with Steve Van Zandt, over writing about his success:

"We had one of our biggest fights of our lives,” Van Zandt recalled. “I’m, like, ‘What the fuck is this?’ And he’s, like, ‘Well, what do you mean, it’s the truth. It’s just who I am, it’s my life.’ And I’m, like, ‘This is bullshit. People don’t need you talking about your life. Nobody gives a shit about your life. They need you for their lives. That’s your thing. Giving some logic and reason and sympathy and passion to this cold, fragmented, confusing world—that’s your gift. Explaining their lives to them. Their lives, not yours.’ And we fought and fought and fought and fought. He says ‘Fuck you,’ I say ‘Fuck you.’ I think something in what I said probably resonated.”"

He lives uncomfortably with his success. I live with his compromise. Heck, I know that "Wrecking Ball" is a purpose-built stadium anthem, meant to elicit sing-alongs and emotion, and I still fall for it. I ride on my mower in the pasture with my little .mp3 player, bumping into the air over the ruts and trying not to get stuck in the muck, and yeah, I'm singing "Take your best shot, lemme see what you've got, bring on your wrecking ball" because there's something in the joyousness that taps into my own will to succeed, even in such a small thing. I don't love BRUUUUUCE!, but I surely appreciate someone addressing adult concerns with such passion, joy and skill, and *still* having a great time doing it.
posted by MonkeyToes at 7:02 AM on July 24, 2012 [11 favorites]


I love the boss and it was an interesting article but

“This is about the only live music left, with a few exceptions,” Cooper said.

you've gotta be kidding me, Coop...
posted by saul wright at 7:41 AM on July 24, 2012


Like MonkeyToes, I grew up in Philly with the local FM stations playing "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.", "The Wild, The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle", and "Born to Run" what seemed like every third song. I HATED Springsteen. I hated him with every fiber of my jaded teenage punk rock teen. He symbolized everything I thought was wrong with America. Car culture, empty headed romance, drinking and killing time doing stupid shit in the swamps of Jersey. There was nothing noble or romantic or DIFFERENT about any of what he sung about, just stories of the lives of people I grew up despising.

Then one day I heard one of his songs, and I got it. I heard what he was singing about. He wasn't singing about cars, sex, and beer (although he was), he was singing about loss, and sadness, and desire, and boredom and happiness, and doing what you did because you couldn't do anything else. I finally got it. I guess you can't get it until you've been around a bit.

I still can't stand his later stuff, but those first three albums are incredible.
posted by SPUTNIK at 7:57 AM on July 24, 2012 [4 favorites]


My favorite is the "Mister State Trooper" and "Open All Night" pair off of Nebraska. I always assumed that they were two alternate futures of the same guy, one who had some really bad stuff happen and one who didn't. They have a lot of the same words, but could not be more different musically.

It always really drives home just how much of life is random chance.
posted by BeeDo at 8:14 AM on July 24, 2012 [2 favorites]


The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist


Those two lines alone are pure genius.
posted by davebush at 8:21 AM on July 24, 2012 [2 favorites]


The dogs on Main Street howl
Because they understand


My current favorite Bruce Springsteen lines.

...and from "Reason to Believe," I just love this little jewel of a story:

Now Mary Lou loved Johnny with a love mean and true
She said "Baby I'll work for you every day, bring my money home to you"
One day he up and left her and ever since that
She waits down at the end of that dirt road for young Johnny to come back

posted by marxchivist at 9:00 AM on July 24, 2012


Not much I like more than a good ol' fashioned Mefi Springsteen love-fest.

I had the extreme and singular luck to see him perform in Austin this year at SXSW. Springsteen in a 2700 capacity theater is incredible, of course, but seeing him later in the tour in San Jose sealed it — this tour is Bruce at his best. His purpose is clear and it rings through every note and every song.

I'll be at the second Wrigley show in September. Will be my first time seeing him in the Midwest and I can. not. wait.

For my money, some of the greatest opening lines of all time:

One soft infested summer me and Terry became friends
Trying in vain to breathe the fire we was born in
Catching rides to the outskirts tying faith between our teeth
Sleeping in that old abandoned beach house getting wasted in the heat

posted by wemayfreeze at 9:22 AM on July 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


I had the misfortune of being young whelp who, like most of America at the time, didn't really listen to the lyrics of "Glory Days" and "Born in the USA" and thought it was jingoistic crap. I didn't really "get" Springsteen until the late 90s. Now, I don't trust anyone who doesn't at least like some Springsteen; the man is a national treasure.

If anyone out there is interested in understanding Springsteen's appeal, I suggest checking out the "Live at Hammersmith Odeon" DVD and maybe the "Wings for Wheels" documentary.
posted by entropicamericana at 10:20 AM on July 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


So my dad loved Springsteen.

When I was a tiny pxe, my dad moved to Quincy. This might as well have been the other side of the world to my brother and me, who lived on the North Shore.

On those weekends in the summer when he saw us, he'd pop Born to Run in the tape deck as we neared Storrow Drive. Dad would then do his best to time his merges into traffic to the breaks in the title track. There was nothing like getting off the pike during that pause at the end of Clarence's solo. Dad would open the sun roof as the song started to wind down and we were (on a good night) a few blocks from his apartment.

Dad drove like a madman, is what.

Also, realizing what those songs were actually about after a that revelry is both strange and in it's own way wonderful.,
posted by pxe2000 at 10:23 AM on July 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


A piece about NJ Governor Chris Christie's unrequited love for Bruce, via The Morning News
posted by capnsue at 10:36 AM on July 24, 2012


Dad would then do his best to time his merges into traffic to the breaks in the title track. There was nothing like getting off the pike during that pause at the end of Clarence's solo. Dad would open the sun roof as the song started to wind down and we were (on a good night) a few blocks from his apartment.

I think I love your dad.
posted by Edison Carter at 10:38 AM on July 24, 2012 [4 favorites]


The dogs on Main Street howl
Because they understand


I have a dog named Kingsley so in my house the lyrics go:

The dogs named Kingsley howl
Because they understand
posted by capnsue at 10:39 AM on July 24, 2012


My feelings about the "Wrecking Ball" album are mixed, but it can't be denied that he's still trying very hard to be an artist, as opposed to most of his peers, who are just riding it out as performers.
posted by davebush at 10:49 AM on July 24, 2012


Who the shit is Kingsley Zissou?
posted by Edison Carter at 10:50 AM on July 24, 2012


I will never be able to understand how anybody can take seriously a surgery-enhanced multi-millionaire who lives in a house made of gold, but still yawps on about being a down-to-earth steel worker who lives in a shack.
Am I missing something?
posted by Monkeymoo at 11:03 AM on July 24, 2012


Vini Lopez should start a club with Pete Best and John Rutsey as the Drummers Who Got Bounced Right Before the Band Hit it Big.

John Landau was partially responsible for the breakup of Cream? I did not know that.
posted by e1c at 11:05 AM on July 24, 2012


Clearly you are, Monkeymoo, as every other comment in this thread will attest. I'll let Springsteen himself respond, though:

We live in a post–authentic world. And today authenticity is a house of mirrors. It's all just what you're bringing when the lights go down. It's your teachers, your influences, your personal history; and at the end of the day, it's the power and purpose of your music that still matters.
posted by wemayfreeze at 11:10 AM on July 24, 2012 [2 favorites]


I will never be able to understand how anybody can take seriously a surgery-enhanced multi-millionaire who lives in a house made of gold, but still yawps on about being a down-to-earth steel worker who lives in a shack.

Indeed, Springsteen was born to a family of multi-millionaires and furthermore, I cannot take Johnny Cash seriously either because he didn't shoot a man just to watch him die. Nor can I take Frank Sinatra seriously because he didn't actually have the world on a string. Nor can I take Bob Dylan seriously because he wasn't actually stuck in Mobile with the Memphis blues again. Need I go on?
posted by entropicamericana at 11:17 AM on July 24, 2012 [11 favorites]


And, contrary to popular belief, Picasso could see just fine.
posted by Edison Carter at 11:41 AM on July 24, 2012


Does Springsteen's music resonate with the rest of non-americans here?

Absolutely, yeah, I love Bruce Springsteen (although Tunnel of Love was the last CD I bought). His music is very passionate and descriptive. Great stories. Great music. Also, for some reason he reminds me of Stephen King, mostly because I read a lot of King as a teen, and listened to a lot of Springsteen back then. Both told great stories of regular folks dealing with all sorts of challenges.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:09 PM on July 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


I will never be able to understand how anybody can take seriously a surgery-enhanced multi-millionaire who lives in a house made of gold, but still yawps on about being a down-to-earth steel worker who lives in a shack.
Am I missing something?


I think you're missing the fact that Springsteen is doing real work. It's real art. He's successful because of that, and in spite of that. His songs are about ambitions, about making and not making it. About getting trapped. And escaping.

One day Mister when the lottery I win
I ain't never gonna ride in no used car again


Bruce made it. He's still making it. And it's amazing. Inspiring.
Of course we can take him seriously, but only as seriously as he takes himself. Which is very seriously, but also not seriously at all.
posted by chavenet at 12:18 PM on July 24, 2012 [2 favorites]


I was also going to say that Born in the USA was really representative of the summer of 1984. It had been an incredible year or two for popular music - there was Born in the USA, but also 1984 by Van Halen, Eliminator by ZZ Top, Thriller... Cyndi Lauper had a big hit, U2's Unforgettable Fire, Bryan Adams' Reckless.

For a 13 year old, it was a pretty significant year, and Bruce Springsteen was part of it.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:23 PM on July 24, 2012


It's worth it to mention that Nebraska was one of the only statements by a major rock star about how America was succumbing to cynicism in Reagan's 80s. Before Springsteen went MTV and made sure no one would ever listen to his lyrics again, he said what needed to be said:

Sir, I guess there's just a meanness in this world.

The album Nebraska came out the same month as Billy Joel's album The Nylon Curtain, and there was predictable attention paid to two blue-collar rockers tackling political themes. The comparison wasn't kind to Joel. His song "Allentown" purported to be confonting the same social woes that Springsteen was, but Billy Joel had no talent for describing the human toll of predatory capitalism. Springsteen warned we were losing our humanity through economic and political indifference; Joel didn't seem to care either way.
posted by Fritz Langwedge at 12:38 PM on July 24, 2012


DO NOT SPEAK ILL OF BILLY JOEL IN MY PRESENCE.
posted by Edison Carter at 12:52 PM on July 24, 2012


* raises a fist, goes to stand with Edison Carter and shouts "TESTIFY!" *
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:26 PM on July 24, 2012


Up to a point, Billy Joel is fantastic. After that point, no. He's more real estate novelist to Bruce's teenage diplomat.
posted by chavenet at 1:35 PM on July 24, 2012 [2 favorites]


Honesty is such a lonely word.
posted by Fritz Langwedge at 1:38 PM on July 24, 2012


It's not a comparison game, man! I'm just tired of people giving Billy Joel a hard time when he has made some damn fine music! Chuck Klosterman's essays make a great point regarding this.

TALOS BLESS BILLY JOEL
posted by Edison Carter at 1:39 PM on July 24, 2012


Up to a point, Billy Joel is fantastic. After that point, no.

Actually, that's fair. It's like what a friend of mine says about Billy Joel - that he really liked his early work up to the early 80's, but not so much after "Innocent Man" -- my friend says that "he just kind of...lost the hunger."

And actually (to bring this around to screaming distance of the topic) Bruce maybe went through a bit of the same stuff; Bruce was married to Julianne Philips right when Billy was married to Christie Brinkley, and both their next albums were a little....meh as a result. Only with Billy Joel, his "meh" was about how he was all happy as a pig in shit that "holy crap I grew up as this nobody kid from Long Island and now I'm married to a god-damn supermodel", where Bruce's album was more like "I'm married to a god-damn supermodel, but...something feels kind of off."

That may have also been about the time that he and Steve Van Zandt got into that argument the profile talks about, where Bruce was writing about the kind of stuff he was going through and Steve told him "the audience doesn't want to hear you talk about you, they want to hear you talk about THEM", and Bruce's marriage to Julianne broke down and he ended up with Patti and then came back with the album "Ghost of Tom Joad" and basically got back on track. Meanwhile, Billy Joel's marriage to Christie Brinkley just took longer to falter, which took more out of him and was probably harder to bounce back from.

He's starting to come back, though. In 2006 Billy Joel set a record for the most sold-out concert dates at Madison Square Garden; he booked a couple that sold out like lightning, so they added another which sold out, and then another, and then another, until they finally said "okay, I think twelve concerts in the same venue in a row is enough."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:57 PM on July 24, 2012


and Bruce's marriage to Julianne broke down and he ended up with Patti and then came back with the album "Ghost of Tom Joad"

Actually, that "comeback" was with Lucky Town / Human Touch. Which are underloved albums. "Ghost of Tom Joad" was the "serious" comeback (and much less fun).
posted by chavenet at 2:23 PM on July 24, 2012


Actually, that's fair. It's like what a friend of mine says about Billy Joel - that he really liked his early work up to the early 80's, but not so much after "Innocent Man" -- my friend says that "he just kind of...lost the hunger."

I agree. But those 1974-1982 albums were awesome.
posted by Edison Carter at 2:35 PM on July 24, 2012


Lucky Town is a killer record.
posted by wemayfreeze at 2:40 PM on July 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


I'm just tired of people giving Billy Joel a hard time when he has made some damn fine music! Chuck Klosterman's essays make a great point regarding this

I had no idea Klosterman was a Billy Joel apologist, but it makes perfect sense. Both of them like to talk about strong convictions without actually having any.

JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say?
posted by gompa at 3:12 PM on July 24, 2012 [3 favorites]


Lucky Town is a killer record.

Absolutely. It got lost in the shadow of "Human Touch", but it's his most underrated album. I really love "Lucky Town."
posted by davebush at 3:14 PM on July 24, 2012


I have never written a script or directed a movie but in my head, every time Jungleland plays, an epic movie unfolds. I know exactly how I would envision every line, every scene. Man I wish I could make that movie.

I would SO love if some actual director who loves Bruce would take it upon him/herself to produce films (OK, call them videos but they would be FILMS in quality and scope) of some of those classics.

Imagine Rosalita... Thunder Road... even Sherry darling, for crying out loud. WE NEED THIS.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 4:01 PM on July 24, 2012 [2 favorites]


SHUT YOUR HOLE, gompa!
posted by Edison Carter at 4:04 PM on July 24, 2012


Sorry, Edison, didn't catch that. I was busy talking with Davy, who's still in the navy, about the laziest rhyme in the history of pop.
posted by gompa at 4:17 PM on July 24, 2012 [2 favorites]


Does the rest of the world get Springsteen? Story in the article about 50,000 people in a concert hall in Germany stomping their feet in unison & cracking the foundations. They call it "that time we broke the stadium "
posted by ohshenandoah at 4:44 PM on July 24, 2012 [2 favorites]


I have never written a script or directed a movie but in my head, every time Jungleland plays, an epic movie unfolds. I know exactly how I would envision every line, every scene. Man I wish I could make that movie.

Yeah, that's a great song.
posted by KokuRyu at 5:47 PM on July 24, 2012


Don't sweat it, gompa, have a tonic and gin.
posted by Fritz Langwedge at 5:53 PM on July 24, 2012


I_Love_Bananas, I have always had a similar reaction to Jungleland, although for me it's a choreographed dance piece - a medium that I have no experience with whatsoever either as a maker or consumer. Strange. Anyway, in the end I'm glad that no one has attempted to do any of these sorts of things with Bruce's music - any visual representation of it would necessarily fail and, worse, might actually interfere with the pure dialogue between Bruce's songwriting and his audience's imagination.
posted by fingers_of_fire at 6:41 AM on July 25, 2012 [1 favorite]


Everybody sees a crane shot tracking and panning down to a 60s car pulling up to a house with a porch in late summer afternoon during the beginning to "Thunder Road," right?
posted by entropicamericana at 7:51 AM on July 25, 2012


Kind of mixes well with the novels of SE Hinton.
posted by KokuRyu at 2:50 PM on July 25, 2012 [2 favorites]


I don't want to hijack this thread with stories about my dad, but I just read The Invention of Solitude by Paul Auster and I can understand why my dad held both Auster's and Springsteen's work in high regard.

[/derail]
posted by pxe2000 at 8:16 PM on July 25, 2012 [1 favorite]


Fingers of Fire- I think I just got a new hobby. I also choreograph in my head... but for some reason, Bruce songs always made me think in terms of film rather than dance.

But oh my, that works so well too. Right there with ya!

FYI, my mental dance masterwork is a fully staged performance of The Kinks' "Come Dancing." Maybe someday I will make it happen.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 11:14 AM on July 29, 2012


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