I Know You’re Lonely for Words That I Ain’t Spoken

March 10, 2016 7:10 PM

Bruce Springsteen: 41 Years on Thunder Road, a supercut of the Boss performing his iconic song, from the famed 1975 Hammersmith Odeon show to a New Jersey show earlier this year. (via The Morning News, whence comes the post title as well)
posted by Etrigan (34 comments total)

Bruce is 66. No, this is not 70, but still: do not fuck with me, Metafilter.
posted by rokusan at 7:12 PM on March 10, 2016

Never having been much of a Bruce fan (I don't dislike his music, just, meh) for years I didn't realize this version by Tortoise & Bonnie Prince Billy was a cover, and I've never really been able to rearrange the order of the two in my head. But god do I love their version.
posted by mannequito at 7:18 PM on March 10, 2016

I always wished I could hear "Thunder Road" for the very first time as an adult. It must have really been something to put Born to Run on for the first time and have that come out of the speakers. A perfect song.
posted by sallybrown at 7:30 PM on March 10, 2016 [10 favorites]

I had a very cool friend at art school named Jane who was absolutely in love with him and had seen him a bunch of times but she was a bit perplexed when Born in the USA came out and he became this megastar who seemed to allow himself to be embraced the Reaganite wave. She said, "I was into him before he had muscles."

I could see the shift in this video.
posted by bonobothegreat at 7:31 PM on March 10, 2016

It was, sallybrown. It was. Sigh...
posted by downtohisturtles at 7:44 PM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

When I'm cooking, I sometimes sing Thunder Road in early-70s Tom Waits voice.
posted by bonobothegreat at 7:45 PM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I heard a radio documentary a couple of years ago that talked about the making of Thunder Road. It was narrated by Patti Schmidt.

I have never been able to find it online... something about copyright issues. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
posted by My Dad at 7:52 PM on March 10, 2016

She said, "I was into him before he had muscles."

On the flip side, he looks incredible for his age. As a now-middle-aged man myself (I first heard him, like so much other music, in 1984 when I was 13) Springsteen is an inspiration. Time to hit the gym!
posted by My Dad at 7:54 PM on March 10, 2016

Don't know if you've watched the 'Streets of Philadelphia' video lately. They recorded his vocal track live while he was walking around filming the video. Pretty amazing.

Having been turned off to him growing up, listening to his albums now is incredible. Also, every Bon Jovi track now sounds like 'Prove It All Night' to me.
posted by four panels at 7:59 PM on March 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

Call him Dad Rock if you like, Bruce is amazing when he is on. And this album - this song - was him at his peak.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:04 PM on March 10, 2016 [5 favorites]

I have a very distinct memory of "Born to Run" which was released the summer (or maybe it was spring) before I went to college. And I recall the hype surrounding some shows he was doing in the village at the time (I'm from NYC), everyone one was like: "These will be the last shows before he breaks big. Seem him before he's famous" etc etc. And while I was definitely not into pop of any sort at the time, I recall listening to the album and being so very impressed. It so summed up what it felt like to be emerging from adolescence into early adulthood. Getting ready to leave the nest and bust out into the world. That feeling persists to this day whenever I sit down for a listen. I am actually a bit sorry I didn't manage to catch any of "those shows" when I had the chance.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 8:05 PM on March 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

Next Sunday night will mark at least 30 years of seeing Springsteen live for me & my sister. My first show was in Chicago on the Born in the USA tour, although I'd been a fan since 1978 or so.

I must send her this link.
posted by suelac at 9:07 PM on March 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

this megastar who seemed to allow himself to be embraced the Reaganite wave

This is pretty unfair. Bruce has always just been Bruce. This is the guy who put out Nebraska in 1982, an album of bleak songs with only his vocals and an acoustic guitar recorded on a cassette and inspired by Howard Zinn's "People's History of America".

As for getting muscles, at 66 years old in hindsight that seemed like a good move.

very cool friend at art school named Jane

This may be the problem. Very VERY cool people don't worry about the optics of their musical tastes.

Plus, one of my best friends was on a date with a NJ girl in the early nineties in LA. They were in a non-descript dive bar (maybe out by the airport?? not sure). Empty. Having a daytime drink. And Bruce walked in with a buddy. Bruce at this point wasn't in peak public consciousness but he was still Bruce. The NJ girl about had a heart attack, but contained her excitement. But Bruce suggested they join up for drinks and they all hung out. Bruce turns out to be as cool a guy as you suspect Bruce to be.
posted by C.A.S. at 11:16 PM on March 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

The lyrics of Born in the USA are quite cynical and not really patriotic - it's clear the neither Reagan nor his supporters ever really listened to the song properly.

Being highly critical of the US is patriotic. Proclaiming that the USA is perfect and has never done wrong is pretty cynical and anti-patriotic. Bruce is a patriot. But not Reagan's brand of patriotic; the real kind.
posted by el io at 1:24 AM on March 11, 2016 [9 favorites]

Thunder Road has been my anthem since leaving home, taking off for grad school, extracting myself and my boys from a bad situation, taking a leap of faith and relocating, and now, embracing the freedom that comes with an empty nest. Bruce is my comfort music, that rare artist I've bought on vinyl, tape, CD, mp3, and bootleg. My son gave me a sketch of Bruce for my birthday and he's the only thing my brother and I have in common.

All that said, this butchered mess was impossible to watch. I love a good supercut but Thunder Road isn't a discrete list of short truncated phrases. It's a song, a story, a plea, a celebration of life and courage and possibilities. Just leave it alone and let the man sing it.
posted by headnsouth at 3:35 AM on March 11, 2016 [4 favorites]

So, this is not about the Robert Mitchum hit song, then?

You kids.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:33 AM on March 11, 2016

I didn't mean to diss Bruce, it's just that we're talking early 80s and the jingoistic wave around Born in the USA was pretty strong. There weren't many outlets for him to get out in front and steer it the way he could do now with Twitter and such. I mean, he could do an interview with a magazine or a VJ, but those outlets were still ultimately controlling the message and few people ever sat down to really listen to the lyrics. Plus, the skinny, hippy 70s was giving way to this new, pumped up Rambo world, and with the new muscles, Bruce "looked" like he was along for the ride.
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:58 AM on March 11, 2016

"Thunder Road" also includes the line Bruce thinks is his most embarrassing, or at least that's what I remember him saying on one of those unplugged shows: "I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk".

Silly, maybe. But we no longer care.

Nthing it as the perfect song.
posted by chavenet at 5:32 AM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Perhaps even Bruce himself would argue things went a bit wrong there in the mid-eighties, Born in the USA period, when he found himself suddenly marrying a supermodel and hoisted up next to Madonna and Michael Jackson as the superstars of the decade. It is arguably his weakest album, his most straight forward rawk album, when his work before always had a bit more funk to it.

Thunder Road gets that quintessential E-Street sound perfect: you got your basic rock quarter of guitar, bass, drums and vocals, but equally important are the piano, organs and of course sax. They're not there as glitzy embellishments but a key part of most of the best of Bruce's songs, apart from those where he goes straight Dylan on you and it's just him and a guitar.
posted by MartinWisse at 5:40 AM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

MartinWisse: "It is arguably his weakest album"

...you are aware of the existence of Human Touch?
posted by Chrysostom at 6:38 AM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

I am not a big fan (although Thunder Road is one of my favorites of his) but I got all teary watching Clarence.
posted by MtDewd at 7:06 AM on March 11, 2016 [5 favorites]

Thunder Road is like the greatest pop song ever. You ain't a beauty but hey you're alright.

This reminds me of a similar project which was way more ambitious and now out of print but Amazon sells an mp3. Grayfolded. A sound engineer combined a hundred different recordings of Grateful Dead Dark Star.
posted by bukvich at 7:11 AM on March 11, 2016

He's still stipple Meat Loaf to me.
posted by hawthorne at 7:34 AM on March 11, 2016

The opening float of that harmonica line... God. That is the ache, the dream, the longing, the everything. It's just quintessential. Even more than the opening of "Jungleland" (which is also perfect), I adore that sound.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 8:28 AM on March 11, 2016 [4 favorites]

He's still stipple Meat Loaf to me.

That's like saying the Beatles remind you of Oasis.
posted by howfar at 9:10 AM on March 11, 2016 [4 favorites]

To be fair to Jim Steinman he didn't wait 30 years to rip off Bruce.
posted by howfar at 9:12 AM on March 11, 2016

"One of the things I always wanted to do was ... to sing with Bruce Springsteen. So what would happen if you asked? You know, if you said, 'Hello Bruce, it's Melissa.' You know, 'You got a minute? You wanna, maybe?' And he said yes."
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 9:20 AM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

My personal essential Springsteen track:
Resurrection at Monmouth NJ, 4/24/70
posted by morspin at 9:42 AM on March 11, 2016 [5 favorites]

Last night I fell asleep while listening to Nebraska, which is my personal favorite because of its bleakness, but Born in the USA is amazing and I don't agree with it being his weakest. In fact I have a hard time picking a favorite, as Born To Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and Born in the USA were always on play when I was growing up, and I love those albums, but I only first heard Nebraska in my 20's and now at 26 I'm blown away by it. I can see why my parents never put it on as a kid, it's so damn bleak, but I feel like I missed out on a critical Bruce component. Nowadays it's the album my friends and I put on during one of our inevitable week-long binges when we're coming down from drugs and are sad. (That sounds worse than it actually is)
posted by gucci mane at 10:01 AM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

(isn't the line "I know you're HUNGRY for words that I ain't spoken?")
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 1:41 PM on March 11, 2016

he became this megastar who seemed to allow himself to be embraced the Reaganite wave.

If anything the opposite happened. Regan stole the song. Bruce came out spitting nails about it. He went from not really expressing any strong political opinion to hard-core populist and unionist, taking Pete Seeger as his guiding star. Regan's use of Born in the USA changed Bruce forever, but not any way Regan wanted.
posted by bonehead at 2:15 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

I have tickets for Sunday! Thanks metafilter for getting me even more wound up than I was.

And thanks morspin for that amazing Steel Mill song, I can't believe there are less than 500 views.
posted by Duffington at 3:39 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

As a student I used to always sit at the same desk on the sixth floor of the undergraduate library in the stacks. On the flat wooden surface of the desk, etched deeply in pen, was this poem: "The screen door slams Mary's dress sways Like a vision she dances across the porch....". I read it each time and thought "Not bad for an English student".
posted by acrasis at 3:51 PM on March 11, 2016 [3 favorites]

I heard the Tortoise version first, and their rendition is fantastic. Later on — like mannequito — I realised it was a cover, but the Bruce version just felt so bland in comparison. Never been much of a fan though…

My home town goes apeshit whenever he's visiting though… He's coming to Gothenburg this summer and he's giving three concerts in all since the first one sold out in a fraction of a powerchord.
posted by monocultured at 5:06 AM on March 12, 2016 [2 favorites]