s0crates Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 "I'm on Fire" is a really good song. Saw Mumford and Sons perform a cover for an encore at a show a couple years ago: I'm surprised these these two songs haven't gotten more mentions: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky21 Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Ain't no banjos in rock 'n roll son. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PF Chang Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Reading these posts, I feel like I'm missing out. Particularly the ones emphasizing the storytelling, and I'm realizing I'm a very passive listener when it comes to music. That being said, I always really liked "Adam Raised a Cain." From wiki: "In the 2010 documentary The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town, sound mixer Chuck Plotkin described Springsteen's instructions for how the jarring assault of this song should sound next to the more melodic tunes on Darkness. Springsteen told Plotkin to think of a movie showing two lovers having a picnic, when the scene suddenly cuts to a dead body. This song, the singer explained, is that body.[2]" OK then. I should probably stick to passive listening when this is my favorite Springsteen song... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjfootballer Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Well there went my attempt at humor. I will bow out of this thread since I neither know nor care for Springsteen Actually, it wasn't my attempt at humor. It's one Christmas song I like along with Elvis Blue Christmas the Snoopy and Red Baron song and Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmastime, but that's just me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s0crates Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Ain't no banjos in rock 'n roll son.While I think Mumford is better classified as folk than rock, I have to disagree with this sentiment. Banjo is basically a guitar with a snare. Here are some artists who have banjo songs: Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, The Who, the Eagles, and REM. Oh and here's Springstein himself performing the same song on banjo: Anyway, back on topic, here is another of my favorites that hasn't been mentioned much yet: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebluefood Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Really wish I knew more about Springsteen. He's next on my list of artists I need to sit down and really listen to. I remember listening to "Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ" in college and enjoying it, but its been awhile Speaking of that album, I will say that I've always liked his version of "Blinded by the Light" more than the cover. His signature, gritty vocals blended with that raucous, yet laid-back, groove. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan T. Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 I'll confess that I really REALLY like Mary's Place. To me it's his career's bookend to Rosalita. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan T. Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 This is as good a place as any for this... a love letter to Bruce Springsteen, from Jon Stewart at the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elessar78 Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Dancing In The Dark - Has anyone listened to this without all the baggage attached to it? Because, my gosh, it's a great pop song with incredibly dark lyrics. If you slow it down, it could be about a suicide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elessar78 Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 I saw Stars at Black Cat one year and they did a slowed down version Hungry Heart. Haunting. http://www.mp3fil.com/download/stars-hungry-heart-bruce-springsteen-cover.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s0crates Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Since I'm a big Woody Guthrie fan, I'll throw this in for consideration: I think it speak's to Springsteen's authenticity that he plays Guthrie songs. I know he also has covers of "Vigilante Man," "I ain't got no Home," and "Riding in my Car." LKB, Was there any mention of Guthrie's influence in the biography you watched? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 LKB, Was there any mention of Guthrie's influence in the biography you watched? It was a book, not a movie. Guthrie became a big influence later in life. Not early on. The book spends a lot of time looking at Springsteen's psychology, family history, and early years. His mom's family was briefly prominenet until her father - a lawyer - was disbarred and sent to prison. His dad's family is a psychological mess. His dad's sister was hit and killed by a truck in the 20s and his grandparents basically sat in their decaying house and mourned her for the rest of their live. His dad was in WWII, came home, and spent the rest of his life sitting in the kitchen in the dark smoking cigarettes. Bruce's family lived with his paternal grandparents for the first few years of his life and the grandparents spoiled him in a world with no rules - no bedtimes, no bath times, eat whenever and whatever you wanted. His mom eventually pulled the family together, moved out, and had a more conventional life, but he had a pretty odd view on life from the outset because of all this. Anyway, Bruce graduated high school and did a year in community college, but it seemed like he didn't read a book until his 30s. He was anti-war and anti-establishment in a general sense, but his influences were basically the radio and late night movies. An example: His later obsessions with Steinbeck and from that Guthrie came from watching the second half of John Ford's the Grapes of Wrath on tv in the early 70s. He didn't read the book for ten years and apparently didn't watch the first half of the movie for three or four years....but that's the influence. Springsteen's not Dylan. When Dylan got into Guthrie, he changed the way he talked. He changed the way he dressed. He changed the way he sang. He changed the way he wrote. He changed his autobiography. He moves to New York and visisted Guthrie in the hospital. He wrote songs about Guthrie. He met Guthrie's wife - who wanted to give him the lyrics that Billy Bragg eventually turned into Mermaid Ave 40 years later. Any Dylan obsession became all-consuming..... until he would cast if off completely. (Read Chronicles if you haven't). Springsteen wanted to play music for a living. His obsession was his guitar and his notebook filled with song ideas and snippets of lyrics. And his influences were, like I said, the radio. Elvis. The Beatles. James Brown. Dylan. He basically took those sounds, wrote about what he saw around him, and that was it. His songs until the 80s are almost shockingly autobiographical. There really was a Greasy Lake. His girlfirned was mad when she heard Sandy, because she thought he was cheating with a girl named Sandy. The song was actually about the girlfriend - who was also Crazy Jane and Rosalita (her dad really didn't want her dating a rock singer but changed his mind when Springsteen got signed by Columbia). Almost all of Born to Run is based off people or movies. The big change was just tightening the sound from the endless jams of the first two albums. The "Rattlesnake speedway in the Utah desert" line was written during a trip to the Utah desert with a photographer. He would write in vans with the band and just write down names of streets and towns and images he saw....and those became song lyrics. And then he would obsess for two years on the sounds of the songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan T. Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 For all that Woody Guthrie influenced him, Bruce chose instead to honor Guthrie's protégé and friend Pete Seeger with "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions." Though, without knowing much about the history of the Seeger/Guthrie collaboration, I suspect there's a whole lot of musical overlap there. (I got somewhat dragged to seeing the Seeger Sessions Band and Bruce in concert at Nissan Pavilliion. I'd seen Bruce with the E-Street Band several times, but didn't think this side project would be much fun. So I went in with very low expectations, and was blown away by how much of a rollicking good time it was.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky21 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 There really was a Greasy Lake. His girlfirned was mad when she heard Sandy, because she thought he was cheating with a girl named Sandy. The song was actually about the girlfriend - who was also Crazy Jane and Rosalita (her dad really didn't want her dating a rock singer but changed his mind when Springsteen got signed by Columbia). This is really cool. Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 I love the Seeger Session albums. If there's a criticism I have of Bruce it's that he tends to either overplay or overproduce on his albums. (One of the things that makes Human Touch so mediocre is the fact that he is doing this with players who just aren't as good as the E Street Band and it ends up sounding like a Phil Collins record). That Seeger album is as loose as he ever sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Predicto Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 There really was a Greasy Lake. Whoh. Was it a mile down the dark side of Route 88? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimmySmith Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 The River & Promised Land are 2 in my top 5 not mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcsluggo Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Good list LBK. I hate people who pick other people's lists apart but Mary's Place seems like The Springer said I've got this album filled with slow depressing songs; what do I do? So he wrote a cloying, pandering, up tempo song to balance the rest of the material out. Makes me cringe when I hear it. Bang, The Fever is the ****. And he wrote it. I miss that part of Springsteen but I'm afraid it's gone forever. well the dude is like 80 years old... you have to assume the "young rocker" part of him is pretty deeply in remission. I love the Seeger Session albums. If there's a criticism I have of Bruce it's that he tends to either overplay or overproduce on his albums. (One of the things that makes Human Touch so mediocre is the fact that he is doing this with players who just aren't as good as the E Street Band and it ends up sounding like a Phil Collins record). That Seeger album is as loose as he ever sounds. overproduced? really? Springsteen?? my favorite springsteen song is teh one where he sounds like he is singing while sitting on the pot after having eaten nothing but cheeze-sticks for the last 17 days (which is to say ...all of them) ------but really, i like The Bruce fine, and would never ever ever throw him under the bus with Phil Collins ---- Bruce was my wife's all time favorite back when we first met, he was playing in teh background sometimes when we listened to Calvin Coolidge's fireside chats. on the other hand i STILL can't hear Phil Collins without the "flee or die" hairs on the back of my neck pricking up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 Whoh. Was it a mile down the dark side of Route 88? The book is at home, but the story is that the lake was called "Greasy Lake" because it had suntan lotion floating on the top of it during the summer. I can't remember the name, but the author names a specific place. Wikipedia has this for what it's worth: Although Greasy Lake, where the action takes place, is a mythical place, drummer Vini Lopez has stated that it is actually a composite of two locations that band members used to visit. One was Lake Carasaljo, near the intersection of U.S. Route 9 and New Jersey Route 88 in Lakewood, New Jersey. The other was a swampy lake near Garden State Parkway exit 88. By the way, I feel bad for Vini Lopez. He and Federici hired Springsteen to join Steel Mill, and they got as big as a band can get without actually ever signing a record deal. Springsteen decides to go solo, which made sense. When Bruce gets signed, he puts together a backing band with Lopez. They made two records which sold nothing, and toured endlessly - while basically starving to death. Lopez had temper issues; apparently Clarence Clemons ripped a cabinet off a wall and threatend to kill him with it once). He got into huge fight over Springsteen's manager's brother over money. Bruce fires him...and then makes Born to Run. He's basically Pete Best...if Pete Best had spent 7 years touring with the Beatles and beating people up on Paul McCartney's behest. well the dude is like 80 years old... you have to assume the "young rocker" part of him is pretty deeply in remission. overproduced? really? Springsteen?? I love Darnkness on the Edge of Town, but that is a cold cold record. And Born in the USA just screams "It is 1983 and we are having fun!" in parts. It's nothing I can place a finger on, but for as loose and amazing as the band is live, the records can be a smidge cold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Wasn't David Sancious (?) also replaced around the same time as piano player? ~Bang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s0crates Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Thanks for the reply LKB. The connection to Steinbeck makes perfect sense. I've always liked Springsteen, but I didn't realize just how much of this kind of thing he does (collabs w/ Pete Seeger, etc.). You've inspired me to look into Springsteen's connection to folk music roots. This is from wiki . . . "The Ghost of Tom Joad" is a song by Bruce Springsteen. It is the title track to his eleventh studio album, released in 1995. The character Tom Joad, from John Steinbeck's classic 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, is mentioned in the title and narrative. Originally a quiet folk song, "The Ghost of Tom Joad" has also been recorded by Rage Against the Machine. Springsteen himself has performed the song in a variety of arrangements, including with the E Street Band, and a live recording featuring Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello as guest. In 2013, Springsteen subsequently re-recorded the track with Morello for his eighteenth studio album, High Hopes (2014). Besides The Grapes of Wrath, the song also takes inspiration from "The Ballad of Tom Joad" by Woody Guthrie, which in turn was inspired by John Ford's film adaptation of Steinbeck's novel. Springsteen had in fact read the book, watched the film, and listened to the song, before writing "The Ghost of Tom Joad",[2] and the result was viewed as being true to Guthrie's tradition.[2] Springsteen identified with 1930s-style social activism, and sought to give voice to the invisible and unheard, the destitute and the disenfranchised.[3] His use of characterization was similarly influenced by Steinbeck and Ford.[3] However, like the rest of the album, "The Ghost of Tom Joad" is set in the early-to-mid-1990s, with contemporary times being likened to Dust Bowl images:[4] Men walkin' 'long the railroad tracks, Goin' someplace, there's no goin' back. Highway patrol choppers comin' up over the ridge — Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge. President George H. W. Bush's New world order gains ironic mention,[4] as is the contemporary demographic migration to the Southwest United States. The chorus makes clear the titular allusion: The highway is alive tonight — But where it's headed, everybody knows. I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light Waitin' on the ghost of Tom Joad. The third verse is the most direct link to The Grapes of Wrath, being an extensive paraphrase of Tom Joad's famous "Wherever there's a ..." speech. Here are Guthrie and Springsteen's Tom Joad songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4gra-OuONI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 Wasn't David Sancious (?) also replaced around the same time as piano player? ~Bang He left on his own because he got a record deal. I think people saw him as the next Billy Preston which never really panned out. But from what I can tell, he's been an in-demand sessions and touring guy in LA for 40 years. Vini Lopez seems to have never left Jersey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 Thanks for the reply LKB. The connection to Steinbeck makes perfect sense. I've always liked Springsteen, but I didn't realize just how much of this kind of thing he does (collabs w/ Pete Seeger, etc.). You've inspired me to look into Springsteen's connection to folk music roots. This is from wiki . . . The Tom Joad record is based on the movie, I think. I actually saw Bruce on that tour (which was a miracle because he was playing 2,000 seat theatres). He opened with the Guthrie Tom Joad song and then went into his. If you really want to get deep into this, look up Bruce's keynote speech as SXSW a few years back. He talks about Guthrie a lot. At the end of his and the band's set, they did a sing-a-long with a bunch of other performers of This Land is Your Land. Tom Morello crowd-surfed during it, because of course he did. This is amusing. My dad is not a huge Springsteen fan, but he'll listen to him and has been to one or two concerts. He saw some concert with Springsteen and Morello on tv and is now - at 70 - a Rage Against the Machine fan. When he and his geezer friends talk music, he'll try to convince them that Morello is better than Hendrix or Clapton or Santana much to the horror of senior citizen men drinking coffee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 One more thing: the book goes into detail about all the Springsteen nicknames - Southside Johnny, Phantom Dan, etc. It's really weird how everyone agress that young Springsteen was this weird, moody dude with the eating habits of a 9 year old....but that everyone was drawn to him and knew that if any of them made it, it would be him. And it seems like everyone thought he was going to make it big as some kind of guitar god. Which is weird, because he almost never has guitar solos on his albums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s0crates Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 The Tom Joad record is based on the movie, I think. I actually saw Bruce on that tour (which was a miracle because he was playing 2,000 seat theatres). He opened with the Guthrie Tom Joad song and then went into his. If you really want to get deep into this, look up Bruce's keynote speech as SXSW a few years back. He talks about Guthrie a lot. At the end of his and the band's set, they did a sing-a-long with a bunch of other performers of This Land is Your Land. Tom Morello crowd-surfed during it, because of course he did. This is amusing. My dad is not a huge Springsteen fan, but he'll listen to him and has been to one or two concerts. He saw some concert with Springsteen and Morello on tv and is now - at 70 - a Rage Against the Machine fan. When he and his geezer friends talk music, he'll try to convince them that Morello is better than Hendrix or Clapton or Santana much to the horror of senior citizen men drinking coffee. Watched the speech. It was interesting. Thanks for that. Now I'm on a Tom Morello kick. The Nigh****chman stuff is really good. Maybe your pops has a point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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