How about some Friday music? I’m not as huge a fan of The Boss as many, but this one song from 1980, which he wrote and performed, is enough to make me an admirer. (I also love “Blinded by the Light”.)
The opening chords (including the introductory drumroll) are simply fantastic, and I also like the the lyrics: a guy leaves his wife and family because he’s dissatisfied, but is still hungering for love. It’s not a happy message, but one that rings true. The first verse is great:
Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, JackI went out for a ride and I never went back;Like a river that don’t know where it’s flowingI took a wrong turn and I just kept going
According to Wikipedia, “Hungry Heart” reached #5 on the Billboard charts in 1980, but was later voted “Song of the Year” in a Rolling Stone readers’ poll. Wikipedia adds this:
John Lennon, on the day of his murder in December 1980, said he thought “Hungry Heart” was “a great record” and even compared it to his single “(Just Like) Starting Over“, which was actually released three days after “Hungry Heart”.
Here’s the best “live” performance I can find, though it may well be lip synched; the original recording is here.
Yep – a playlist standard of mine.
His band has a 50s style to it – but always signature.. sometimes a Phil Spector sound…
Example : the vibes on Born To Run have a certain fit…
Stands the test of time.
Back in the days when Springsteen’s music was just getting rolling (in other words, more playtime for his work on the K.C., MO. area airwaves), I would tend to mock his “gruntsongs” like “Born to Run” (” whoa-uahhh whoa. Hoauhnhh-uhuh – Whoa -uht-uht Whoa uh whooaaa, hmmmm uh hummm, etc., “) and many of my friends and co-workers would agree that by our “standards” he ( The Boss) was no Beatles, Rolling Stones, Zeppelin & others of that genre. Fast forward a few months, we learn he is featured on the covers of TWO major magazines (Time & Newsweek(?) I think) and our reaction was “Huh? Really? Why?” Fast forward about a year and we all could sing along with virtually every E Street Band song we heard ( not verbatim, of course).
The “gruntsong” dismissal is something that hasn’t changed for me at all.
If you are a VERY keen Bruce fan, unlike Jerry, his songs are central to a movie “Blinded by the Light.” A take on generational issues for south Asians in UK like “Bend it Like Beckham.”
Yes! When I was a student, I played this every time I approached my highway exit after a very long drive. Wonderful song!
The opening drum sequence is a Motown drum fill. Classic Funk Brothers and used a lot in the 60’s.
I contemplate a riposte song by the abandoned wife and children. (“We Will Survive”? Re: Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue”)
Darkness on the Edge of Town was the only Springsteen album that did anything for me.
This post makes me feel wistful. I was crazy about Bruce and the band, and they were on top of the world during my peak music-listening days. He is still going strong, but some of the E Street band members are gone, and the sense of time passing really hits me when I hear their 70s and 80s songs.
Sprinsteen was never as big in the UK, so I had little exposure to him. Later in Canada, I found a cover of Dancing in the Dark by the excellent Ruth Moody. I ended up buying all her recordings and those of the Wailin’ Jennys too (she was a member).