Last week, I refreshed my favorites feed on the Stitcher App to discover a new episode of “The Big Picture,” one of the many podcasts from The Ringer that I subscribe to. The Episode title read ‘Top 5 Springsteen Songs,’ and immediately I knew I was going to listen to it. The topic struck me as odd though, why is a show that follows current and upcoming movies taking time to discuss their favorite songs from a 69 year old musician?
Well, maybe you are smarter than me and already knew about the recently released film Blinded by The Light from director Gurinder Chadha. I however, was unaware this movie was even being made let alone had been released. The film is an adaptation of the memoir Greetings From Bury Park by Sarfraz Manzoor, an incredibly dedicated Springsteen fan who has seen The Boss in concert more than 150 times (not a typo). The movie does not depict Sarfraz traveling around the world in concert venues, but instead tells the story of a Pakistani-British teenager named Javed in a small town outside of London. The flick is mostly a coming of age story centered around a young man struggling to balance his own dreams and his families wishes. It is, to say the least, a heart warmer. And like Sarfraz in real life, Javed falls in love with Bruce Springsteen’s music. A large portion of the film depicts how the music and its lyrics mold his newly developing approach towards life. I’m not going to critically review Blinded by the Light for you because that would be boring and I’m not a film critic, but I definitely recommend the movie. What I would like to transition to is a bit about how Bruce Springsteen’s music grew to mean something special to me.
Like most 24 year olds in this country, I am not a life long Bruce Springsteen fan. His first album was released in 1973, 22 years before I was born. It’s safe to say his music was not apart of any top 40 lists during my formative years. And even though I grew up with parents who played their favorite music around the house constantly, Springsteen was not an artist they had on often. (My love for Tom Petty is entirely their fault but that is a story for another time). Based simply on my dad’s affinity for classic rock stations, I knew some of the big hitters from Bruce but nothing beyond that.
If you knew me well during my time at Midland University, you knew I spent (way too much) time studying. Along the way I developed a habit of picking an album and listening from start to finish. Perhaps out of curiosity or maybe just being lost on YouTube, I eventually picked some of Bruce Springsteen’s albums. It did not take long for me to realize that 1) the guy has a ton of good songs and 2) his lyrics are incredible.
Now here’s the fun part where I talk about why I love Bruce’s music so much, what it means to me, and my favorite songs. A lot of Springsteen’s songs pan to his upbringing of humble beginnings in industrial New Jersey and a desire to escape to something greater. To be transparent, I grew up happily in a small town surrounded by cornfields with comfortably middle class parents. There was nothing that I needed to “escape” from. But in so many of his songs, Springsteen writes a description of somebody who just wants more for his or herself. And that more he sings of is not money or fame or really anything material. It’s more wholesome than that. It’s an aspiration for more in a gritty, salt of the earth sense. He is always rooting for the underdog, a person struggling that wants to make it big. And I think that is a situation that nearly everyone can relate to. For me then, I was a biology major unsure of what I wanted to do with my degree after college. But I knew I had to make it, whatever that ambiguous concept meant, I knew I wanted to do something meaningful. I chose to go to graduate school. And for me now, Bruce’s music still serves a similar purpose. Sure, I’d like to think I’m not as naive as I was when I was 20 and first paid attention to the lyrics of Dancing in the Dark. But as a student squarely in the middle of his PhD work, I have a frequent sense of fear and uncertainty towards what comes next after graduate school. And on the days where it seems a little dreary, it’s easy to thrown on some Springsteen and think about being something more than I am today. Although I don’t know what the manifestation of that feeling will be, I believe my desire will lead me to it someday.
To be comprehensive I must mention that Bruce also writes a lot of awesome love songs. Some real poetic stuff. He often includes the name of the girl in the song, which is a touch I alway appreciate. But to spare anyone who is still reading this (thanks if you are) I will save the sappy details of my feelings towards those lyrics. In one line, his strongest message is if you want her then go get her. And that’s a good one, I think.
Everyone loves a top whatever list so to finish up I am going to rank my 7 favorite songs from “The Boss”.
Honorable Mentions in no particular order:
- Hungry Heart
- The Promised Land
- Darkness on the Edge of Town
- Atlantic City
- 10th Avenue Freeze Out
The Favorites:
- Dancing In the Dark
- Thunder Road
- Badlands
- Born to Run
- Born In the U.S.A.
- Prove It All Night
- I’m On Fire
So the favorites/honorable mentions list is comprised almost entirely of songs from albums between Born To Run (1975) and Born in the U.S.A. (1984). To me, this is when he best blends his rock influences and graveled voice with the classical instruments that make his music so unique. Astoundingly he is still making music today- his latest album Western Stars (2019) has a song or two that I enjoy. A few years ago he had a concert in Kansas City that I came this close to making the trip for but for an excuse I can’t recall I ended up missing out. In his heyday his concerts were legendarily long, and seeing him live is definitely on my music bucket list even if he gets on the other side of 70. I imagine there won’t be many people in their 20s around. For now I will throw on some Bruce when I need it, and try to convert as many friends to see in his music what means most to me.
The 520 Wire 