Love "Cadillac Ranch." Don't remember if I voted for "Out in the Street," but love it live.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 28 February 2013 17:55 (eleven years ago) link
Crap, I wonder if I voted for "The Ties That Bind?"
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 28 February 2013 17:56 (eleven years ago) link
I did. Love that song. Bruce plays an electric guitar that isn't a Telecaster!http://archives.rickresource.com/oldattachments/114050.jpg
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Thursday, 28 February 2013 17:57 (eleven years ago) link
What the hell? Doctored.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 28 February 2013 18:01 (eleven years ago) link
this exists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZtOVm11d2Y
― This is called money bags. (zachlyon), Thursday, 28 February 2013 18:03 (eleven years ago) link
i first heard out in the street around the time i was getting obsessed with pop linguistics so in my mind it's always been primarily a descriptivist anthem
― This is called money bags. (zachlyon), Thursday, 28 February 2013 18:05 (eleven years ago) link
His only Bo Diddley beat?
see also: "ain't got you"
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 28 February 2013 18:28 (eleven years ago) link
"the rising" is the only 9/11 song i've truly loved. it doesn't sound forced or self-consciously noble to me. it sounds like a moment of grace pulled out of the collective ghost of a memory. i love how he starts right in on it without warning -- how many other springsteen songs have no introduction? -- and how you don't really know where the song's going until the slow build of that first chorus. i love how the casually awkward phrasing of a bunch of lines ("on my back's a 60 pound stone," "i can't feel nothing' but this chain that binds me," etc.), makes it sound raw and hurried even though it's obviously a carefully crafted song. i love the gospelly harmonies, which are about as good as e street ever got on that front. i love the insistently repeated "dream of life."
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 28 February 2013 18:48 (eleven years ago) link
The problem I have with some of the throwaway tracks from The River is he had so many great songs recorded for that record. How in the world could he leave Loose Ends off? That's one of the best things he ever wrote.
― kornrulez6969, Thursday, 28 February 2013 19:20 (eleven years ago) link
is any other major artist as obsessed with both album sequencing and setlist planning as springsteen is?
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 28 February 2013 19:31 (eleven years ago) link
PRINCE
― inste grammophon (rogermexico.), Thursday, 28 February 2013 19:32 (eleven years ago) link
also otm re "the rising" and thanks. i really struggle to articulate what it is about that song, maybe bc it's the inverse of a "blinded by the light" -- overstuffed with thoughts ideas and images not bc there are too damn many words but bc each one sits at the intersection of at least four interpretive planes. in the strangest way, "the rising" strikes me as a companion piece for "nebraska." not eros but agape against thanatos... just a kindness in this world.
― inste grammophon (rogermexico.), Thursday, 28 February 2013 19:39 (eleven years ago) link
I think "The Rising" is great, and for anyone doubting it or second-guessing, I give you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpOwePJdzO0
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 28 February 2013 19:49 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6Mfq7z_vHc
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 28 February 2013 19:52 (eleven years ago) link
Other people writing utterly shitty 9/11 songs doesn't excuse Bruce from writing a slightly less shitty one.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 28 February 2013 19:58 (eleven years ago) link
But his is muuuuuuuuuuch less shitty I hesitate to even call it shitty. This is shitty:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAxm_GSM7L4
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 28 February 2013 20:06 (eleven years ago) link
(Even this one I don't mind, but boy is it shitty)
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 28 February 2013 20:07 (eleven years ago) link
the most puzzling thing about "sunny day" is how he's played it in nearly every show he's done for the past decade.
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 28 February 2013 20:13 (eleven years ago) link
Yes. That could not be more OTM. That would easily be my vote for worst Bruce song, and it looks like its here to stay,
― kornrulez6969, Thursday, 28 February 2013 20:19 (eleven years ago) link
oh that's a pile, for sure. Though I remember reading somewhere that it predates 9/11 by several years, even if it wasn't cut for a record until The Rising.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 28 February 2013 20:21 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, even in concert last year "Sunny Day" was a dead spot.
"Out in the Street" was a big favorite of mine as a teenage Bruce fan. The swagger, the fist-pumping whoa-oh-oh-ohs, the big intro. It's like a boy's fantasy of blue-collar masculinity. I still like it, but it all feels a little Miller Time to me. (Also, it's the Bruce song that sounds most like a Bon Jovi song -- "Livin' on a Prayer" is practically a remake.)
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 28 February 2013 20:33 (eleven years ago) link
Nowadays he invites little kids on stage to warble "Sunny Day!"
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 28 February 2013 21:38 (eleven years ago) link
PUNK ROCK TIME DONE. weirdly i met a girl at the show who told me she was considering getting the word BROOOCE tattooedon her arm. I recommended it.
35. It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City from Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (1973)136 points, 6 votes including one for the Live 1975-1985 version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9aklSlMthc
― Jamie_ATP, Friday, 1 March 2013 00:57 (eleven years ago) link
34. Fire from Live/1975-85 (1986, version included on this compilation was recorded in 1978)141 points, 7 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aigihAJk1eE
― Jamie_ATP, Friday, 1 March 2013 01:00 (eleven years ago) link
yes and YESSSSSS
― This is called money bags. (zachlyon), Friday, 1 March 2013 01:01 (eleven years ago) link
i'm drivin in my cari turn on the radio
(don't know why but i'm ok with 'fire' just ending there, everything else is cherries)
― This is called money bags. (zachlyon), Friday, 1 March 2013 01:02 (eleven years ago) link
still prefer the Pointer Sisters version but this is fine.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 1 March 2013 01:09 (eleven years ago) link
33. Growin Up from Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (1973)149 points, 8 votes inc two votes for the version from live 1975-85
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBOMXBbQnw4
― Jamie_ATP, Friday, 1 March 2013 01:33 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, I was one of the votes for "Fire," specifically that version although the one on The Promise ain't half bad.
― ARE YOU HIRING A NANNY OR A SHAMAN (Phil D.), Friday, 1 March 2013 01:59 (eleven years ago) link
big fan of the Tracks version of "Growin' Up." actually all the early versions of Greetings songs on there.
― steeny HOOSer (some dude), Friday, 1 March 2013 02:08 (eleven years ago) link
tooooooooooooooootally -- that's my favorite version of a lot of those songs. i'm not sure i'd even really like them otherwise?
― and that sounds like a gong-concert (La Lechera), Friday, 1 March 2013 02:12 (eleven years ago) link
just hit me how much '70s bruce looks like pacino
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Friday, 1 March 2013 02:17 (eleven years ago) link
32. Nebraska from Nebraska (1982)153 points, 7 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPQVKzDCY4c
― Jamie_ATP, Friday, 1 March 2013 02:19 (eleven years ago) link
my first TOO LOW
― inste grammophon (rogermexico.), Friday, 1 March 2013 02:20 (eleven years ago) link
I sometimes get the idea that David Krumholtz has his agent waiting by the phone for Hollywood to announce a Bruce biopic.
http://handson.provocateuse.com/images/photos/david_krumholtz_02.jpg
― ARE YOU HIRING A NANNY OR A SHAMAN (Phil D.), Friday, 1 March 2013 02:20 (eleven years ago) link
31. The Ties That Bind from The River (1980)157 points, 8 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlXuzJYPwIs
― Jamie_ATP, Friday, 1 March 2013 02:20 (eleven years ago) link
^^Bruce beating Tom Petty at his own game.
― Vol. 3: The Life & Times of E. "Boom" Carter (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 1 March 2013 02:22 (eleven years ago) link
That's it for today, other than this picture of my dad in the 70s totally rocking it Bruce style
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/68300_10152213856540367_531386221_n.jpg
― Jamie_ATP, Friday, 1 March 2013 02:22 (eleven years ago) link
Fire is so good, sooooo good!
even if Mr Veg always sings it as Robin Williams/Elmer Fudd :/
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 1 March 2013 02:54 (eleven years ago) link
The Ties That Bind was in my top 10. It's absolutely perfect, with one of his best vocals, and lyrics. "We're running now but darling we will stand in time..." still gets me and I've heard it a trillion times.
The definitive version of Saint In The City is his COlumbia records demo on the Tracks box. It's a staggering display of talent.
― kornrulez6969, Friday, 1 March 2013 03:04 (eleven years ago) link
Nice run of tunes tonight. Can't argue with the awesomeness of any of these.
― EZ Snappin, Friday, 1 March 2013 03:05 (eleven years ago) link
Oh and Growin' Up. Love the way he plays with the "When they said sit down/come down" etc refrain
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 1 March 2013 03:11 (eleven years ago) link
Can't argue with the awesomeness of any of these.
otm. "Nebraska" was the only one I voted for, but "Fire," "Ties," and "Growin Up" were all on my long list. But "Nebraska," that song stands alone even on that album. It's like a black hole in the middle of a black hole. With a little wry smile, somehow. Everything about it is perverse and unapologetic.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Friday, 1 March 2013 03:38 (eleven years ago) link
I made room for "Ties", "Fire", and "Saint". Cutting "Nebraska" was brutal but I wasn't afraid of it missing the countdown.
― EZ Snappin, Friday, 1 March 2013 03:43 (eleven years ago) link
the darkness cover makes that very clear.
― fact checking cuz, Friday, 1 March 2013 04:14 (eleven years ago) link
the line that kills me in the murder ballad/love song "nebraska" is the one about how he wants his girl sitting on his lap when the state electrocutes him. is it because he loves her or because he thinks she deserves to be zapped too, or maybe both? no matter. in it's chilling matter-of-factness, it reminds me of bo diddley's fantastic "dearest darling," in which bo promises his beloved that if he should die before she does, he will reach back from the great beyone and take her with him.
― fact checking cuz, Friday, 1 March 2013 04:21 (eleven years ago) link
the great beyond, that is.
― fact checking cuz, Friday, 1 March 2013 04:31 (eleven years ago) link
Wow, never made that "Dearest Darling"/"Nebraska" connection before; love that Bo song.
"Growin' Up" and "Saint" are two songs that I nearly-dislike as studio recordings, but love on Live. And "Ties" was in my top 10.
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Friday, 1 March 2013 04:40 (eleven years ago) link
I love this solo version of Growin' Up from 1972
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dy7RTicVr0
― that's not my post, Friday, 1 March 2013 05:57 (eleven years ago) link