Who was “Blinded By the Light”?
Guess who wrote it? It was his first single, and it didn’t do well:
The cover is better and extremely different, but it’s the same old song (with a different meaning since you’ve been gone). And no, they’re not wrapped up like a douche:
He also wrote and recorded ‘Fire’ which became a huge hit for the Pointer Sisters.
Bruce Stringbean, isn’t he gone yet? Gory Days indeed. The internet being forever may not turn out to be a good thing after all.
I’m sorry, it sure sounds like “douche” to me and always has. But who should I believe? You or my lying ears? The lyrics may read differently but my ears say otherwise.
That’s from Springsteen’s charming first album, “Greetings from Asbury Park.” I’ll take his version of “Blinded” over Manfred Mann’s any day of the week, month or leap year. Perhaps it’s a matter of hearing Springsteen’s version in the context of the whole album.
I always heard it as “deuce.” It doesn’t sound like “douche” to me and that word doesn’t fit the comic swagger of the lyrics at all.
Love him or hate him — I’ve done both — Springsteen is one of the most talented songwriters of the past several decades. He co-wrote the hit “Because the Night” which rejuvenated Patti Smith’s career plus “Jennie Needs a Shooter” which became a perfect Warren Zevon song.
PS I do give Manfred Mann credit for their immortal cover of “Doo-Wah-Diddy”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc0x7xOap4I
Springsteen at his rock ‘n roll best. The Big Man gets a solo, too. Im’ Goin’ Down
Hey – Boppa! Be-bop – Boppa!
Out of curiosity, I looked up the lyrics to confirm and then listened to the song repeatedly.
To my ears it sounds like the singer, Chris Thompson varied the words from line to line. Exchanging revved and wrapped. Duece and douche. The word duece is short and ‘singular’. To my ears, Thompson definitely puts a drawn out “duo-che” on the word a number of times but switches back and forth in his pronunciation. I suspect that was intentional and a joke. At least, that’s what it sounds like to me.
Geoffrey Britain:
It didn’t occur to me we were discussing the song’s cover version. I assumed that if one wanted to know the real lyric one would attend to the song as its author sang it.
Manfred Mann had several bands under his name and quite a few musicians played under his banner over the years — including Jack Bruce, the vocalist and bass player for Cream, and Klaus Voorman, the Beatles’ Hamburg friend who created the Revolver cover and played with one of John Lennon’s bands after the Beatles split up.
Springsteen has always left me cold. Just seems so depressing even the songs that aren’t supposed to be. Then he became such a scold after BIUSA was such a huge hit. I can overlook someone’s politics if I like their music but if you go 0/2 then I’m out.
Griffin:
The fun Springsteen was mostly in the first three albums before he got all serious with “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” though I take your point there was always a certain amount of sadness even early.
Then came the utter bleakness of “Nebraska,” which tried this fan’s soul. The last Springsteen album I cared about was “Lucky Town” (1992). He had screwed up his first marriage, been chastened and was appreciating the little things.
“Local Hero” from that album is a sly, self-deprecating song about finding a black velvet painting of himself for sale in a New Jersey store.
________________________________________
I was driving through my hometown
I was just kinda killin’ time
When I seen a face staring out of a black velvet painting
From the window of the five and dime
I couldn’t quite recall the name
But the pose looked familiar to me
So I asked the salesgirl “Who was that man
Between the doberman and Bruce Lee?”
She said “Just a local hero”
“Local hero” she said with a smile
“Yeah a local hero he used to live here for a while”
–Bruce Springsteen, “Local Hero”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BExTE1vDhxs
Yeah you may be right I kind of like ‘Rosalita’ and ‘Thunder Road’. Nothing I ever seek out but if I hear them they are kind of interesting.
Same thing happened to John Mellencamp. There is the overly serious thing that some of these people get into and it’s hard to do that without getting all preachy.
Griffin:
Now we have Springsteen partying with Oprah, Obama and Tom Hanks on Dave Geffen’s half-a-billion superyacht.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4416814/Barack-Michelle-Obama-pose-superyacht-Tahiti.html
And somehow Springsteen imagines he speaks for working Americans and the Joads from “Grapes of Wrath.”
His version sounds odd if you first heard the other one several hundred times on the radio like I did, but in the context of that album and his other early songs it does sound right.
On that same album “Spirit in the Night” is the far better song. Great groove, the kind of song he was really good at creating.
Jeff+Brokaw:
Yes! “Spirit in the Night” is the stand-out song on “Greetings from Asbury Park.” Manfred Mann went to the well again and covered it after “Blinded by the Light.”
____________________________________
Crazy Janey and her mission man were back in the alley tradin’ hands
‘long came Wild Billy with his friend G-man all duded up for Saturday night
Well Billy slammed on his coaster brakes and said anybody wanna go on up to Greasy Lake
It’s about a mile down on the dark side of route eighty-eight
I got a bottle of rose so let’s try it
We’ll pick up Hazy Davy and Killer Joe and I’ll take you all out to where the gypsy angels go
They’re built like light
and they dance like spirits in the night (all night) in the night (all night)
Oh, you don’t know what they can do to you
Spirits in the night (all night), in the night (all night)
Stand right up now and let it shoot through you
–Bruce Springsteen, “Spirit in the Night”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3quyLpUuhk
____________________________________
What a great story and cast of characters. I love the wild, young, too-much-to-say so it all bursts out. (Plus the Crazy Jane steal from Yeats.)
“Well, Billy slammed on his coaster brakes” kills me.
I missed that after Springsteen got serious.
I generally like that kind of story telling songwriting but something about Springsteen’s delivery just doesn’t do it for me. From that same era Billy Joel had some amazing songs like ‘Captain Jack’ and ‘Angry Young Man’ and I love Gordon Lightfoot who has some amazing story songs. Springsteen just isn’t my kind of music I guess.
I can hear both “Douche” and “Deuce”, with the former stronger, but all you have to do is know the meaning of “Deuce Coupe”, to know what it actually is.
@Griffin – for my money Gordon Lightfoot is the single most underrated great artist of the rock/pop era.
Folks who have Spotify, listen to “This is Gordon Lightfoot” on headphones while you are out walking or doing chores sometime. Listen on good headphones.
You will be amazed at the quality of the band, the songwriting, and the overall craftsmanship. He’s a true legend. His U.S. hits are far from his best work.
Griffin:
S’okay!
I just love the early Springsteen music which I consider overlooked. I can still listen to it, though I rather despise how seriously he takes himself and his politics without self-reflection. IMO “Born in the USA” was a disaster for him as an artist.
BTW, have you ever noticed the bad rap Billy Joel gets? I’m not the biggest fan, but he has done some great songs. I’m still boggled by this hate rant from a writer I used to like:
–Ron Rosenbaum, “The Worst Pop Singer Ever: Why, exactly, is Billy Joel so bad?”
https://slate.com/human-interest/2009/01/the-awfulness-of-billy-joel-explained.html
It’s from 2009 and Rosenbaum’s piece still gets indignant comments from Joel fans.
Jeff Brokaw,
I agree about Lightfoot. I have ‘Gord’s Gold’ on vinyl and it is awesome. His ‘Song For A Winter’s Night’ is one of my favorite songs of all time. Every time I hear it I feel transported to a snow bound cabin somewhere in Canada. Great stuff.
huxley,
I think Billy Joel has more great album cuts than almost any highly successful artist (non Beatles flight). ‘The Ballad Of Billy The Kid’, ‘Captain Jack’, ‘Prelude/Angry Young Man’, ‘Miami 2017’, ‘New York State Of Mind’, ‘Scenes From An Italian Restaurant’, ‘The Stranger’, ‘Stilleto’, ‘Leningrad’, ‘Shameless’ are all non singles and they are all good to great songs.
I think the 80s ‘Uptown Girl’ type stuff is what leads many people to dislike him because that early stuff is really good.
First 3 Springsteen albums were the best. And this is my favorite selection although I love them all: https://youtu.be/fEQENfRoBgw
I have always thought Greetings from Asbury Park was his best album.
“Show a little faith
There’s magic in the night
You ain’t a beauty
But hey you’re all right
And that’s all right tonight…”
The guy annoys me but that’s great stuff.
Think of it as a Country song.
I grew up (sort of) with Bruce S.’s music in the 80s and really respected his talent. His later leftist politicking destroyed that respect. Thanks, Bruce, you are dead to me now.
I was never that impressed with Springsteen. The “man of the people” who was connected enough to make the covers of Time and Newsweek before he even had a hit record.
“Well Billy slammed on his coaster brakes and said anybody wanna go on up to Greasy Lake
It’s about a mile down on the dark side of route eighty-eight”
That’s about a mile from my house!! I’m a Wendy….but not a Bruce fan at all….People can’t believe a Jersey girl doesn’t like the so called Boss.
That’s about a mile from my house!!
wendybar:
That’s hilarious! I assumed Greasy Lake was as mythical as friends named Hazy Davy and Killer Joe.
I was never that impressed with Springsteen. The “man of the people” who was connected enough to make the covers of Time and Newsweek before he even had a hit record.
FOAF:
Springsteen wasn’t connected at the point. He was only a band iteration away from being “Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom” playing good-time boogie music a few years before:
–Southside Shuffle – Dr Zoom and the Sonic Boom (Bruce Springsteen)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjI091w6S5o
The double magazine cover happened because of a slow news cycle and the media’s desperate quest for the “New Dylan.” I think Springsteen was about the third “New Dylan” at the time.
Dylan practically gnawed his leg off trying to get out of the trap of being “Original Dylan and the Voice of His Generation.” Springsteen could have learned a thing or two from Bob.
Right. But “came by in his curly-wurly” always sounded like “gave my anus curly-wurly” to me. Anuses and douches. Hmm.
You’re also right about Manfred Mann’s cover. Way better. Saw them perform it live at Winterland in San Francisco back in ‘76. Great show,
Geez. There’s no lack of sexual imagery in “Blinded By the Light” without making stuff up.
______________________________
Madman drummers bummers and Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
______________________________
Manfred Mann did change some of the lyrics for no good reason I can tell, and if they made other lyrics suggestive intentionally or by sloppy singing, so much the worse for them.
Springsteen never recorded another song with such dense, over-the-top lyrics. I hear “Blinded” as a comic, muscle-flexing song. The man could write, which is more than Manfred Mann could ever claim or Mann’s reputation would be based on more than covers.
Teenager in late 70s from PA and never liked a thing about Bruce.
It’d be an interesting poll to compare how many people can’t stand Springsteen vs how many can’t stand the BeeGees.
I’ve always liked him pretty well without being a huge fan. I have “The River” on a number of playlists and always enjoy it. “Pink Cadillac” is good, too, as is “I’m on Fire.” (Not the same as “Fire,” also a really good song.) His voice appeals to me.
huxley, bar bands don’t get national news coverage just because of a “slow news cycle”.
FOAF:
Springsteen’s was more than a bar band — already two albums out — and less than the “connected” fellow who had Time and Newsweek sucking up to him as you claim.
Rolling Stone was already paying generous attention to his second album:
__________________________________
Springsteen is growing as a writer of music as well as of words. The best of his new songs dart and swoop from tempo to tempo and from genre to genre, from hell-bent-for-leather rock to luscious schmaltz to what is almost recitative. There is an occasional weak spot or an awkward transition, but for the most part it works spectacularly, and nowhere to more dramatic effect than on “Incident on 57th Street,” the album’s most stunning track, a virtual mini-opera about Johnny, a “romantic young boy” torn between Jane and the bright knives out on the street. Springsteen never resolves the conflict (if he ever does his music will probably become less interesting). Instead he milks it for all it’s worth, wrapping up all the song’s movements and juxtapositions with his unabashedly melodramatic and loonily sotted Sloppy Joe voice.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/the-wild-the-innocent-the-e-street-shuffle-247900/
________________________________
Bar bands don’t get that kind of coverage.
The Time/Newsweek articles came out the same week “Born to Run” (Springsteen’s breakthrough album) went Gold in a few weeks. It was obvious Springsteen was a comer and had arrived. He earned it.
BTW the articles weren’t entirely flattering either. I recall the “slow news cycle” angle from a bio I read of Springsteen long ago.
_____________________________________________
The album’s release was accompanied by a $250,000 promotional campaign by Columbia, directed at both consumers and the music industry, making good use of Landau’s “I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen” quote. With much publicity, Born to Run vaulted into the top 10 in its second week on the charts and soon went Gold. Time and Newsweek magazines put Springsteen on the cover in the same week (October 27, 1975) – in Time, Jay Cocks praised Springsteen, while the Newsweek article took a cynical look at the “next Dylan” hype that haunted Springsteen until his breakthrough. The question of hype became a story in itself, as critics began wondering if Springsteen was for real or the product of record company promotion.[13][14]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_to_Run
_____________________________________________
A year later Manfred Mann jumped on Springsteen’s bandwagon with “Blinded” then a year after that with a cover of Springsteen’s “Spirit in the Night.”
huxley:
Such a poll might be interesting as a measure of people’s perceptions, but it would be far more interesting (in my opinion) to poll only people who were familiar with a representative and large sample of both Springsteen’s and the Bee Gees’ work. Actually, it would be even more interesting to poll people before and after that sort of exposure and to measure their changes in perception.
Nobody’s ever going to do that poll, as far as I can see. But I’d find it interesting. For example, in my case, I had zero interest in and very little attraction to the Bee Gees’ music until a couple of months ago. Not only that, but I thought I was quite familiar with it from the Saturday Night Fever days. Turns out I was unfamiliar with the enormous variety of their work and their voices, and my opinion did a 180 once I became familiar with that. Obviously, that isn’t going to happen to everyone or maybe even a high percentage of people, but I do see a lot of YouTube comments from people who say something very much like this: “I am 60 years old and until recently I couldn’t stand them but now I love them.”
Perhaps this would be true of Springsteen’s work, too – that there is a certain percentage of people who know just a few of his songs but if they knew more of his work they’d like him better? I have no idea.
Huxley,
I get not liking Billy Joel, but a critic saying he’s “bad” is more a reflection upon the observer than his target. Joel is far and away a better singer, songwriter, musician, and artist than Springsteen, and I say this as someone who merely likes Joel.
My teenage years being confined purely to the 80s, I never understood the attraction to Springsteen. Still don’t. No vocal talent and his subject material seems overtly designed for the “working class” in the most repetitive, transparent ways possible.
Though I was never a BeeGees fan back in the day, they were at least listenable. These days I can really dig ’em.
huxley:
I guess I should add that I’ve never liked Springsteen. Don’t have strong feelings about him either way, though (except for his politics, which I only learned about recently). His voice just is of no interest to me. Some of his songs are pretty good – like this one, “Fire,” and a few others – but I don’t like them when he sings them.
I forgot about ‘Pink Cadillac’.
So Springsteen wrote:
‘Blinded By The Light’ Manfred Mann #1 in 1976
‘Because The Night’ Patti Smith #13 in 1978
‘Fire’ Pointer Sisters #2 in 1978
‘Pink Cadillac’ Natalie Cole #5 in 1988
and then
‘Because The Night’ again 10,000 Maniacs #11 in 1993
There are others also but like him or not he was clearly a great songwriter that wrote songs that could be hits for a very diverse list of performers.
neo:
I find it interesting how strong people’s opinions are of popular musicians — in this case Springsteen and BeeGees.
I don’t hold myself above that fray. I really don’t understand my dislike of the BeeGees, even when they do songs which I like covered by others, notably “To Love Somebody.”
I doubt most people would come to like X or Y better if they knew more of their songs.
Leonard Cohen broke through globally after Mike Myers put Cohen’s “Hallelujah” (sung by more conventional singers) into the movie, “Shrek.” That put Cohen on the map and his audience picked up, but by and large, I doubt many people who loved that song became fans of Cohen’s overall work.
huxley:
I’ve seen it happen to a lot of people with the Bee Gees though. It also did happen to me with Leonard Cohen over time.
Joel is far and away a better singer, songwriter, musician, and artist than Springsteen, and I say this as someone who merely likes Joel.
My teenage years being confined purely to the 80s, I never understood the attraction to Springsteen. Still don’t. No vocal talent and his subject material seems overtly designed for the “working class” in the most repetitive, transparent ways possible.
gmmay:
That’s clearly your opinion. I’d say you don’t know Springsteen well. His voice ain’t Sarah Brightman or maybe even Billy Joel, but, like Dylan, it works for his purposes. He is a consummate performer and a far better musician than you suppose. Here is some stunning guitar work that ought to surprise you:
Bruce Springsteen – Prove It All Night – Largo live 1978 (Blu-ray)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xab-th4ltU
Well I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk and he did.
As to songwriting — Springsteen covers a lot of ground and often brilliantly. It’s not all working-class hero stuff. Here’s a song, a meditation on growing old and longing, that won the 2009 Grammy:
________________________________________
Kid’s rubber ball smacks
Off the gutter underneath the lamp light
Big bank clock chimes
Off go the sleepy front porch lights
Downtown the store’s alive
As the evening’s underway
Things been a little tight
But I know they’re going to turn my way
[Chorus]
And the girls in their summer clothes
In the cool of the evening light
The girls in their summer clothes
Pass me by
–Bruce Springsteen Girls In Their Summer Clothes
https://brucespringsteen.net/news/2014/video-of-the-week-girls-in-their-summer-clothes
________________________________________
Past a certain level of competence, musical taste is very personal. Springsteen may not light everyone’s fire — nor Billy Joel nor the BeeGees — but he is a deeply accomplished musician who has reached millions.
I think part of what happens is if a particular act is strongly associated with an era or style of music it can lead to strong reactions one way or the other. For many disco was an abomination and the Bee Gees were along with Donna Summer the act most closely linked to that music therefore many have a dislike for them on that alone.
‘Born In The U.S.A.’ came out in late 1984 when I was a teenager and Springsteen absolutely dominated 1985. He was unavoidable for a young music fan and since I didn’t much care for him maybe I carry that still.
Springsteen is an inferior Bob Seger knockoff. Speakingto Bob Dylan, somebody called Seger “The poor man’s Springsteen”. Dylan replied that Springsteen is the rich man’s Seger.
To slightly correct myself ‘Born In The U.S.A.’ came out in June of 1984 But it had 7 top ten singles off of it and MTV played the bejebus out of them for like two years.
‘Turn the Page’ is better than anything Springsteen ever did in my opinion. Maybe ‘Fire Lake’ too.
I’ve seen it happen to a lot of people with the Bee Gees though. It also did happen to me with Leonard Cohen over time.
neo:
That’s why I said “most people.”
I’ve enjoyed reading your journey into the BeeGees. Sorry I’m not able to join you … yet.
Here’s a fun Springsteen-Joel performance of “New York State of Mind”:
Bruce Springsteen w. Billy Joel – New York State of Mind – Madison Square Garden – 2009/10/29&30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZq5hy2RsvM
They played nice. I’d say Joel brought out a vocal side I hadn’t heard from Springsteen. Joel’s piano was great too.
huxley:
It’s fine if you don’t join me. I find musical taste somewhat mysterious and very personal. I’ve gotten completely unexpected pleasure from the Bee Gees, though, and I find that phenomenon interesting and I’m trying to understand it better.
neo:
Agreed.
I’ve come to appreciate so much that I had previously found lukewarm or even repulsive. I really feel alive when I make such a breakthrough.
It can be really fun to get into an artist when their career is pretty much over because you can see the full evolution through the years. For most musical performers I think they put out their very best music in the first 5-10 years but it may not be their most popular which can lead to countless arguments because what they are best known for may not be their best.
I can’t think of a popular musician or band that was putting out higher quality stuff more than 10 years in. The Bee Gees might be an example if you like the disco era stuff but they are also the rare case where an act really changed their sound mid career.
Griffin:
And they changed again in the 80s, 90s and beyond. That’s another fascinating thing to me. They had 4 or 5 re-creations.
Their.later work wasn’t promoted much if at all in the US, but was very popular in Europe and other parts of the world.
neo,
Yep, it helps when you can stay together for that long. The Rolling Stones would be the only other example of an act staying together so long with mostly the same members.
They have never really stopped being popular in the UK. They seem to have more loyalty to musical acts there as they still love Cliff Richard.
I can’t think of a popular musician or band that was putting out higher quality stuff more than 10 years in.
Griffin:
Many fans were crushed when the Beatles broke up after ten years. I was sad too, but looking back, where were the Beatles going to go? Maybe it was better to get off at the top.
The Stones managed a great run from the sixties into the seventies. They can still perform, but I can’t think of anything special they did since “Some Girls” in 1978.
‘Steel Wheels’ from the 80s wasn’t too bad but yes you are correct.
I think it’s a bunch of things. Maybe a writer only has so many great songs in them. Maybe after years of fame and wealth you lose that drive. And in some cases years of drugs and alcohol rob you of some of your talent.
In retrospect the Beatles ending when they did was one of the greatest things that happened to their legacy. Plus they all went on to good (RIngo) to great (Paul) careers afterwards so it’s the best of both worlds.
I’m stuck again on Springsteen’s live version of “Prove It All Night.” I’ve probably heard it a couple hundred times.
The song is from his “Darkness at the Edge of Town” (1978) album, but I didn’t hear a live version until I bought a bootleg in the early 80s. On the album it’s a standard “Thunder Road” appeal to the girl, but live it’s an emotional cauldron.
The guitar is a revelation. When I first heard it I thought, “Where was Bruce hiding that?” It’s not Clapton or Page, but it pulls you in deep. It’s wailing the song every bit as much as the singing. Turns out Springsteen was very serious about the guitar at first, but over time he focused more on the songwriting.
When I listen to this, I’m somewhere else. I’m in the song or the song is in me and Bruce isn’t someone else, he’s me and I’m him. No boundaries. That’s how it works when it works.
If an artist can do that, it’s a great blessing. It’s a magic. It’s why people get so hung up on the artists they like. It’s why the people who don’t go there, don’t understand, can’t understand. And there’s not much point arguing about it.
________________________________________
Baby, tie your hair back in a long white bow,
Meet me in the fields behind the dynamo…
–“Bruce Springsteen – Prove It All Night – Largo live 1978 (Blu-ray)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xab-th4ltU
“Cut loose like a deuce” seems unambiguous to me.
I’m betting the Manfred Mann lyric everyone hears as “wrapped up like a douche,” which wasn’t common British or American slang at the time, is actually “revved up like a deuce…” which makes sense as the beginning of “another runner in the night.”
Huxley,
I made no effort to disguise my opinion as such, but as a former professional musician back in the day, I know Springsteen well enough.
I’m perfectly comfortable with my professional opinion that Springsteen is an inferior musician to Joel.
I wasn’t a fan of Springsteen, and never thought much about him. But I saw him with the E Street Band in November 1984, in an arena with 14-15 thousand people, and they put on a great show.
A big difference when evaluating artists now versus the past is that it is much easier to listen to (and see and look up) their earlier work. In 1981 I saw Willie Dixon at a campus venue/bar that seats about 120 people. I had never heard of him. But I learned a lot that night and much more since. It was recorded for television, so I think he especially wanted to put on a great show — playing the songs he had written and performed, or performed with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and other Chicago blues artists — before they were big commercial hits by groups like The Rolling Stones, Cream, The Doors, and Led Zeppelin.
Dixon’s regular harmonica player was sick, so a guy named Sugar Blue filled in. Sugar Blue played on The Rolling Stones’ Some Girls album (and song) and Emotional Rescue. He sat by our table in back on steps where they entered to go on stage, and chatted a bit at intermission.
I saw later on YouTube that the Stones found and hired off the streets of Paris.
I was in high school when Some Girls came out. After hearing so many of their classics on radio, it was like, they still have it (were able to adapt). Of course the Beatles were no longer, and it was still an open question then whether others would be performing past 30.
That’s the last album of theirs I listened to much.
Back when the internet didn’t suck, there was a site that had collected readers’ responses to what lyric they heard when listening to this. I’d say 90% of the hundreds of responses were something close to “wrapped up like a douche”. 5% were the correct lyric, and the remainder were absolutely hysterical.
When I was 16 or 17 I had never heard anything like “Born to Run.”
I still think it was and is a seminal piece of Rock and Roll.
Bruce got awfully tiresome after that, but he’s famous because he really is a uniquely gifted musician and performer.
To me he’s a lot like his buddy DeNiro. Just shut up and do what you do best.
Having heard douche, not deuce, even though trying to give it a chance back then, and anus curly wurly, regardless of that might have been not the lyric, I never was comfortable listening to him.
Just sounded wrong.
I’m perfectly comfortable with my professional opinion that Springsteen is an inferior musician to Joel.
gmmay:
I’m perfectly comfortable with my life experience opinion that professionals who appeal to their own authority are not particularly impressive. I’ve gone to toe-to-toe with many and surprised them.
Within the confines of strict musicianship, I’m sure there are plenty of people who play their instruments and sing better than Springsteen — and Joel for that matter.
When it comes to rock musicians, it’s the whole package, not just technical ability. And songwriting — as in lyrics — is outside your professional expertise.
When it comes to impact, Springsteen influenced a ton of musicians, wrote hits for other stars, and has been an enduring major presence in the business for decades.
Billy Joel, less so. Though Twyla Tharp choreographed a show based on his music which is pretty neat.
huxley,
Did you go toe to toe with a professional who was expressing his own opinion and using his own professional experience to bolster it? Because if so, the surprise you elicited may not have been what you thought it was.
I wasn’t talking about other musicians besides Joel and Springsteen. That was clear, yet here you are, doing…something.
Given that I clearly listed other artistic categories and didn’t limit my observation to pure technical ability, you’re obviously not reading the words on the page. Given that you haven’t the first clue what my qualifications are, you’re also reading words that aren’t on the page.
I was also not arguing influence. If you’re going to engage in pointless and petty argumentation, at least argue what’s on the page instead of what’s inside your head. Also, if you’re going to engage in pointless and petty argumentation, you can enjoy that by yourself.
Cheers.
mikesixes:
“Dylan replied that Springsteen is the rich man’s Seger.”
Good one Bob!
Has Springsteen written as many good songs as, say, Ronnie Van Zant?
To hear some talk about
Stringbean, you would think he invented the cure for cancer, or whiteness, and is not just a millionaire aged pop star.
About Bob Dylan and Springsteen – here’s Loudon Wainwright III’s take, especially the verse from 1:23 to 2:13. (Just to clarify – Loudon is not Rufus; Loudon is Rufus’ father.)
Seger and Springsteen are friends and admire each other’s work. I have Springsteen’s first three albums and saw him on the Born To Run tour at Hill Auditorium but began to lose interest in the 1980s. I saw Bob Seger come on stage with Springsteen to do Thunder Road as an encore, 1980, Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor.
As for the lyric, it’s “revved up like a deuce”, likely a reference to a ’32 Ford based hot rod, like the Little Deuce Coupe the Beach Boys sang of. In common with the Beach Boys, Bruce doesn’t really know much about cars, but knows what sells to the kids.
I was going to mention that L Wainwright song.
I saw Springsteen around the time Born to Run came out, just before he hit the big time. Probably the best concert I’ve ever attended. And yeah he could play a damn good guitar. I loved BTR and E Street, but kinda lost interest after Darkness On the Edge–a change in me at least as much as in him I think.
“he could play a damn good guitar.”
He’s a lousy guitar player. I saw him on the “Black and White” tribute to Roy Orbison jamming with Orbison and longtime studio whiz James Burton on “Mean Woman Blues”.
Burton takes a solo – smokin’ as you would expect.
Orbison takes a solo – you think of Orbison as a singer not a guitarist but it was pretty tasty.
Springsteen takes a solo – sucked. I also didn’t like the way he tried to steal the stage from Orbison, a rock legend just making a comeback at the time.
“The Time/Newsweek articles came out the same week “Born to Run” (Springsteen’s breakthrough album) went Gold in a few weeks.”
I’m sure the millions of dollars worth of free publicity had nothing to do with it.
huxley etc:
Good comments about Springsteen. I saw Darkness as bringing to life that inevitable fork in the road at which juncture anyone and everyone—from, say, a young Joe Biden to a young Joe Sixpack– suddenly finds himself all but forced to make a commitment to one available path or the other, with time running out and likely no turning back once the die is cast.
Springsteen started working on Darkness while in his mid twenties.
From my view, there was an almost shockingly traditional religious (i.e., Catholic) fervor to Darkness: with the only clear choices coming down to either taking up the proverbial Cross and following the Truth down the dark, narrow, twisting path wherever that path might lead; or to glide virtually unimpeded– albeit with no small bit of self-recrimination– down the wider, much more fashionable, seemingly much smoother option.
I thought the “seriousness” present in Darkness—which is there in spades– was in this particular instance a transcendent, glorious thing, and often exhilarating.
It’s gotta be my all time favorite album.
I eventually lost all interest in following Springsteen’s career after it became much too obvious (IMHO) which of those two paths he, himself, had chosen.
He wanted to be one of the virtue-signaling cool kids and he is. Congratulations, sir.
Fans of Springsteen’s early music should check out Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, another “bar band from Jersey” that played a lot of classic R&B (Sam and Dave, Solomon Burke, etc), was heavily mentored by Miami Steve Van Zandt who wrote several songs for them, and whose first three albums are uniformly very good. Springsteen wrote a song for them “The Fever” that is, not surprisingly, quite good.
In 1976 Manfred Mann’s Earth Band worked up a complete overhaul of Bruce Springsteen’s “Blinded By The Light” and released it on their ’76 LP The Roaring Silence. Mann had been tipped to Springsteen’s 1973 debut LP Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. a couple of years earlier by a Philadelphia DJ and had made a list of songs from it that he could potentially cover, the first being “Spirit in the Night” which his band recorded in 1975 for their album Nightingales and Bombers and released as a single which just cracked the Hot 100 at number 97. For their next album the aforementioned The Roaring Silence they gave “Blinded By The Light” a crack and Mann was pleased with the resultant sound and feel – radically different from Bruce’s mostly acoustic Dylan-y take – and went to his record label with the song in hand as the lead off single. Not all went smoothly after its release however, as Mann recalled, “Suddenly I had the American record label on the phone saying: ‘We can’t get radio stations in the southern bible belt to play the record because everyone thinks you’re singing about a vaginal douche’.” Seems not only had the Earth Band changed the tone of the song but the lyrics were a bit garbled compared to the original’s, specifically the line that Springsteen sang as “Cut loose like a deuce” was re-interpreted as “Revved up like a deuce” which then in turn came out on the radio sounding like “wrapped up like a douche” sending many into a tizzy. And it does sound like that’s what lead singer Chris Thompson is singing. In fact, the song was recently run through a complex and sophisticated algorithm and it was indeed determined that approximately zero people in the history of the whole world did not think he was singing about a personal hygiene shower device. Trust me here, we’ve run the numbers several times and they don’t lie. Apparently author Bruce initially was not amused by the confusion but eventually got in on the joke, saying, “One version is about a car, the other is about a feminine hygiene product. Guess which the kids liked to shout more?” His irritation was likely soothed by the fact that Mann’s take topped the US singles charts (something that Springsteen himself has never achieved) and went gold, baby, bringing the Boss much needed royalties in the days before he became BROOOCE. Mann would cover one more Springsteen song in 1981 when he recorded another Asbury Park tune “For You”. No truth to the rumor that Bruce encouraged singer Thomson to include misheard lyrics about suppository bullets or flatulence deodorant pads…
In “Prove It All Night” Bruce S. sings “Meet me outside town, behind the dynamo.” I had to look up “dynamo” to see what he meant. Maybe that’s an east coast thing? (Not saying it’s bad, just saying.)
“And somehow Springsteen imagines he speaks for working Americans and the Joads from “Grapes of Wrath.” – huxley
If they listen and agree, then he does.
Perception is everything in art.
Trivia bonus: I looked up the article about Steinbeck’s book at Wikipedia and found this little note, so I wondered if that figured into your allegory.
“American rock singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen named his 11th studio album, The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995), after the character. The first track on the album “shares the same title”. The song – and to a lesser extent, the others on the album – draws comparisons between the Dust Bowl and modern times.”
Another tidbit from The Wiki, which is interesting in the context of the discussion of whether or not some covers are better than the originals.
Well Wicked-media and it’s editors do have an agenda. Shaping perceptions and such. Mush to fill minds must be made.
In 1979, I left the south and landed in NJ. It didn’t take long for me to overcome being blinded by the light. I understood fairly quickly that Bruce Springsteen was just a northern redneck. This was still before politics and so profoundly permeated every aspect of our lives, and I had already figured out this guy was a complete asshole. So, I have to wonder why you are propping him up and all over a song as overrated as this one?