Your Friday Bruce Fix

Bruce Springsteen, 60th Birthday, Thunder Road

This week's Friday Bruce Fix takes on the challenge of what clips to play during a week that featured two important events in the world of anyone who cares about Bruce Springsteen.  Event number one took place during Bruce's gig on September 20th in Chicago.  That night, Bruce and the E Street Band played, in proper sequence, all 8 songs from his landmark 'Born to Run' album.  The second event took place on September 23rd when Bruce celebrated his 60th birthday.

I don't think Bruce has recorded any songs about birthdays or turning 60, so I'll focus on the album that may well have saved Bruce's career, and at the very least was the album that changed everything.  If I was backed into a corner with a gun to my head and forced to pick one song as my all-time favorite Bruce tune, from 'Born to Run' or any other album, I'm pretty sure I'd pick 'Thunder Road'.  (Of course, with a gun to my head, I might panic and there's no telling what I might pick, maybe 'Crush On You'.)  So, this week, it's an all "Thunder Road' Friday Bruce Fix.  After all, if it's my favorite, it must be Bruce's, he turned 60 this week and played 'Born to Run' in sequence, etc., it all makes sense.

There are a great many recordings of 'Thunder Road' floating around.  I'd need several weeks worth of fixes to get through them all.  In the interest of keeping those of you who get your fix at work fully employed, I'll limit this to three versions.  I'm going to focus on recordings from 1975, which was of course the year 'Thunder Road' was released on 'Born to Run'.  This also enables me to shine a light on how this song evolved, which is something I've done in previous posts regarding 'Something In The Night' and 'Be True'.

I believe this first clip comes from February 7, 1975, in one of the earliest public performances of the song alternatively known as 'Wings For Wheels' that featured some lyrics that would soon be changed.

"Now the summer's over and baby I feel it getting cold
I wish I could take you to some sandy beach where we'd never grow old
Ah but man you know that's just jive
But were gonna bust tonight open and I'm alive"

and...

"But this 442's gonna overheat
Make up your mind girl, I gotta get her back out on the street
I know you're lonely like me, baby don't try and fake it
And maybe I can't lay the stars at your feet
But I got this old car and she's pretty tough to beat"



By this point, Jon Landau had joined forces with Bruce as his manager and started having creative input.  He knew Bruce had the makings of a great song, but suggested some ediiting to tighten it up.  Just a few weeks later, during a March 1, 1975 recording session at The Record Plant in New York City, Bruce recoded this next version on acoustic guitar.  Jon's edits worked nicely, and by this time, Mary was now Christine.

I won't play you the album version.  I suspect that you've heard it a few times already.  Instead, today's final clip features my favorite version of Bruce's best song.  It is a virtuoso performance of his masterpiece from November 18, 1975, on the opening night of the E-Street Band's very first European tour, in front of skeptical crowd at London's Hammersmith Odeon, who were having a hard time buying all the hype coming out of America about 'Rock 'n Roll Future'. 

Under the circumstances, most bands would started this pivotal concert with the pedal to the metal to prove what they were made of.  Instead, Bruce walked out onto a dimly lit stage accompanied by Roy Bittan on piano, and delivered what is in my opinion the best performance of his best song.  Finally, Mary was Mary.  Dim the lights and play it loud.

Happy 60th Birthday, Bruce, and have a happy Friday!

I was flattered to have been asked by Matt Soniak of mental_floss magazine to write a small contribution to their "60 Springsteen Facts for Bruce's 60th Birthday" celebration which they published on September 23rd.  You may read my contribution (#58), in fact the whole dedication, at this link:  http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/35236  Note #59 from Peter Chianca.  His blog, 'Blogness on the Edge of Town' is essential reading for any Bruce fan.  You'll find it at:  http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/springsteen/

Bruce Springsteen, Tracks, Sad Eyes, Brothers Under The Bridge, Happy

This week I decided to follow the road less travelled in my search for fixworthy songs.  As I perused my collection of Bruce Springsteen CDs, I picked up the 'Tracks' 4 cd box set and quickly realized I just wasn't terribly familiar with many of the songs on disc 4.  I've probably only played that disc a handful of times.  I'm not sure why, but I suspect it's because I love discs 1 and 2 so much that I reach for them first and rarely make it past disc 3.

So poor maligned and neglected (at least by me) disc 4 gets some attention this week.  I've picked 3 songs that I think are under appreciated and overlooked (at least by me) and have largely flown under my radar.  These are not mind-blowing, pant-dropping, bring-the-house-down, lock-up-your-daughters. classic rockers.  Unlike most Fridays, I'm afraid this week's fix won't get you up dancing on top of your desk, attracting co-workers from up and down the hall, who want nothing more than to be just like you.

Instead, sit back, relax, maybe grab a fresh cup of coffee, and marvel at how three songs of this caliber can hardly get noticed (at least by me).

First up is 'Sad Eyes', a Human Touch/Lucky Town outtake.  It was covered by several artists including Enrique Iglesias (in both English and Spanish), Trisha Yearwood and Elliot Murphy.

Second is 'Brothers Under The Bridge', which was recorded in 1995 and is the final track on 'Tracks'.

Third and last (at least for this week) is 'Happy', another Human Touch/Lucky Town outtake, which I think is the real gem of the three.

'Happy' Friday!

Bruce Springsteen, 9/11, My City Of Ruins, The Rising

Once every six years, September 11 falls on a Friday.  Actually, somewhere in the cycle (every 36 years?) a leap year will cause September 11 to leap from a Thursday one year to a Saturday the next year.  Unless there is something that I don't understand about how our calendar works, it has always been that way, and I suppose it always will.  With 2009 being a year where it does fall on a Friday, today's clips will focus on Bruce Springsteen's response to the events of that day 8 years ago today. 

The first clip really wasn't a response, although for most of the world it seemed as though it was.  Bruce pulled this rabbit out of his hat in the days following the attack on the World Trade Center on a national television broadcast called 'America: A Tribute to Heroes'.  George Clooney organized this benefit which was done in the style of a telethon to raise money for victims and their families.  It aired on all four major US networks on September 21, 2001.

I remember my reaction.  I couldn't believe that he could craft, arrange and perform such a powerful song a mere 10 days after 9/11.  Silly me, it turned out that he had written 'My City Of Ruins' for the 2000 Asbury Park Christmas show benefit to help promote the revitalization of Asbury Park.  Knowing Bruce, I'm sure the Asbury Park performance was as inspiring and compelling as could be, yet the new context and sheer magnitude of the events of 9/11, along with a few choice lyric changes and a great performance, elevated this song to a new level.

The new lyrics to watch for towards the end are "I pray for the loss" and "I pray for this world", which would have been a bit over the top if he was singing about Asbury Park (apologies to the good people of Asbury Park....).  This performance still blows me away.  I love the way he leaves the last vocal hanging in the air.

The story goes that not long after 9/11 Bruce drove to the beach in Asbury Park.  A passenger in the car next to Bruce recognized him, rolled down his window and said "We need you now."  Fortunately, Bruce interpreted this cryptic calling from a fan to mean "We need to know what you have to say about this.  Please write some great songs." rather than "Hey bud, we're having car problems.  Could you give us a ride?".

'The Rising' became the title track and soul of Bruce's first new album of original material since 'The Ghost of Tom Joad' in 1995.  Clearly inspired, Bruce was in fine form and it seems his creative juices have been flowing ever since. 'The Rising' routinely opened the shows on his tour in support of that album.  It felt like a bit of a call to arms, and a lot like "lets blow the roof off this joint!" 

If I'm still writing this blog in 2015, I might have to re-run this one.  Hope you'll forgive me.

Happy Friday!

Bruce Springsteen, Warren Zevon, Janey Needs A Shooter, Jeannie Needs A Shooter, Disorder In The House, My Ride's Here

I've written in previous posts (see March 6, 2009 and March 20, 2009) about how some of Bruce Springsteen's songs have evolved through different versions into their final, officially released form.  Some of these songs need time for both the lyrical and musical ideas to gel, and others just need time to find the right home.  Our first song in this week's Friday Bruce Fix might be an example of both.

'Janey Needs A Shooter' first made an appearance in 1972 as a solo piano piece recorded as a demo.  It would again be recorded in studio in February of 1973.  It didn't make the cut for either of Bruce's first two albums, both released in 1973, and a few years later came out of hiding to be recorded in 1978 during the 'Darkness of the Edge of Town' sessions.  The song evolved lyrically and musically along the way, but it never did find a home on any of Bruce's albums.  Have a listen to the 1978 version, and when you're done, click the back button on your browser so we can continue.  I'll wait for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc9DutLq58Q

Janey's search for a home leads us to Warren Zevon, who died almost exactly 6 years ago, on September 7th, 2003.  In 1980, Warren released an album called 'Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School', which contained a song called 'Jeannie Needs a Shooter'.  It is probably a bit of a stretch to call this a collaboration between Bruce and Warren.  I've had trouble digging up the story, but it seems to me as though Bruce played 'Janey Needs A Shooter' for Warren, gave him the song title to work with, and the idea behind the song.  Warren came up with a variation on the title, a very similar chorus, and otherwise completely different lyrics.  Janey/Jeannie found a home.  Here's a live performance from Warren.

Warren was diagnosed in late 2002 with a terminal form of cancer.  Rather than receive treatments he believed would incapacitate him, Warren went into the studio to write and record his final album, 'The Wind', which would go on to win Warren the only two Grammy Awards of his 30+ year career.  One of those Grammy's was for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or a Group With Vocal, with Bruce contributing his vocal and some searing guitar leads.  That song, 'Disorder In The House' would be the final collaboration between Bruce and Warren.

Bruce was on tour in 2003 when Warren died.  His next concert was three nights later, September 10th, in Toronto.  I was lucky enough to be in attendance.  Bruce took the stage with just a few of his band mates and started the evening with a heartfelt performance of Warren's song 'My Ride's Here'.

Happy Friday!