Your Friday Bruce Fix

Bruce Springsteen, Working on a Super Bowl Set List, Vote Results!!!

Well, the countdown to the Super Bowl kickoff is just about over, and while we know which two teams will be competing for NFL supremecy, we still don't know which songs Bruce Springsteen is going to play at halftime.  But, I do know what you (the collective "you") would play, if you were Bruce, and now I'm going to share the results of your votes.

As you might have expected, the runaway leading vote getter was 'Born to Run' with 70% of all voters naming it as one of their three songs.  While I didn't ask for the songs to be put in order, I suspect that most expect him to close his set with Born to Run. 

The race for the number 2 and 3 slots was very tight, with 6 songs separating themselves from the pack as the main contenders.  Those 6 are:  #2 - Born in the USA, chosen by 32% of the voters, tied for #3 were Working On A Dream & Thunder Road both at (28%), followed by Badlands (26%), The Rising (23%) and Promised Land (19%). 

The biggest vote getter among the write in votes was Glory Days (11%).  My favorite sleeper pick in the write ins was Held Up Without A Gun.  Most original write in was "Crush Your Bones Beneath My Helmet (did he write that?)".  That must be one of those outtakes that didn't quite fit thematically on any of his albums.

It seems no one imagining they were Bruce would play 'Girls in the Summer Clothes'.  I put it on the list knowing it is up for two Grammy Awards on Feb. 8th, thinking that if you were Bruce, you might want to engage in a little last minute influencing of the judges.  It seems that you would not.

The Bonus Questions yielded some interesting results.  Here's what else you think is likely, or perhaps not so likely to happen:

Bruce is more likely to bring the Miami Horns to Tampa (28%) than he is to go down into the audience and mingle with people from Tampa (26%).

Clarence is more likely to sit (20%) than Nils is to flip (9%).  Now, if there was a way to lay a bet on Clarence flipping and Nils sitting, you might stand to make some serious money.

It was quite a race to see who you thought Bruce might pull out of the audience to dance with him.  Courtney Cox (51%) beat out Bruce's Mom (28%), with Barack Obama failing to win the only vote that matters with a measly (19%).  Dewey Cox, a ficticious character, with 2%, beat out Mike Appel, by all accounts a real character, who couldn't muster a single vote.

And, last but not least, the landslide winner who you feel is most likely to have a wardrobe malfunction is Steven Van Zandt, scoring an impressive (78%) of all votes.  Bruce could only manage 15%, and Clarence pulled up the rear with 7%.  I don't know if it was the complexity of Steve's wardrobe, or the fear of a Clarence malfunction, but either way, the vote was quite decisive.

There you go!  Thanks so much for voting.  It will be fun to watch on Sunday to see what happens.  I voted The Rising, Working on a Dream and Born to Run, but given that Bruce already played The Rising at the inauguration, I'm thinking he'll do Badlands instead.  Hmmm, maybe he'll do a four song medley of truncated versions of The Rising, Working on a Dream, Badlands and Born to Run.  Or, maybe he'll give us the "Stars on 45" treatment and do a medley of 50 of his greatest hits in 12 miniutes.  Maybe not.

OK, no Friday Bruce Fix is complete without a Bruce Fix.  Otherwise, it would just be Friday.  So, here you go:

And, I know this has nothing to do with Bruce, but here's some bonus material that does have something to do with the Super Bowl.  The Super Bowl television ads are often half the fun of watching the Super Bowl.  My favorite ad to make its debut on the Super Bowl is Reebok's "Terry Tate - Office Linebacker".  This is a compilation of all the full length ads from this series.

Happy Friday.

Bruce Springsteen, Super Bowl Set List, Vote

Imagine that you are Bruce Springsteen.  You've married a local girl and had three kids, and you live in a pretty nice house not too far from your hometown.  You've had a pretty good career to this point.  You're widely loved and admired.  You've been around the world and all across the seven seas and been paid a king's ransom for doing what comes naturally.  But now, you have a problem.

For some silly reason, you've finagled your way into this quick little gig to play a few songs for a bunch of people in a football stadium in Tampa Bay at what is called the Super Bowl .  Maybe you're doing this becuase you're still angry that NBC rejected your former manager Mike Appel's attempts to have you sing prior to the 1973 Super Bowl.  Maybe you think NBC owes you this, 36 years later.  Anyway, you've played lots of stadiums before so it shouldn't be that big a deal, right? 

Let me explain something, Mr. Springsteen.  You're used to playing for 3 hours in front of tens of thosands of rabid fans of yours who've paid $100 or more per ticket and who think nothing of driving all night, following you around from town to town, to see you perform.  When you're on stage, every eye is on you.  You're in complete control of the building until you decide it's over.  But, this little Super Bowl thing is different.

This football stadium will be jammed with tens of thosands of rabid football fans who've paid hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to see dozens of hulking, ferocious, padded, helmeted warriors beat the crap out of each other for 3 hours for the ultimate prize in the most popular sport in America.  They'll likely have been drinking for several hours before the game even starts, and they'll be busting for a leak by the time you take the stage.  Not only are they not there to see you play, they'll either be heading for the washroom and/or the concession stands to reload.  So, if you want to hold their attention, you've got your work cut out for you.

It gets worse.  Did I mention that the television audience for this thing is something like 150 million in the USA and maybe a billion or so in 230 plus countries around the world?  Oh, yeah and they've only given you 12 minutes to perform and then the hook comes out.  How many songs have you written?  500? 1000?  If you whittle it down to the real good ones, I mean the all time classics, we're talking maybe 50 or 100.  Well, I figure you've gotta pick 3.  That's right, THREE.  Which ones are you going to play?

OK, settle down.  It's too late to back out.  NBC has been making a big fuss about you being part of their broadcast and now everyone knows about it.  You have to go through with it.  You may as well start thinking about it.  But, don't worry Brucie, I have a plan to help you.

I would like each of you imaginary Brucies to help the real Bruce, that Springsteen guy, by casting your votes for the three songs you think he should play.  I have no doubt that Bruce (the real one) follows this blog closely and by the time I post the results of your votes on Friday, Jan 30th, two days before the Super Bowl, Your Friday Bruce Fix will have fixed Bruce's problem.  Two days is plenty of time to get the always in mid-season form E-Street Band ready to play three songs.  Hell, Bruce could call an audible and they'd be fine.

Alright, so before you watch today's clip, go to the link below and cast your votes.  I've added a few extra questions for fun.  When you're done, come on back and I'll let you watch the clip.  By the way, it's my vote for song number three, but don't let that influence your vote in any way.  Of course, that won't happen because you're going to vote first.

Click Here to take survey

Please send the link to this blog around to everyone you know who likes Bruce, even just a little.  We need lots of votes.  He really needs our help this time. 

Happy Friday!