book review: Bruce

by: Peter Ames Carlin

I think this is the first biography I’ve read.  Biographies are really, really not my thing.  So I went out on a little bit of a ledge here.  Still, I started in a pretty safe place.  There aren’t many people about which I’d actually care about the details of their lives.  Musical artists (certain ones anyway, a very small list) may be an exception because their lives so inform their work.  Bruce Springsteen is maybe the only artists who projects as powerfully as he does (for me).   So, at the least, I was curious.

This particular bio of him (and I think there have been several) is definitely slanted towards the positive, but it doesn’t particular shy away from painting Bruce negatively when a situation calls for it.  Dude is (seems) pretty human – in an artist kind of way.   You know artists… the really good ones tend to have a certain kind of ego, a kind of faith in self and the knowledge that they are absolutely right – when the situation calls for it (or all the time, for the really annoying ones).  I definitely get that sense about Bruce from this book.  He can be just as petty and bitchy as the rest of us, only there’s a bit more power behind it – and it’s generally related to “the art”.  But, even given that, he seems like a pretty solid dude.  And definitely committed to his audience, and his music.

I’m on the fence about this kind of confidence, but I find it so frequently in artists whose work I actually respect that I suspect it’s some kind of Thing, you know?  <.<

The writing style was readable & engaging  – much like Battle Cry for Freedom made history awesome, this one made biographies well, not awesome, but at least readable and enjoyable.  There’s probably some kind of poetic connection between the two as well…

Also, if you love factoids – and I generally do! – there are plenty in here. Bruce wanted to give Hungry Hearts to the Ramones (!).  Stuff like that.  Tons of titles of obscure, unreleased songs for me to google live performances of, etc.  Turns out there’s a ton of stuff from Bruce’s old bands on youtube.  Different, but you can hear it.  Here’s one from his almost-made-it-big but definitely huge locally Steel Mill, check it:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNKBzYeP-ds

THREE  STARS

Because it was an enjoyable read – but still lacked the addictive driving force of a good piece of fiction (through no fault of its own, but I’m also not held to any standards for rating but my own).

“bagkgon train”

Just recently my boys (2 & 3.5) decided that they liked Downbound Train [not embedded because I couldn’t find the album version] – the title above is an attempt to transfer into letters the sounds that are produced by my oldest when he names the song.  Yes, it IS adorable.  Maybe they just like it because it has the word “train” that they can clearly pick out from the lyrics but hey – I’ll take it!  When they decide they like a song (I think, so far, they have mostly liked all the same songs), they let you know that they like it by saying “Again!” every time it ends and getting upset when you finally move on to a new song.

Them liking songs is nothing new, but it is rare that they choose a song I’m playing.  My wife does the vast majority of the trucking the kids around, so they hear mostly music she’s playing (which also happens to be music I like – but it’s not quite the same).   This is probably for the best – because my wife is much, much better with song lyrics than me.  I can sing along when a song is playing but, unless I go out of my way to memorize something, the lyrics don’t stick with me.  Even songs I’ve known for decades!

My boys do have good taste: Modern Man/Arcade Fire, Heads Will Roll/YeahYeahYeahs, Frank Sinatra/Cake (“Franken Otra daddy!), The Cave/Mumford and Sons, Story of My Life/Social Distortian, Lisztomania/Phoenix.  It helps that they don’t have much (any?) exposure to music we don’t like ;)… yet.

I try and find a common thread behind the songs they like and I haven’t yet.  Having lyrics they can identify and sing seems to help, as does mentioning trains or cars.

Bonus!  I found two cool covers of Downbound Train while digging for a youtube link:

Raul Malo (of the Mavericks):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Sr6EeIr-4

The Cardigans:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPfAzBtOHTU

Let’s take a look at the lyrics (because I LOVE lyrics, even if I can’t remember them to save my life).

I had a job, I had a girl
I had something going mister in this world
I got laid off down at the lumber yard
Our love went bad, times got hard
Now I work down at the carwash
Where all it ever does is rain
Don’t you feel like you’re a rider on a downbound train

She just said “Joe I gotta go
We had it once we ain’t got it any more”
She packed her bags left me behind
She bought a ticket on the Central Line
Nights as I sleep, I hear that whistle whining
I feel her kiss in the misty rain
And I feel like I’m a rider on a downbound train

Last night I heard your voice
You were crying, crying, you were so alone
You said your love had never died
You were waiting for me at home
Put on my jacket, I ran through the woods
I ran till I thought my chest would explode
There in the clearing, beyond the highway
In the moonlight, our wedding house shone
I rushed through the yard, I burst through the front door
My head pounding hard, up the stairs I climbed
The room was dark, our bed was empty
Then I heard that long whistle whine
And I dropped to my knees, hung my head and cried

Now I swing a sledge hammer on a railroad gang
Knocking down them cross ties, working in the rain
Now don’t it feel like you’re a rider on a downbound train

Solid, right?  I’ve recently started trying to play it on guitar for the kids, and it gives me chills when I really sink into the words. Especially as they come full circle…

I have an admission to make.  *looks around*

I learned something from a youtube comment today.

I know, “the shame!?”, right?

I never connected the fact that the speaker’s lover left him on a train to the fact that he winds up working on train tracks – presumably for the same line.  I mean, I was aware of both points… I just never connected them for the irony.

Bonus!  How many knew that this song was originally recorded in the Nebraska sessions?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_YlOD292Jc

I think it would have fit right in there, but I’m much happier with it on Born in the USA… Nebraska I don’t listen to so often, not unless I want to be depressed.  USA has enough of everything that I can enjoy it in just about any mood.

Wednesday Lyrics: Growin’ Up

Growin’ Up
by: Bruce Springsteen
lyrics from brucespringsteen.net

I stood stone-like at midnight suspended in my masquerade
I combed my hair till it was just right and commanded the night brigade
I was open to pain and crossed by the rain and I walked on a crooked crutch
I strolled all alone through a fallout zone and came out with my soul untouched
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said “Sit down” I stood up.
Ooh-ooh growin’ up

The flag of piracy flew from my mast, my sails were set wing to wing
I had a jukebox graduate for first mate, she couldn’t sail but she sure could sing,
I pushed B-52 and bombed ’em with the blues with my gear set stubborn on standing
I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school, never once gave thought to landing,
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said “Come down” I threw up
Ooh-ooh growin’ up

I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere and you know it’s really hard to hold your breath.
I swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared, I was the cosmic kid in full costume dress
Well, my feet they finally took root in the earth but I got me a nice little place in the stars
And I swear I found the key to the universe in the engine of an old parked car
I hid in the mother breast of the crowd but when they said “Pull down” I pulled up
Ooh-ooh growin’ up. Ooh-ooh growin’ up

Take it away, picture of the album:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as3UlEsvwXo

I love early Bruce lyrics. I mean, he can still write, but the early stuff is what gets me – and the more recent stuff is miles away from the style, phrasing, pace, meter… just about every sonic aspect of the early work – especially the energetic stuff that reads like open-mic, top of the head type poetry.

For me, this song captures much of what it is/was to be a young boy.  Imagination, rebellion, violence, goofiness, confusion.  Check.

It’s hard to pick a single Bruce song to single out – this is just the first one that came to mind then I was thinking about it this morning.

Fuck it.  Let’s do a double.  While we’re in Asbury Park, I can’t get out with out this one:

Lost in the Flood

The ragamuffin gunner is returnin’ home like a hungry runaway
He walks through town all alone
He must be from the fort he hears the high school girls say
His countryside’s burnin’ with wolfman fairies dressed in drag for homicide
The hit and run, plead sanctuary, ‘neath a holy stone they hide
They’re breakin’ beams and crosses with a spastic’s reelin’ perfection
nuns run bald through Vatican halls pregnant, pleadin’ immaculate conception
And everybody’s wrecked on Main Street from drinking unholy blood
Sticker smiles sweet as gunner breathes deep, his ankles caked in mud
And I said “Hey, gunner man, that’s quicksand, that’s quicksand that ain’t mud
Have you thrown your senses to the war or did you lose them in the flood?”

That pure American brother, dull-eyed and empty-faced
races Sundays in Jersey in a Chevy stock super eight
He rides ‘er low on the hip, on the side he’s got Bound For Glory in red, white and blue flash paint
He leans on the hood telling racing stories, the kids call him Jimmy The Saint
Well the blaze and noise boy, he’s gunnin’ that bitch loaded to blastin’ point
He rides head first into a hurricane and disappears into a point
And there’s nothin’ left but some blood where the body fell
That is, nothin’ left that you could sell
just junk all across the horizon, a real highwayman’s farewell
And he said “Hey kid, you think that’s oil? Man, that ain’t oil that’s blood”
I wonder what he was thinking when he hit that storm
Or was he just lost in the flood?

Eighth Avenue sailors in satin shirts whisper in the air
Some storefront incarnation of Maria, she’s puttin’ on me the stare
and Bronx’s best apostle stands with his hand on his own hardware
Everything stops, you hear five, quick shots, the cops come up for air
And now the whiz-bang gang from uptown, they’re shootin’ up the street
And that cat from the Bronx starts lettin’ loose
but he gets blown right off his feet
And some kid comes blastin’ round the corner but a cop puts him right away
He lays on the street holding his leg screaming something in Spanish
Still breathing when I walked away
And somebody said “Hey man did you see that? His body hit the street with such a beautiful thud”
I wonder what the dude was sayin’ or was he just lost in the flood?
Hey man, did you see that, those poor cats are sure messed up
I wonder what they were gettin’ into, or were they just lost in the flood?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSQw_h6ZGL4

a “No Surrender” for the 90s?

We’re not done with the 00’s yet – so we’ll get to that later.

Here’s my question – does anyone know of a song

a) as good as No Surrender, sonically, lyrically and thematically (within the quality boundaries of the decade) with

b) a title direct, yet powerful enough that one wouldn’t necessarily be embarrassed to get a tattoo of it somewhere (yes, I’ve debated getting a “No Surrender” tat on my calf for years) and

c) a chorus catchy enough to be a radio single that

d) either overcomes the boundaries of its cliche or

e) isn’t a cliche at all and is

r) well enough written that you don’t want to stab yourself after the 30th listen.

So, to start us off, a refresher.

Gotta prepare first though:

Turn the lights off. Then turn the volume up. Hit play.  Lean back in your chair/bed/lovers arms and relax.   Close your eyes.   There is no video.  Just what the music finds for you.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN5e2qZr1Oc

Still not feeling it?  Then I guess you’re not human!

But seriously.  Just stop reading if that does nothing for you

Still here?  Good.

OK.  So what is that for the 90s?  Not bound by genre.  Could be an RnB song.  Could be country.  Who knows.  I was thinking about it tonight while running, and wondering if Rancid’s “Life Won’t Wait” could be a contender (I haven’t heard it in a while).  The title seems to fit criteria b), and the song tiself fits in d/e & r.  But a…ahhh “a”.  No, it’s not “a”.

So, better candidates?  I’ll be thinking about it.  Drawing a blank right now.

Anyone else?

The 3 cds that have been in my car for the last 2 weeks

Just looping in this order, and I haven’t gotten bored yet.  But still, I think it’s time to swap them.

songs that “mean something” to me

I’m sure this is probably a meme…how can it not be right? But it came to me on my way to lunch today, so I’m going to roll with it and pretend I made it up.

So, the task:

Songs that trigger an emotional resonance, or strong memory,  when you hear them. THEY DO NOT HAVE TO BE GOOD SONGS!  Just songs that have a strong memory attached, etc.  That being said, I think most ofmine are good songs ;).

I’m trying some new tech to get the songs to you, so bear with me hear.  I’m using 8tracks.com to attempt to get some full playlists and not have to embed each song one by one via vox.  They have some weird restrictions, like the second time you play the list it will be out of order, but whatever you can skip through them to the appropriate songs.  So, just hit play and leave this tab up while the list plays, then read below for the stories…or whatever.

Various flavors of nostalgia, in chronological order, part 1:

http://8tracks.com/mixes/25021/player_v2

1. Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen – The album is one of the ones I remember my dad having in his truck when I was a little kid…the cover has stuck with me all these years. Since I got back into Springsteen years later, the nostalgia effect is mostly muted – but this song still has it – mostly because it reminds me of the album cover of the cassette in his dashboard.
2. Down on the Corner – Creedence Clearwater Revival – While my dad did also have a Chronicle I cassette in his truck, and this does stem from that, the real resonance comes in in that I think it was the first song I learned to play on the guitar. Duh du du duh da…etc.
3. Pure Energy – Information Society -I spent YEARS trying to figure out what this song was. I hear it somewhere around 4th or 5th grade, and just remembered the chorus line: “I wan to know what you’re thinking, tell me what’s on your mind” – or whatever. I had that stuck in my head for years with no way to find out what it was (no internet back then you know, and my parents certainly didn’t know). I eventually found out the name of the song and band *I THINK* from Jeremy J. in 7th or 8th grade. He had a cassette that I think had this album on one side, and their second (not so good) album on the second.
4. She’s the Queen – Starflyer 59 – I’m not sure why this is the Starflyer song that’s stuck in my head for this period, but it is what it is.  It reminds me of when my musical tastes were finally starting to come into their own in 7th or 8th grade.  I started getting rid of all the random cassettes I bought as a kid (Beach Boys, Motley Crue,  Madonna,  a bunch of random stuff really) and moving on to stuff I actually liked for personal reasons.
5. Selling the Drama – Live –<cheesy as fuck teen-drama warning> OK.  So, this was the song I would sing under my breath to keep myself going when my HS girlfriend broke up with me and then I saw her kissing another guy a few days later.  I think, that’s how it sequences in my mind anyway.  So yeah you know I was like …15?  16?  My tiny, angsty world was ending for a few weeks or a month or so there, and instead of talking to people like a normal person I would walk around singing this song.  TOTALLY overdramatic I KNOW THIS.  But, you know, shit seems important at that age ;). I wasn’t even really a Live fan…this song just stuck for some reason.
6. Stars – Hum -I can’t quite place this one – I’m not sure if it was late High School (I think it was), or early post-HS.  Either way, I’m sitting at the (only) gas station in Templeton (which has since closed down due to the economy – I think there is one other station now though), and I think it’s after midnight because that’s the only time the local rock station plays non top-20 shit…and this comes on and blows my mind.  I spend years trying to find the name of the band – (not sure how long it took to find them, but I did eventually!.  I’m thinking HS now, because the internet was still small enough that I couldn’t just search up the lyrics.
7. 3 AM – Matchbox 20 -Reminds me of driving around the streets of San Luis, after my first college “party” I think. A guy I worked with at Cuesta had invited me.  The whole thing was rather awkward and not particularly entertaining, but still a worthwhile experience.  I think I was lost  on the way home for a few minutes or something, and it was exactly 3 am, and this song came on the radio.  I’m sure the DJ thought it was funny, but it stuck in my mind and locked in that moment.
8. Molly – Sponge & What do you want from me? – Monaco – Ahh, college.  These are the “Isla Vista nights” songs for me.   Ahh, San Raf 6th floor. There were more, but these are the two that still cling to my memory.  We had several mix cds we made for warming up/pre-drinking…but I think these were on the one I liked the most.  Hearing them now I still get a little pumped.  And miss alcohol.
9. Lost Ones – Lauryn Hill – If the two above songs are the San Raf nights, the whole Miseducation album is San Raf days.  We all rotated discs on the cd player, and this one was Ryan’s – but I think we all liked it, so it got more play than if just he were playing it.  This was the first hip-hop album that really got me into on an album level (although I did have Cooleyhighharmony as a kid).  Up until then, it was just the random tracks you hear on the radio.  But this – this album was something else.  I’ve looked for other hip-hop albums that appealed to me this strongly,  but haven’t found one yet (alas, poor Lauren, why the fuck did you have to go crazy?).   Every single track on this thing is solid.  That’s a rare find for me any genre – but especially for hip-hop.  So why “Lost Ones”?  Because it’s the first song after that silly intro…it got things started.
10. All My Best Friends are Metalheads – Less than Jake -This one always reminded me, in college, of the friends I’d left behind from high school. Sort of nostalgia for nostalgia type thing… that”s two levels of nostalgia for your ass!  I think I remember these feelings first triggering during on of my radio shows on the campus station too…so it reminds me of that as well.

Feel free to comment with your own songs, make your own blog post, Facebook thing, etc.  I’d love to hear what is stuck in the back of your mind, cooking up images all by itself.

To be continued…

Born in the USA turns 25

and some random foreigner writes about it.

It’s an interesting read although my (obviously American-influenced) mind thinks the writer is taking some things a little too seriously.  Springsteen performing at the Superbowl half time didn’t mean anything to me – it’s one of the pinnacles of financial success in musicianship in this country (sadly or not) – why wouldn’t he?  Sure, I would have respected him more if he’d turned it down, but I certainly don’t respect him less for doing it.  Although I didn’t see the show…maybe he did something really goofy?

Plus, hopefully it exposed some folks who might not have been otherwise exposed to his music to his message – which if you check out the Magic album still seems to line up with themes presented in Born in the USA.

Be sure to check out some audio/video for the song on an older post I made about the album itself here.

you know your

local recordstore is getting snooty when they fail to list Bruce Springsteen’s new album on their new releases list.  Because, you know, he doesn’t have many fans left, probably won’t sell many records, or whatever.  They had Franz Ferdinand and some other random indie band on the list for today.

As of today (27th) the new releases page on their website is still a week behind – not very useful!

In other news, some drunk drove his car into the front of their store Friday night.  Ouch.

Anyway, back to work & off to listen to the new album.

95% albums: Bruce Springsteen – Born in the USA

“But wait,” you say “isn’t Andy a punker?” Well, not really, although you might think that by the other albums I’ve got in my 95% bracket. I love music, in all its glori–no wait, in about 70% of its glorious forms. And rock’n’roll happens to be a nice chunk of that. And this happens to be one of the records I grew up on; I remember my dad had this cassette and CCR’s Chronicle I in his truck. Not that nostalgia = greatness, but this is great.

Falling in 1984 between two very different albums (Nebraska-1982 & Tunnel of Love-1987), this album seems to share the somewhat bleak outlook of Nebraska and some of the up-tempo-ness of Tunnel of Love. If you want to try and find a way to label it as a bridge between them that is. I don’t feel that need, but I thought I would point at it and wave.

Every song on here could have been a single – and indeed 9/12 tracks on here were released as singles – and they ALL broke the Billboard top 10. Not that charts mean anything, but for a rock album to have that many top 10 singles? That’s pretty miraculous. I can’t even think of an album in my conscious memory that had that many singles. Hell, that’s more listenable songs than are on many albums.

I am annoyed that John Jerry used No Surrender as his campaign song, because that’s my favorite song off the album, and John is a douche. Oh well. Can’t win ’em all. Funnier is Reagan’s rather famous usage of Born in the USA…whose lyrics he most not have even read because, while this may sound like a happy go US song, it’s really a bleak portrait of a Vietnam vet’s life after his return home. Wise choice Ronnie, wise choice.

Overall I’d put this album on par with Energy as near-perfect, well past 95%, 98% even – beyond that I can’t fine tune it. In some ways it’s stronger – as the result of years of refinement in artistry and touring, in other ways Energy is stronger – as a genre-creating/defining sound created by young kids with comparatively little experience.

Here’s the (I think, I don’t actually remember so I couldn’t verify) original Born in the USA video:

Go 80s headbands & jeans!!

And here’s how he often plays it now (and evidently how it was intended to be performed, supposedly he was talked into speeding it up for the album version or something.  I like both versions; different aspects shine through in each variation.):

Here’s a live version of Downbound Train (a little like a Nebraska track on steroids):

Crummy video quality I know, but It seemed to have better sound than some of the others I found. Here’s a random cover I found by the Cardigans (a very underrated band that consistently puts out excellent albums):

I have to say though, this is not one of their better covers – it’s good, but not great. Although I’ve never heard them live before, maybe they are better on disc than in person? Who knows, I’d like to see them someday…but I’m aiming to see Bruce first. Hopefully he comes through here on the next tour!! And he’d better bring the damn E-Streeters…I passed on seeing him when he was on his solo acoustic tour because I have a feeling I’ll only get to see him once and I want to make it count.

Shit, that’s a lot of videos. Here’s one more for kicks. Eddy Vedder doing a pretty decent cover of No Surrender:

I love that song, it’s been a sort of mantra for me for years. Simple, and to the point, but still managing to have very evocative imagery.

I’ve been tempted to work it into some kind of tattoo. I still may.