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Springsteen Born to Run (press for the book)

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    #26
    Thanks for the bump. So obviously I finished it and it remained really enjoyable throughout. What I admired about Bruce's approach was that he didn't kid the reader (or himself) that the later years were as important. He becomes increasingly brief about the albums themselves after around Tunnel,of Love and skims them a lot more apart from The Rising and one or two others. By that stage he's writing much more about life, marriage, kids, his mental state etc.

    The last twenty-five years of career probably account for about a third of the book. I love that honesty; so many rock (auto)bios treat the entire career equally when it just doesn't warrant.

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      #27
      I thought there was a Springsteen thread but I can't find it through the search here or advanced search via Google. Anyway, I've been purchasing a lot of the live CDs released through Nugs ( http://live.brucespringsteen.net/ ). And two weeks ago I bought the Born in the USA CD from a $1 bin. For some reason I had never purchased the album or the CD, although I never really appreciated his music until 10-15 years ago. I'm struck by how flat that Born in the USA CD sounds compared to the live CDs. These live CDs reflect an energy that seems central to his music. I assume that folks on this board who are big fans are already know that these live releases have been coming out each month, but for others, they're worth checking out.

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        #28
        Originally posted by danielmak View Post
        These live CDs reflect an energy that seems central to his music.
        And that's pretty much it in a nutshell. As the +1 of an obsessive Bruce fan, I can attest to the live shows being a thing entirely apart from the recorded music. He's a man who is powered by the energy of his fans (a bit like Monsters Inc, if you know what I mean....). When the audience is low-energy (saw it bad once in Detroit), Bruce is low-energy. When they're up for it (almost always), he's up there too. Way up sometimes. I haven't read the book, but Mrs WOM says he's very honest about the live shows basically being his reason for living. He struggles mightily with depression and the live experience is clearly what he gets out of bed for.

        He jokes in Springsteen on Broadway, though, that he's the "working class hero who's never held a day-job in his life...until now.....and I....don't...like...it...one....bit....".

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          #29
          I always thought that was the essential reason why the Meadowlands shows were so special. It was the most symbiotic audience possible.

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            #30
            The Broadway show will be released on Netflix at the end of the run, Bruce sez.

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              #31
              He struggles mightily with depression and the live experience is clearly what he gets out of bed for.

              This for sure, it also allows him to become one of the guys for a few hours, he's not just the Boss. He explicitly credits live performances to "Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band," while the albums are just "Bruce Springsteen," for that reason. In the studio he's obsessive and hyper-analytical, haunted by details and the pursuit of a perfection he often can't identify (the video of the making of Born to Run illustrates this side of him really well.) On stage all that goes away.

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                #32
                Originally posted by WOM View Post
                He's a man who is powered by the energy of his fans (a bit like Monsters Inc, if you know what I mean....).
                He creeps into their bedrooms while they're asleep, to suck the energy out of scaring them into screaming wakefulness?

                Wowzers.

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                  #33
                  I guess the new shows (other than these Broadway shows) are released for download and CD immediately, but a large percentage of the older releases are from New Jersey shows (to UA's point).

                  One thing that I find interesting paying closer attention to his lyrics is why he would have such a large female fan base. Most of those early hits (and deeper cuts) were about girls, cars, or getting out of town with girls in cars. His songwriting is very male-centric. And a lot of times the main male character is undone by a woman (best example is the brilliant River but also I think about Highway 29).
                  Last edited by danielmak; 10-09-2018, 00:35.

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                    #34
                    Jersey girls want to get out of Jersey towns just as much as Jersey guys, if not more so.

                    Having to do so with a Jersey guy at the wheel is a small price to pay.

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                      #35
                      We've discussed this before on here I think. It's something that's been true since day one. In the post Born to Run/Darkness at the Edge of Town period, I worked in a small office office with three women, all of whom were enamored, to greater or lesser degree, with Bruce and we discussed his appeal a lot. Then, I think he projected a realistic, sympathetic, attractive and romantic example of masculinity. Bearing in mind this was largely still the tight spandex thrusting-crotch era of RAWWWK! it isn't surprising women should prefer him really. I recall an interview with a young woman from Jersey at that time who was asked why she liked him: "There's no side to him. Y'know you can trust him." But I'm not really equipped to deal with this. Some of the women in Springsteen and do so so extremely eloquently. I thoroughly recommend it if you haven't seen it already.

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                        #36
                        Originally posted by Amor de Cosmos View Post
                        Some of the women in Springsteen and I do so so extremely eloquently. I thoroughly recommend it if you haven't seen it already.
                        That doc is just nuts. Even Mrs WOM - with a tenuous grip on sanity, Bruce-wise - said "some of those women are just f*cking nuts".

                        Women-wise, read the lyrics to Thunder Road. It's a stunningly beautiful piece of poetry. Any woman (or man) who wouldn't respond to it needs checking for a pulse. Sure, written by a man but to a woman, and she's both hero and victim. The empathy and affection is real and clear.

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                          #37
                          I'd be prepared to bet my former colleague is in that documentary.

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                            #38
                            If she's actually told her children that 'that's your daddy', then she's in there.

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                              #39
                              Originally posted by WOM View Post
                              Women-wise, read the lyrics to Thunder Road. It's a stunningly beautiful piece of poetry. Any woman (or man) who wouldn't respond to it needs checking for a pulse. Sure, written by a man but to a woman, and she's both hero and victim. The empathy and affection is real and clear.
                              "You ain't a beauty but, hey, you're alright"

                              Gee. Thanks.

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                                #40
                                Yeah, but back then Romance for most people was basically "for a big girl, you don't sweat much." or "how would you like to be buried with my people?"

                                It's all relative. And so was a lot of dating back then as well.

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                                  #41
                                  My Funny Valentine comes to mind as another slightly insulting romantic classic.

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                                    #42
                                    Originally posted by WOM View Post
                                    That doc is just nuts. Even Mrs WOM - with a tenuous grip on sanity, Bruce-wise - said "some of those women are just f*cking nuts".

                                    Women-wise, read the lyrics to Thunder Road. It's a stunningly beautiful piece of poetry. Any woman (or man) who wouldn't respond to it needs checking for a pulse. Sure, written by a man but to a woman, and she's both hero and victim. The empathy and affection is real and clear.
                                    It is absolutely, it's honest but it's also of it's time (as AB and MsD note.) "The door's open but the ride it ain't free." It's a choice, not a threat, but one most young women back then would recognise as real, so better perhaps than an icky seduction line.

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                                      #43
                                      True. He was 25 / 26 when he wrote that, so maturity comes into it. And also its time, which was markedly less 'enlightened' than now.

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                                        #44
                                        Some of the lyrics highlight my point but then those same lyrics are surrounded by stuff that most people would want to hear:

                                        So you're scared and you're thinking that maybe we ain't that young anymore
                                        Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
                                        ....
                                        Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair
                                        Well, the night's busting open, these two lanes will take us anywhere
                                        We got one last chance to make it real
                                        .....
                                        There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away
                                        They haunt this dusty beach road in the skeleton frames of burned-out Chevrolets
                                        They scream your name at night in the street
                                        Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet

                                        The last part is delivered particularly well in that Hammersmith Odeon 75 cd/doc--that version of Thunder Road is excellent.

                                        I saw that other doc. I don't remember much from it, nutty or sane. I'll look for it again.

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                                          #45
                                          I like the recent turn this thread has taken. Thunder Road is indeed a wonder, although my favourite is the mini-opera of Jungleland.

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                                            #46
                                            Originally posted by MsD View Post
                                            "You ain't a beauty but, hey, you're alright"
                                            The next line is important, though: "Oh, and that's alright with me".

                                            You're average...he's average...let's go and make the most of it anyway.

                                            That what I hear in it.

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                                              #47
                                              Oooh, you had me at "average".

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                                                #48
                                                You're so not New Jersey...

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                                                  #49
                                                  Originally posted by danielmak View Post
                                                  I saw that other doc. I don't remember much from it, nutty or sane. I'll look for it again.
                                                  A couple of sequences resonated for me. One from a young woman in a downward spin after finishing an MA and not able to find a job. She started driving a truck and listening to Nebraska a lot. It made her realise that it's actually OK to do that, it's not a failure. Another longish, extremely articulate, memoir by a woman who, knowing nothing about him, went a Springsteen concert with a bunch of schoolfriends. She became separated from them, and end up briefly on stage. Both are very affecting.

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                                                    #50
                                                    One other thing about Thunder Road that I find interesting is the part where he sings "Well, I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk." The line seems fairly iconic in his repertoire but it doesn't really fit in the narrative that is unfolding. The inference is that the guitar can offer them some kind of freedom but the line doesn't really fit with what comes before and after, lyrics that seem a bit more poetic and desperate. And the hyper-upbeat delivery at that point (esp. in live versions) doesn't fit with the lines that lead in and out. You can tell that I've obviously been spending a bit too much time listening to him lately. Haha.


                                                    Related to that doc, here is a video that I've always found interesting, in part because it reflected a time when one had to walk around with a big camcorder to capture something in the streets versus hundreds of people walking around with video cameras in their pockets:
                                                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQzpefkdPl0

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