Totally bizarre true confession: I once spontaneously bellowed out the first verse of Thunder Road in the middle of doing 108 sun salutations in a yoga class in Mexico...believe it or not, it went over quite well...got a rousing ovation at the end, even...though I was horrified recently to learn there’s video footage out there....it’s a long story......didn’t see Springsteen’s halftime show...missed the whole Superbowl, in fact...but I did go see The Wrestler, with Bruce over the closing credits, which was fitting, since it was kinda like one of his slice-of-a-fucked-up-life songs in movie form...
...listen, I’ve never once referred to Springsteen as the boss...and never bought into the Bruce persona...yeah, I hear ya: what?! The boss doesn’t have a persona! He’s a regular guy from Jersey, just like me!...um...yeah...that’s kinda my point....anyway, each of his albums has at least one or two of these tiny-but-remarkably-complete short stories that make Raymond Carver seem long-winded...about people on the bottom and most likely staying there...American dreams crumbling into the dust of disappointment and desperation...I got Mary pregnant and man that was all she wrote...there’s a sadness in her pretty face a sadness all her own from which no man can keep Candy safe...I’m tired of comin’ out on this losin’ end so honey last night I met this guy and I’m gonna do a little favor for him...like Mickey Rourke, washed up, ailing and alone, doing the only thing he knows, even though he knows it’s gonna kill him...but, somehow, all finding fleeting moments of grace...remembered swimming in a transcendent river, driving deep into the night, walking the boardwalk in Atlantic City, flying through the air as the crowd cheers...or, like Eddie and the other guy in Meeting Across the River, a couple of lowlifes who’ve stumbled into a big score that’s likely to leave them either dead or in prison...that’s their last chance...nonetheless, in the brief moments before their seemingly inevitable doom, saying tonight we’ve got style....
10 comments:
So...is your yoga class cover of Thunder Road out there on You Tube? I do believe I'm going to look!
I never called him the boss either, come to think of it. Sure loved his concert in Portland about five years ago....
Hi drjay. Am watching the Superbowl only for the commercials, but find myself paying more attention to the game as it's more interesting than the commercials...aaargh! Saw Bruce at halftime, but I'm not a Springsteen fan at all and never understood "The Boss" thing. Unfortunately, he seems to have lost whatever voice he had...aaargh, again.
Am looking forward to seeing The Wrestler as I always liked Mickey Rourke. I saw Gran Torino last night and thought it was pretty good (a movie I would call a "boo-hooer"). I think the Golden Globe went to The Wrestler for the Springsteen song, but the song from Gran Torino was pretty good, maybe better, I think.
p.s. I'll be combing the internet for that footage... :o)
I just went to see the Wrestler and I found it really sad how life imates art especially when it comes to Mickey Rourke. The movie was sad but for me it felt like I was watching a documentary about Mickey.
The boss, I nevre refered to him as the boss either. I don't know why he got that name but it's a strange thing how we give people nick names in general.
My fav Springsteen album is Nebraska and yesterday I finally bought a copy on CD. I've had 2 vinyl copies that I listen to.
Yeah, Dr. Jay I still use a turntable. I'm a mp3 user also cd's but vinyl is my fav. I have a usb turntable that I'm converting my vinyl on to my Mac...it's wicked.
Take Care
JB
I'm not a Springsteen fan and I don't get "The boss" thing either. Neither do we watch Superbowl here ... so ho hum!
I like some of his stuff. I am not a hardcore "Boss" fan either, but Bruce--I like.
57 Channels and there's nothing on is a catchy little ditty.
Human Touch, Of course I like that dark stuff. Some of it is reminiscent of Johnie Cash's later experimentation with 9 Inch Nails lyrics, and of course Damn your Eyes, which I first heard sung by Clint Eastwood on 2 Mules for Sister Sarah.
Bursting out into song is interesting. Its like the ultimate Freudian slip sometimes.
I'd like to see The Wrestler. I like Rourke (particularly in Barfly, buying all of those rounds for his friends. *L*)
I'm not particularly crazy about the Boss, either. I much prefered the Sesame Street remake of Born to Run; "Born to Add." Might be on YouTube. If so, have a gander for "Letter B" also (Beatles "Let it Be.") Classics!
I don't even know what the Superbowl is!! Does that win me points, or do I drop several points in your esteem as a result??
As a teenager, I had a crush on Bruce, and I loved listening to his music.
Never paid much attention to the lyrcis beyond a few key phrases (even if we're just dancing in the dark). Don't have any albums now, as they were all 'records' when I had them before...
I didn't watch the Superbowl either, first one I haven't. But I have no idea who this Bruce Springsteen guy is, never heard of him before?
Namaste
I come from a crappy dead end little English town and "The River" by Bruce Springsteen makes me want to cry; might be some cultural differences what with it being England and not America I'm thinking of, but that's just about everyone I ever went to school with he's singing about.
Well, you had me at Thunder Road. I made eight pilgrimages to Springsteen concerts last year and only one stop at the Port Angeles town cemetery to sit beside Ray Carver's remains and listen to the little bell jingle over the sound of the Straights of Juan de Fuca. We learned more from a three minute record than we ever did from reading Cliff Notes to The Sound and the Fury.
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