Your Ten Favorite...... Springsteen songs

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 6:25 pm

I'm a pretty recent convert to the Boss, so my ears are pretty fresh. I'm deep into the deep cuts yet, but here are my early favorites:

Racing in the Streets
Highway Patrolman
Independence Day
For You
The River
Atlantic City
The Ghost of Tom Joad
My City of Ruins
Badlands
Darkness on the Edge of Town

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 7:20 pm

Its Hard To Be A Saint In The City
Rosalita
Hungry Heart
Drive All Night
Shes The One
Atlantic City
Jungleland
Racing in the Street
The River
Bobby Jean

senior_service · Post by **senior_service** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 7:56 pm

Badlands
The River
4th of July, Asbury Park
Paradise
American Skin (41 Shots)
Highway Patrolman
Stolen Car
Drive All Night
I'm On Fire
Thunder Road

Post by **BlueChair** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:20 pm

4th of July, Asbury Park
Spirit In The Night
Kitty's Back
Incident on 57th Street
Meeting Across The River
Racing In The Street
Sherry Darling
Out In The Street
State Trooper
Bobby Jean

oily slick · Post by **oily slick** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 11:14 pm

Point Blank
Born To Run
Lucky Town
Blinded By The Light
Jungleland
For You
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Brilliant Disguise
Waitin' On A Sunny Day
Streets Of Philadelphia

Mr. Average · Post by **Mr. Average** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:33 am

Jungleland (without question my alltime favorite Bruce song, by a mile, while the others comparatively disappear down Flamingo Lane)

She's The One
State Trooper
Candy's Room
Badlands
Cadillac Ranch
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Spirit In the Night
Tunnel Of Love
57 Channels (And Nothin' On)
Meeting Across The River

Mostly all early stuff. Bruce gave way to the Miles/Coltrane/Cannonball revolution, and while I know I missed some great stuff, when he bacame a political spokesman for Kerry, I lost interest in investing. AS a result, I haven't heard the Tom Joad album, which I understand is among the very best.

So as I get older, and gain some perspective, I expect to pick this lbum up soon. Of his later works (err, last decade!) which are the standouts?

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 6:30 am

Mr. A, I'm pretty sure the Tom Joad album predates his Kerry endorsements by a few years. That album is good, but not the masterpiece that Nebraska is. And while the Rising came in for quite a lot of derision on this board when it was released, I like it very much. IMHO it could have stood to be pared down by 2-3 songs and I would call it a masterpiece.

Post by **BlueChair** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 6:59 am

pophead2k wrote:Mr. A, I'm pretty sure the Tom Joad album predates his Kerry endorsements by a few years.

Try a decade.

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:35 am

Another toughie this one

1.New York City Serenade
2.Thunder Road
3.Jungleland
4.One Step Up
5.Two Faces
6.You're Missing
7.Racing in the Streets
8.4th of July, Asbury Park
9. Incident on 57th Street
10.Atlantic City
11.Walk like a Man
12.Spirit in the Night
13.I Wanna Marry You
14.Nothing Man
15.All that Heaven will Allow

oily slick · Post by **oily slick** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:39 am

oddly enough, Bruce endorsed the movie Carrie when Born to Run was on the charts.

crash8_durham · Post by **crash8_durham** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:43 am

1) No Surrender
2) Hungry Heart
3)Tunnel Of Love
4) Brilliant Diguise
5) Thunder Road
6) Glory Days
7) Born in the USA

The River
9) Jungle Land
10) the one he made up as he went in High Fidelity

Chrille · Post by **Chrille** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 12:06 pm

I'm not familiar with post-Tunnel Springsteen with the exception of the Seeger sessions andparts of The Rising

1. Meeting Across The River

Adam Raised A Cain
Candy's Room
Racing In The Streets
Sherry Darling
The River
Point Blank
I'm On Fire
Bobby Jean
Valentine's Day

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 5:45 pm

1. Missing
2. Bobby Jean
3. NY City Serenade
4. I Wish I Were Blind
5. Point Blank
6. Jungleland
7. Hungry Heart
8. Born To Run
9. Rosalita
10.One Step Up

Mr. Average · Post by **Mr. Average** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 6:59 pm

Thank you, Pophead. I inadvertantly tied the two events together...my distancing from Bruce and the politics. They are actually only trivially related. And thanks for the recommendations, as always. I appreciate it.

And BlueChair, please excuse. When you approach 50 years of age, your sense of timing will be a bit different than it is now, at your tender young age. So now, for you, 2 years ago seems like antiguity. For me, albums that came out a decade ago can easily be mistaken for music released within the last few years. Time compresses, and you will find out, with time. And soon enough. For now, enjoy the temporal precision that comes with a life as yet unencumbered by many of the myriad of responsibilitys that come with age.

There is some wisdom that comes with age. And the rampant ideologies of youth will abate, especially for the critical thinkers, who actually take the time to look at the evidence-base, and not just the arts landscape. When you have five decades of evidence to review, you can choose to pay heed to it,and learn from it, or you can be ignorant and ignore it. I choose to try to learn from it.

I won't claim to be ignorant. I will claim, in the presence of so many intelligent people that post to this forum, that I am quite niave in many area's. I come here because I learn from people who are far more intelligent than I in many area's. For those that share without smartass derision, thank you, and God Bless you. For those who gain some sort of pleasure from derogation and smarmy posts, knock yourself out. You must feel very proud.

Thanks for setting me straight on the release date. Now, is anyone willing to provide an endorsement of Springsteens releases over the last decade? Maybe the top one or two releases?

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 7:03 pm

Atlantic City - Bruce's greatest song. All that is good about him in 3 minutes! Heartbreaking without dripping with sentimentality.

Nebraska
Badlands
My Best Was Never Good Enough
The Ghost Of Tom Joad
Youngstown
Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Jesus Was An Only Son
Maria's Bed
Independence Day

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 4:24 am

how about a patronising cunt of the year thread?

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 6:59 pm

Mr. Average wrote:Now, is anyone willing to provide an endorsement of Springsteens releases over the last decade? Maybe the top one or two releases?

From the last decade or so, there's:

The Ghost Of Tom Joad (1995 or '96) - *****
Live In NYC (2cd, 2001) - *** 1/2
The Rising (2002) - ****
Devils And Dust (2005) - ****
The Seeger Sessions (2006) - ** 1/2

The Ghost Of Tom Joad is a fine album, about as good as Nebraska, imo. Excellent in all respects.

Agree with poppie2k that The Rising may have been trimmed down for its own good. Yes it's palatable for the masses, but that doesn't stop it from able to be engaged with at higher levels of intellectual rarefiedness, particularly to muse on post-9/11 strike. It doesn't comment directly on anything politics related (though it might naturally cause someone to contemplate political aspects), or succumb to cheap shots or dummy spits a la Neil Young. And it rocks considerably at times.

Devils And Dust, could have been tweaked a bit to bring it to the standard of TGOTJ imo, a bit of fleshing out and finetuning - just my impression having got to know it. The songwriting is almost as good. But having said that it's a very impressive album, for me particularly in how he did most of it himself, convincingly creating the sound of a band (a rootsy, melodic and soulful one. Also quite rocking sometimes but it is acoustic guitar driven, including steel guitar. It features fabulous organ that I at first thought was by the great Danny 'The Phantom' Federici... not so, it was Bruce). He tried to record it very spontaneously to keep it fresh, and that works for the most part.

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 8:48 pm

bambooneedle wrote: Yes it's palatable for the masses, but that doesn't stop it from able to be engaged with at higher levels of intellectual rarefiedness

That's probably the funniest thing I've read all week.

I agree the Rising is a solid record, really beautiful in places. It's no masterpiece-- there's something out of balance-- but it's a response to 9/11 that manages to be respectful despite being raw, and personal despite telling many different stories.

I don't remember reading especially negative reviews, but I was sort of avoiding the record, so who knows. I had to wait a year to buy it and listen, knowing the intensity I'd probably be confronted with, and I was right to.

This was really hard. In the end my top ten disproportionately represented a handful of his records:

1. Jungleland
2. 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
3. For You
4. Racing In the Street
5. The River
6. Lost In the Flood
7. I'm On Fire
8. Countin' On A Miracle
9. My Hometown
10. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

Meeting Across The River should be in there too but I wanted to make room for Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, which is his most underrated rocker imo.

And despite Nick Hornby's astute observation that Thunder Road is the best rock song ever-- who doesn't know all the words to that breathless song-with-no-chorus?-- I agree with Mr. A about Jungleland being in a class by itself. It's like a damn epic.

Bruce has some weak moments, but when he's good, man, he's really good.

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 5:12 pm

I recently finally got hold of the CD re-issue of Born to Run and was listening to it just now - wow, I forgot completely about "Backstreets" - talk about "Jungleland" being on a level on its own, I think "Backstreets" is right up there , it has the same huge epic sweep ,just on a more personal level.
The way it ebbs and flows, the key change halfway through and the piano led coda, mighty stuff.

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 3:56 am

Mechanical Grace wrote: 1. Jungleland
2. 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
3. For You
4. Racing In the Street
5. The River
6. Lost In the Flood
7. I'm On Fire
8. Countin' On A Miracle
9. My Hometown
10. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

Meeting Across The River should be in there too but I wanted to make room for Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, which is his most underrated rocker imo.

I got the box set of Born to Run as a gift earlier this year and the documentary on it's making was really interesting. Bruce was so honest about Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out. He said that he has absolutely no idea what it's about!

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 5:19 am

Yeah that documentary is great, but I was kinda surprised at that, I think he's more forgotten what it means than it didnt mean anything. Im sure Ive read him say before, and if you read the lyrics its kinda obvious that its some kinda stand off with cops/drug dealers or whatever. I think he was just being self depreciating there as he goes on to then see how many zillion times he re-wrote all the lyrics.
Real interesting doco - loved the snippets of the different intro's used in songs, the strings on Born to Run etc. He really slaved over that record.

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 10:10 am

Agree about Backstreets.

top 10

Racing In The Street
Highway Patrolman
Valentines Day
County Fair
Backstreets
The Line
Walk Like A Man
Growing Up
Point Blank
My Father's House

other notables

4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
The Rising
With Every Wish
Sinaloa Cowboys
Jungleland
Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Leah
Lucky Town
Missing

Fishfinger king · Post by **Fishfinger king** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:50 pm

1. Born to run
2. Badlands
3. Thunder Road
4. Hungry heart
5. Prove it all night
6. The ties that bind
7. Stand on it
8. Tenth Avenue freeze out
9. Sad eyes
10. Rosalita

King Hoarse · Post by **King Hoarse** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 6:46 pm

Thunder Road
All That Heaven Will Allow
If I Should Fall Behind (especially the version with E Street taking a verse each. Nils sings so beautifully on that one)
This Hard Land
The Hitter
Atlantic City
Meeting Across The River
New York City Serenade
10th Avenue Freeze Out
Valentine's Day