Bruce Springsteen 1949-Rock Singer

A Life in Music and Lyrics

Discography

Early YearsThe Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle- About life in New Jersey as a young man- Cars, chasing women, hanging out, growing up- Musical sound – rock, messy, complicated, too many ideas all there at once(Play a song from album)

Lyrics of ‘Growing 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... growin' up Ooh... growin' up

BreakthroughBorn to Run‘I have just seen the future of rock n roll and his name is Bruce Springsteen.’ Time Magazine 1975All-American, working class man’s world. Dreams of escaping a boring world (‘Born to Run’, ‘Thunder Road’), love, city lifePlay part of songs

Lyrics of ‘Thunder Road’Oh oh, come take my handWe're riding out tonight to case the promised landOh oh oh oh, Thunder RoadOh, Thunder Road, oh, Thunder RoadLying out there like a killer in the sunHey, I know it's late, we can make it if we runOh oh oh oh, Thunder RoadSit tight, take hold, Thunder Road

Well, I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talkAnd my car's out back if you're ready to take that long walkFrom your front porch to my front seatThe door's open but the ride ain't freeAnd I know you're lonely for words that I ain't spokenBut tonight we'll be free, all the promises'll be broken

There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent awayThey haunt this dusty beach road in the skeleton frames of burned-out ChevroletsThey scream your name at night in the streetYour graduation gown lies in rags at their feetAnd in the lonely cool before dawnYou hear their engines rolling onBut when you get to the porch, they're gone on the windSo Mary, climb inIt's a town full of losers, I'm pulling out of here to win

Identity changingThe next three albums all follow a pathDarkness on the Edge of Town, The River, Nebraska.They are moving away from the city to the isolation of the countryside.Springsteen himself was coping with his celebrity status and really wanted nothing to do with it – he was running away from the glitz and glamor.(Play Johnny 99)

Lyrics of ‘Johnny 99’Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late that monthRalph went out lookin' for a job but he couldn't find noneHe came home too drunk from mixin' Tanqueray and wineHe got a gun shot a night clerk now they call'm Johnny 99

Down in the part of town where when you hit a red light you don't stopJohnny's wavin' his gun around and threatenin' to blow his topWhen an off-duty cop snuck up on him from behindOut in front of the Club Tip Top they slapped the cuffs on Johnny 99

Well the city supplied a public defender but the judge was Mean John BrownHe came into the courtroom and stared young Johnny downWell the evidence is clear gonna let the sentence son fit the crimePrison for 98 and a year and we'll call it even Johnny 99A fist fight broke out in the courtroom they had to drag Johnny's girl awayHis mama stood up and shouted "Judge don't take my boy this way"Well son you got a statement you'd like to makeBefore the bailiff comes to forever take you away

Now judge I had debts no honest man could payThe bank was holdin' my mortgage and they were gonna take my house awayNow I ain't sayin' that makes me an innocent manBut it was more `n all this that put that gun in my hand

Well your honor I do believe I'd be better off deadSo if you can take a man's life for the thoughts that's in his headThen sit back in that chair and think it over judge one more timeAnd let `em shave off my hair and put me on that killin' line

Born in the USASpringsteen had now moved from city to town to the river to the state and now the whole country.Place is obviously very important to him. The idea of America runs through all of his work. Specifically working class men.Some political ideas begin to emerge – ‘Born down in a dead man’s town, the first kick I took was when I hit the ground’Play ‘Born in the USA excerpt.

Lyrics of ‘Born in the USA’

Born down in a dead man's townThe first kick I took was when I hit the groundYou end up like a dog that's been beat too muchTill you spend half your life just covering up

Born in the U.S.A.I was born in the U.S.A.I was born in the U.S.A.Born in the U.S.A.

Got in a little hometown jamSo they put a rifle in my handSent me off to a foreign landTo go and kill the yellow man

Boring Part of CareerBlah blah

The RisingNow in his late fifties he seems to have found something anew.It feels like he’s gone back to the romance of ‘Thunder Road’, but with a more mature outlook

The Rising - LyricsI see you Mary in the gardenIn the garden of a thousand sighsThere's holy pictures of our childrenDancin' in a sky filled with lightMay I feel your arms around meMay I feel your blood mix with mineA dream of life comes to meLike a catfish dancin' on the end of my line

Sky of blackness and sorrow (a dream of life)Sky of love, sky of tears (a dream of life)Sky of glory and sadness (a dream of life)Sky of mercy, sky of fear (a dream of life)Sky of memory and shadow (a dream of life)Your burnin' wind fills my arms tonightSky of longing and emptiness (a dream of life)Sky of fullness, sky of blessed life

Come on up for the risingCome on up, lay your hands in mineCome on up for the risingCome on up for the rising tonight