Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born on September 23,
1949. His debut album was 1973’s
GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK, N.J. 1975’s
BORN TO RUN was quite popular. In 1984
he released his seventh studio album BORN IN THE U.S.A. on Columbia
Records. It was the best selling album
of 1985 in the United States and his most successful album ever. It sold 15 million copies in the U.S. and 30
million worldwide. The album produced an
incredible 7 Top 10 singles. The iconic
front cover was shot by Annie Leibovitz.
BORN IN THE U.S.A. was the first compact disc manufactured in the U.S.
for commercial release. Previously
Columbia had imported its cd’s from Japan.
On this album Bruce is joined by the E Street Band comprised of Roy
Bittan, Clarence Clemons, Danny Federici, Garry Tallent, Steven Van Zandt, and
Max Weinberg. Clemons and Federici are
sadly no longer with us.
‘Born in the U.S.A.’ is a grassroots rocker that starts the
album off on a political note: “Born down in a dead man’s town/The first kick I
took was when I hit the ground/You end up like a dog that’s been beat too
much/Till you spend half your life just covering up/Born in the U.S.A./I was
born in the U.S.A. (2X)/Born in the U.S.A./Got in a little hometown jam, so
they put a rifle in my hand/Sent me off to a foreign land/To go and kill the
yellow man”. ‘Cover Me’ is a pop/rock
number that finds Bruce yearning for shelter and security: “The times are tough
now/Just getting tougher/This old world is rough/It’s just getting
rougher/Cover me/Come on baby, cover me/Well, I’m looking for a lover who will
come on in and cover me/Promise me baby you won’t let them find us/Hold me in
your arms/Let’s let our love blind us/Cover me/Shut the door and cover
me”. Richie ‘La Bamba’ Rosenberg
performs background vocals.
‘Darlington County’ includes a sax solo and is very cheerful
musically. It is a story song that
begins like this: “Driving in to Darlington County/Me and Wayne on the Fourth
of July/Driving in to Darlington County/Looking for some work on the county
line/We drove down from New York City/Where the girls are pretty but they just
want to know your name/Driving in to Darlington City/Got a union connection
with an uncle of Wayne’s/We drove 800 miles without seeing a cop/We got rock
and roll music blasting off the T-top”.
‘Working on the Highway’ is a highly clappable, upbeat song. It tells the relatable story of blue collar
workers: “Friday night’s pay night, guys fresh out of work/Talking about the
weekend, scrubbing off the dirt/Some heading home to their families, some
looking to get hurt/Some going down to Stovell wearing trouble on their
shirts/I work for the county out on 95/All day I hold a red flag and watch the
traffic pass me by/In my head I keep a picture of a pretty little miss/Someday
mister I’m gonna lead a better life than this”.
‘Downbound Train’ is a song about losing one’s partner: “She
just said ‘Joe I gotta go/We had it once, we ain’t got it anymore’/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”.
‘I’m on Fire’ is a great ballad that finds Bruce sexually charged: “Hey
little girl is your daddy home/Did he go away and leave you all alone?/I got a
bad desire/Oh, I’m on fire/Tell me now baby, is he good to you?/Can he do to
you the things that I do?/I can take you higher/I’m on fire.../At night I wake
up with the sheets soaking wet and a freight train running through the middle
of my head/Only you can cool my
desire/Oh, I’m on fire”.
The Boss performed the next song ‘No Surrender’ at several
John Kerry presidential rallies for the 2004 campaign. This energetic rocker includes these words of
determination: “We made a promise, we swore we’d always remember/No retreat,
baby no surrender/Like soldiers in the winter’s night with a vow to defend/No
retreat, baby no surrender”. ‘Bobby
Jean’ uses sax to good effect, as does the next track. This one finds Bruce missing a dear friend: “Now
you hung with me when all the others turned away, turned up their nose/We liked
the same music, we liked the same bands, we liked the same clothes/Yeah, we
told each other that we were the wildest, the wildest things we’d ever seen/Now
I wished you would have told me/I wished I could have talked to you/Just to say
goodbye Bobby Jean”.
‘I’m Goin’ Down’ is a terrific song that talks of how one
partner can emotionally leave a relationship: “I pull you close now baby, but
when we kiss I can feel a doubt/I remember back when we started/My kisses used
to turn you inside out/I used to drive you to work in the morning/Friday night
I’d drive you all around/You used to love to drive me wild/But lately girl, you
get your kicks from just driving me down”.
‘Glory Days’ is one of my favourite mainstream rock songs ever. It speaks of how we have a tendency to focus
on our past: “Now I think I’m going down to the well tonight/And I’m going to
drink till I get my fill/And I hope when I get old, I don’t sit around thinking
about it, but I probably will/Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture/A
little of the glory of/Well time slips away and leaves you with nothing
mister/But boring stories of glory days”.
‘Dancing in the Dark’ was the first single from the
album. It hit No 2 on the Billboard Hot
100 chart. A pre-Friends Courtney Cox
appears in the music video. This
fast-paced pop/rock song finds Bruce longing for companionship: “Man, I’m just
tired and bored with myself/Hey there baby, I could use just a little help/You
can’t start a fire/You can’t start a fire without a spark/This gun’s for
hire/Even if we’re just dancing in the dark”.
‘My Hometown’ is the last song on the album and was the last single from
it. This quiet song paints a dismal
economic picture that is still relevant today: “Now Main Street’s whitewashed
windows and vacant stores/Seems like there ain’t nobody wants to come down here
no more/They’re closing down the textile mill across the railroad
tracks/Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain’t coming back to
your hometown/To your hometown (3X)”.
BORN IN THE U.S.A. is hands down one of the best rock albums
of all time! From start to finish there
is not a filler song on it. The stories
Bruce tells are down to earth, and emotionally delivered. This is an album for blue collar, working
class people to be proud of. This album
has only gotten better with the passage of time. I’m rating it 98%. For more info visit: www.brucespringsteen.net and www.columbiarecords.com.