Today is my 30th birthday and after much consideration about what kind of playlist to create I settled on the only logical decision and pulled together some of my most impactful and enjoyable Bruce Springsteen songs. If you've been so kind to have read some of these posts you'd know that Bruce Springsteen has been the most influential and spiritual artist in my life. The connection goes beyond music appreciation and hobby - it travels into family ties, heartbreak, good times, self reflection, and utter happiness.
This is a list not confined by a, quote unquote, my favorite Bruce Song's tagline, but one filled with stories and connections that have shaped who I am today. Without the music of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band I don't know where I would be. I know I'd be pretty similar, but I'd be lacking a huge part of what it means to be me. Throughout these 30 years I've seen the Boss and the band sixteen times live, Bruce on Broadway twice, and listened to every single song hundreds of times. It almost seems silly to think about creating this monumental playlist on my 30th birthday with anything but Bruce.
Instead of the usual seven track playlist I decided to add eight - the first connection pulls two songs together that have come to have some of the deepest meanings I've ever had with any of the Boss's songs. "Ghosts" and "Letter To You" are two of Bruce's newest songs to be released but two tracks that bring me to my knees anytime I hear them.
Letter To You - Released on September 10th, 2020, my first birthday since and ten months after the passing of my Father's best friend, my Uncle Billy, "Letter To You" graced my ears as I woke up to start my day as a fresh twenty-seven year old. I had no idea that Bruce was working on any new music and had no hopes and dreams that I would be getting any such surprise on my birthday.
My Uncle Billy was the biggest Bruce fan I've ever known or heard of. He attended in upwards of 500 Springsteen concerts from August 23, 1978, his and my father's first show, up until a few years before his passing. We would hear all about the dates he went to, how he got himself into the pit almost every time, how he could have gotten himself in the pit but wanted to sit in the seats once and a while, and where he was traveling next - sometimes seeing multiple shows in different states over consecutive nights. I can guarantee if I was older and was around for the intense touring years of the Boss I'd be right beside my father and Uncle Billy as we spent all our money following a man that made everyone in the crowd feel three hours of magic and ecstasy.
The Letter To You album came with excitement and hope but also with the unfortunate realization that this was the first Springsteen music my Uncle Billy would never hear. I wouldn't put it past him to have heard some demos of these songs before they were released. He once sent me a blurry, titled photo of a wall of guitars that, only so appropriately and in true Billy style, came from the inside of you guessed who, Bruce Springsteen's own barn recording studio at Bruce's Estate. He told me he snuck a photo even though he wasn't supposed to and that Bruce wasn't there that day. Who else would know someone who knew someone who knew Bruce and had access to his property when the Boss wasn't around? Uncle Billy was an enigma of sorts able to sneak his way into places just because of his love for music and with the connections he made over the years.
As I rose from my bed having seen the news of new music in what felt like a special birthday present from Bruce himself, I hooked up my phone to my stereo, turned it up loud and absorbed the power of the sound around me. In realization of how I was hearing this for the first time and that Billy would never hear this new music I turned the fucker up all the way so that my stereo could reach him where ever he may be. I sat there tears in my eyes full of a mixture of emotions that tore me apart. I had lost a vital aspect of my life, my father had lost his best friend, and with regret and time lost together I reflected on the past years we could have spent with each other. The title "Letter To You" spoke volumes to me and still feels like an ethereal message sent down by Billy to grace me on my birthday.
I've tried to write my own letters to you Billy, but none seem as impactful or as grandiose as yours. Again, who else could sneak their way into so much, who could send me down new music that was going to rock me to my core? Uncle Billy's photo sits on my wall and I look at it everyday. I touch his face and I tell him to have a good day. He's there for me when I need him and I play the music he loved as god damn loud as I can.
"I took all my fears and doubts...all the hard things I found out...all that I found true and I sent it in my letter to you"
Always and forever Bill. I'll be playing this song on my birthday for the rest of time and I'll remember you every time.
Ghosts - If "Letter To You" was Billy's message to me then "Ghosts" was his nod to my father. I've never asked him but I can feel that this song impacts my father just as much as "Letter To You" hits me like a Burnin' Train. As Bruce gets older and older his messages become more and more heartfelt with tributes to "those who've come before." This entire album feels like one big release of emotion grasping any ears it graces for a warm embrace. I can't help but feel incredibly at home and warm when I hear these songs.
On the first anniversary of Billy's passing my father and I set out on the road to the cemetery with our Bluetooth speaker and some chairs. We played the entirety of Letter To You for Billy and we had ourselves an afternoon filled with love and friendship. I guess he got to hear it after all even though it feels like he had his hand on every single track.
"Ghosts" hits me and forces the tears out of my eyes in an uncontrollable showcase of emotion. My family and I have seen Bruce live four times this year with more dates to come. Every single show we've heard "Ghosts" and every single time I burst out looking up into the sky and feeling the presence of the man that should be beside us for every show. I enjoy it for myself, I enjoy it for Bill, and I enjoy it for my father next to him with my arm around his shoulders singing like there's no one else around.
I love this song because of its emotion connection, but also because of it's musical makeup. It kicks ass, end of conversation. Being a musician might give me some better vocabulary to describe the way this song makes me feel, but the extreme emotions prove me inept at putting feelings into words. The chord changes and the way every single instrument shines in their own perfect spaces makes the hairs on my body stand at attention.
"It's your ghost moving through the night
Spirit filled with light
I need, need you by my side
Your love and I'm alive"
This album has been out for almost three years now and I've probably listened to these songs less than 10 times each. With as much emotion connected to these tracks I haven't been able to pull myself together to listen for enjoyment. Instead, they've been used as catalysts when I need to feel something completely different. Like a light switch ready to be flicked, I hide away my feelings until these notes and words hit me like a thousand amps.
Pink Cadillac - In a collection of unreleased and left over album songs, Bruce Springsteen released the greatest group of extras I've ever heard - Disc 3 of Tracks slaps so mother loving hard that it became a staple and cult classic in the Torres household. I absolutely love ever song on this disc and am flabbergasted every time I remember that these were songs that didn't make the cut. Well shit, they shoulda, but I'm glad they lived to see the light of day and grace my young ears with some of the most unique Springsteen songs.
"Pink Cadillac" is a party, it's electric, and it's one big euphemism. Witty writing and a riff cool straight down to the bone. It's hard to describe these bunch of songs in a way they deserve. They feel like inside jokes that no one else will understand simply until they do. This track sits atop that specific mood playlist when my family is together. Do we really want to listen to those popular Boss tracks we've heard so much? Well yes, we'd do it, but we know so many deep cuts we've fallen in love with loads of Bruce's music that has eluded the surface level fans.
Livin' In the Future - Bruce's fifteenth album, Magic was the first vinyl record I ever purchased. I bought it for my father's birthday and since then have integrated it into my own collection as I've stolen (given new life to) my father's old Akai stereo system and Technics turntable and speakers. They still play great almost 50 years after they were originally purchased. I'm an old soul and I'm still living in the past, using analog music equipment and buying vinyl, as I listen to this rip roaring track - "Livin' In the Future" - blare out of the speakers and into my damaged ear drums. I'm an audiophile, but maybe not the smartest. Being a drummer doesn't help the tinnitus either.
I used to listen to this album almost every day on my way to school. It was my eighth grade year and I took the bus forty minutes before school actually started. All my friends who road the bus with me were now in ninth grade and at a different school. The back rows were mine and I stayed to myself with my Ipod and headphones listening to the upbeat "Livin' In The Future" as the gloomy mornings passed by my window in direct reflection of the song's message. The songs on this album uplifted me and woke me up as I made my way into another day of my awkward years. It will forever stick in my head as the first Bruce Album I really listened to back to front on my own will.
I realistically could have picked any song on Magic, but Livin' called out to me as a great mix-up in this playlist filled with tear jerkers and low groovers. It's fast, fun, and wild, but it took me longer than I'm willing to admit to understand what exactly Bruce is singing about. As I picked this song I did so because of the musical make up, the rock and roll aspect. It's a hard rocking, fun offering, but it uses that facade to render a sentiment that was brewing in the early 2000's. All this blew right over my head as a young pre-teen and it took until recently to firmly grasp what Bruce was talking about on most of the Magic songs.
Bruce can be heavily political without shoving it down your throat. He is a great artist for this reason as he's able to create catchy songs that most people enjoy but don't truly understand. I'm okay to admit that I was and am still one of them. The lyrics of a song can elude me so easily even though I can sing them perfectly.
Before I fully understood this track I liked to think it was about having fun and not worrying about tomorrow. Turns out it's exactly about that but the view points are completely flipped.
"Don't worry, darlin' No baby, don't you fret We're livin' in the future And none of this has happened yet"
Speaks to the naivety of our country - something a middle school should probably have, but not a 30 year old. Here's to a live of learning and growing up (in all the right areas.)
Lost In The Flood - I've gone back and forth naming "Lost In The Flood" my favorite Bruce song but then reneging and giving that title to one of my other loves. They always seems to land on the early days of Bruce's writing and recording. Although his first two albums weren't commercial success they sit high on my personal favorites list. Greetings and Wild are Jazz and folk infused songs filled with nonsensical but then cryptic lyrics. They both take you on a trip in two different directions and Born To Run doesn't automatically appear to be the destination.
The Hammersmith Odeon, London 1975 album has been a significant staple in my queue ever since I crawled out from the rock I was living under and watched the live concert transfixed in awe and stupor. My brother and father saw Bruce in buffalo during his freshman year of college. I was younger and didn't attend for obvious reasons now but annoying ones then. I looked up the set list the day after and with confusion I searched the song "Detroit Medley." An amalgamation of classic rock and roll tunes, "Detroit Medley" is a hard rock, earth quaking track that took my naive brain and sent it into the stratosphere. This is how I was introduced to Hammersmith Odeon. The rest of that day was filled watching the entire concert DVD and contemplating what else had been lying under my nose without realization.
I enjoy both the album version of "Lost In The Flood" and its live renditions. The Hammersmith Odeon version put a hex on me and has yet to withhold its grip. Its one of the few Bruce songs I play the drums to and one I will belt out whenever I experience it live. Pretty sure I annoyed the people in front of me one show as I used all my energy shout those lyrics.
This is a plain and simple rocker that gets me going when I need it. The whole Hammersmith album is a golden work of art all should experience.
57 Channels (And Nothin' On) - Being the super fan he is, my father had all of Bruce's material and every box set you could think of. A collection of the Boss's music videos became one of my most watched DVD's as I traversed through its contents day after day. In a long list of videos one stood out above all the rest. My brother and I had an obsession with the early nineties bass driven track and wacky music video that featured Bruce acting all cool and mysterious as various scenes fly around the screen.
The song itself is fun, quirky, and seemingly very un-Bruce like. Most of Springsteen's material coming out of the 90's was way out of left field giving hardcore fans mixed feelings. They've taken some time to get used to, but these songs are wonderful and only add to the lore of the Boss and the many moods and vibes he can accompany with his wide range of tunes.
"57 Channels" finds itself in the category with "Pink Cadillac"as they are labeled - fun Bruce deep tracks. If you've got my brother and I in a room asked to play some Bruce one of us is throwing these tracks on.
I love this tune because of its mystique. It has flavor and pizazz and wacky 90's style that is comical to look back on. The music video and story line make me laugh as my brother and I quote lyrics and fire our finger guns as the Bruce regales how he "bought a .44 magnum, it was solid steel cast and in the blessed name of Elvis well I just let it blast."
All The Way Home - The scene is set - the Berlin Turnpike, summertime, a gray Nissan Altima, windows down, heading to twelve year old all-stars games.
The Devils & Dust album came out in 2005 and like Bruce's offerings in the 90's it was met with some head turns. It was different, it was more country, bluegrass, folk all rolled up with rock and roll. But it took some time to get used to a falsettoed Bruce singing so high up in his range that we couldn't believe it was him. I have deep memories of my father and I in his old car, heading to my baseball games wondering what the heck we were listening to.
Looking back on it now I would give anything to get another record like that.
Something so out of left field that it surprises you and excites you. I believe this is the test of great music - songs that hit your ear at a weird angle because you've never heard anything that way, but songs that transform into your favorites after your ear becomes accustomed to the new sound. This is the way innovators started off the most popular music genres that are still kicking today. The first time anyone heard the first tracks of something new it must have been some trip.
"All The Way Home" proves to be my favorite track on this album. The drums come in thumping and the bass line moves you to your core. I never knew I needed a groovy, bassy, country/folk track with Bruce Springsteen singing in a southern accent. Bruce took so many ingredients threw them together in a big bowl and hit blend. These songs, this one in particular, all hit me like a train I never saw coming. Good thing is I survived and continuously jump in front of that locomotive on the regular.
You may not know what you wanted until it slaps you in the face. Bruce gave us a gift that keeps on giving and I'm forever grateful.
New York City Serenade - The final song on this playlist and my personal favorite Bruce album, "New York City Serenade" is a track that found me lights dim, on the floor of my room, my record player spinning, and my mind drifting. A perfect ending to a monumental playlist and album.
I'm going to say that all my favorite Bruce songs have everything I want and need. This is true, but they also use different ingredients at the same time. This doesn't negate any such omission or usage of any instrumentation. I think it shows just how much this music means to me and how much it impacts me. They are all my favorites because they find me at different times of the day , at different parts of my life, and in different moods throughout all of time.
NYCS encompasses that finale gusto and guts. It ebbs and flows with highs and lows pulling you in and then making you get up and dance. This track throws a lasso over my mood and pulls it into the same direction every time. It has the power to calm me, make me feel. And the kicker is I haven't listened to this track in full for some years. The power and depth of Springsteen's gives me the flexibility to be whoever I want whenever I want. The music will always be there and when I remember its existence I can go running towards it.
I'm happy and full when I listen to these tracks. This is exactly who I am and who I want to be - surrounded by melodies and notes that give me chills. Thanks for 30 years of great tunes and an eternal space to be myself.
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