The 3 Stars Blog – September 7, 2024 SPRINGSTEEN EDITION
I was working the 7-12 shift at WTTS on a Tuesday afternoon in November 1999. I was part-time at the time, splitting time at the station and filling in for the ailing nighttime jock. There were a pool of tickets available for the staff to claim for the Wednesday extravaganza at Conseco Fieldhouse. Earlier that year, Bruce Springsteen announced that this war, vendetta, this Sicilian thing with the E Street Band had ended, and they would tour again.
I was on the shortlist to get a ticket.
That’s when our music director paid me a visit. It was one I’m sure she didn’t want to make. She knew that I was extremely excited about going to the show.
“Hey, I need to talk to you about Springsteen.” She looked down, which should have been my first clue.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“So,” she started, pausing to find the right words. This was when I had started to sense that this was not going to be a pleasant conversation. “We need someone to be here when the show goes on.”
I knew where she was going to this, but I had this emotionally self-injurious streak in me that I needed her to finish her thought.
“I need someone I can trust to work the show.” It was her way of softening the blow. “I need you to fill in.” I couldn’t be too angry. I knew where I stood in the pecking order, and she had been championing my work for over a year. I had no claim to the right of tickets, and having that level of trust was gratifying.
Still, it’s Springsteen.
Since then, this almost 25-year quest to see Springsteen has gone unfulfilled. I’ve missed shows because I was out of town when he was playing Minnesota. I missed the chance to meet him at a book signing in Denver because I got to the line too late. And some forced austerity measures had me passing on his tour last year.
It almost seemed that the Universe was just messing with me, never to fulfill my destiny to see the Boss—however, a new wrinkle in this story will play out.
The Boss. Nationals Park.
Tonight, I finish the story.
As I am out of town, I’m doing a variation on a theme for the blog. Instead of The 3 Stars of the Week, I will do the 3 Stars of the Springsteen catalog. There are a couple of standards that I will put. I will not have two songs on the same album. It’s just too easy to do, and there is a lot of Bruce to go through.
The Number 3 Star: Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) – The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle
This was an early, non-Born In The U.S.A track in my Springsteen journey. The first time I heard it was when I was working at WGBF when I was 18. “Rosealita (Come Out Tonight)” was one of those fill songs (I wrote about in the Tom Petty chapter in Sundry Notes of Music). There’s something about this upbeat, joyful song convincing your girlfriend to defy her father by going out and celebrating signing a record contract.
Especially at three in the morning and I had another three hours to go in your show.
Still to this day, when I hear this song, I’ll jump up and down at as the song comes to an end, just like I did in 1992.
The Number 2 Star: My Ride’s Here – Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Songs of Warren Zevon
Okay, I can already hear the resistance to this one. “It’s not even a Springsteen song,” “You’re just trying to be provocative,” and “How dare you!” I’m not saying it’s the second-best Springsteen song; it’s my second-favorite Springsteen recording.
This was recorded a couple of days after Warren had died. I’m not 100% sure Zevon knew he was dying when he wrote and recorded it. I’m sure he knew that the end was nigh. It’s Warren’s Requiem Mass.
But this performance was a sweet moment, and it’s our good fortune it was recorded. It was an opportunity for Bruce to honor his friend while mourning the loss of one of America’s great songwriters, along with a sold-out crowd at Toronto’s Sky Dome. It’s beautiful, and we’re all lucky it exists.
The Number 1 Star: Jungleland – Born To Run
This is the undisputed best song on the undisputed best Springsteen album. Springsteen is absolutely a gifted storyteller, but the closing track is the most significant display of lyrical genius. His use of language is more prose than words that match a tune’s rhythm. It’s almost like Springsteen is a beat poet, channeling his inner Jack Kerouac.
It’s a stark contrast to the writing of the rest of the album. It’s darker while adding an air of romanticism hidden behind the gritty gang life of New Jersey.
Jungleland is a triumphant rock n’ roll epic. It’s big, inspired, and beautifully executed. It has been a singularly influential song. You can hear its sonic specter in Dire Straits “Romeo and Juliet” from the live album On The Night, Bob Segar’s “Night Moves,” and it was what Jim Steinman tried to duplicate while composing every song on Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell two years later.