Tuesday Top Ten: Favorite Springsteen Songs

I'm still basking in the euphoria of the Bruce Springsteen show Saturday night.  If you've never seen him, seriously, you need to do it next time you get the chance.  It's worth whatever you're going to pay.  For some reason, I thought I had already done a Tuesday Top Ten of my favorite Springsteen songs, but I have scoured the annals of GMYH and could not find anything.  This list will be heavy on older stuff, not because I don't like his newer stuff, but because I don't own much of it, so I'm not as familiar with it as I am with his classic stuff.  Anyway, here are my ten favorite Bruce Springsteen songs:

Honorable mention:  "The Promised Land" (1978, Darkness on the Edge of Town); "I'm a Rocker" (1980, The River); "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)" (1980, The River); "Darlington County" (1984, Born in the U.S.A.); "No Surrender" (1984, Born in the U.S.A.)

10.  "Jungleland" (1975, Born to Run)

When Daughter was a newborn (and still unable to move around), I used to put Jester's iPod Touch in the crib with her and play the Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town albums on shuffle for Daughter as white noise to help her go to sleep.  For some reason, "Jungleland" often seemed to be one of the first couple songs that would come on when I'd hit "shuffle," so I would listen to it while I was giving Daughter her pre-bed bottle.  I had always like the song before, but apparently hadn't really concentrated on it as much as I should have.  It's an epic, for sure.  That beginning piano part is great, and I love the second verse, particularly the lines "The midnight gangs assembled and picked a rendezvous for the night / They'll meet 'neath that giant Exxon sign that brings this fair city light."  Great imagery.  It's like a scene from The Outsiders.

9.  "Candy's Room" (1978, Darkness on the Edge of Town)

"Candy's Room" is a hidden gem on Darkness on the Edge of Town.  It's a fast-paced, relatively short (less than 3 minutes) song with a catchy repeating riff and lyrics about a misunderstood hot chick who can have anyone and anything she wants, but all she wants is the narrator.

8.  "Born in the U.S.A." (1984, Born in the U.S.A.)

This is the first Springsteen song I ever remember hearing.  Back in the mid '80s, there was a lot of patriotism with the Cold War and all that nonsense, so even if you didn't understand what the lyrics were about (looking your way, Reagan), this was still a pretty important and iconic song.

7.  "Born to Run" (1975, Born to Run)

What can you say about "Born to Run" that hasn't already been said?  It's one of the greatest songs in rock and roll history, from the Wall-of-Sound production to that iconic chorus to Clarence's sax solo to the lyrics about getting the fuck out of your current situation even though you have no idea what lies in the great beyond.  When he shouts out that "1-2-3-4" just after the 3-minute mark and kicks into "the highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last-chance power drive," it's one of the greatest moments ever in a rock song.  One day I hope to work up the courage and vocal ability to sing this at karaoke.  I'm not ready yet.

6.  "Night" (1975, Born to Run)

This is one of those songs that I can't understand why it's not bigger.  It's frantic and catchy –- a celebration of the power the night holds when you're working at a job you hate.  The line "you work nine to five and somehow you survive till the night" has always stuck out to me.  Even in your first full-time job, whether that was a summer job in high school or a real job post-college, you're just working to get done with the day so you can forget about work at night.

5.  "Badlands" (1978, Darkness on the Edge of Town)

What a great anthem.  I'm surprised this isn't a bigger song.  You don't hear it on the radio as much as you should.  Like many of his songs, it's about getting out from where you are and improving your life.  You can't stop until these Badlands start treating us good.

4.  "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" (1981)

Not only is this one of my favorite holiday songs, it's one of my favorite Springsteen songs.  It's a live recording from December 1975, but was not released until 1981 (on a compilation of children's songs by popular artists) and has become a staple of holiday radio.  The song captures the essence of what makes Springsteen a great performer.  Even back in 1975, he was working the crowds like a pro while having a blast at the same time.

3.  "Glory Days" (1984, Born in the U.S.A.)

"Glory Days" is a song I take for granted at this point, often forgetting how much I love it.  As I get older, it becomes even more relevant.  If I ever own a bar, I will name it The Well because of the lyrics in this song, and every Friday night we'll have a bladder bust, so you can truly say, "Think I'm going down the well tonight.  I'm gonna drink till I get my fill."

2.  "Thunder Road" (1975, Born to Run)

Has there ever been a better song about escape?  And is there a better Springsteen lyric than "you ain't a beauty, but hey you're all right"?  The first song off of Born to Run announced to the world that Bruce Springsteen was here to stay.  He packs so many great lyrics and so much imagery into five minutes, it's almost as if you can feel how bad he wanted that album to succeed.

1.  "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" (1973, The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle)

This is the perfect song for that time in Springsteen's career.  It is upbeat and full of that optimism and hope that makes Springsteen's songs grab you forever and make you think anything is possible.  His second album, The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle, was critically acclaimed, but didn't sell well, so he essentially needed to hit a home run with his next album (which he obviously did).  "Rosalita" is a prescient allegory for that rise to superstardom.  The narrator is an up-and-coming musician who is courting some chick named Rosalita, whose parents don't approve of the boy.  But the narrator won't give up because he's gonna make it big.  My favorite couple lines are during the bridge:  "But now you're sad your mama's mad / And your papa says he knows that I don't have any money / Well tell him this is last chance to get his daughter in a fine romance / Because a record company, Rosie, just gave me a big advance."  It's the ultimate "fuck you" to her parents, but knowing them, they probably still wouldn't let her go out with him because he's a rock and roller.  If there was a real Rosalita (which I haven't researched), I hope she cursed her parents to death or that they paid her several hundred million dollars.