Bruce Springsteen’s 10 best songs
While the Boss and the E Street Band have an incredible back catalogue to draw from (there's not many other artists Rolling Stone magazine could carry out a Top 100 songs survey on), we’ve come up with 10 songs that never fail to keep us dancing until the dark.
1. “Born to Run” (1975)
The title track off his third album, this classic tune was apparently Springsteen's "final attempt" at becoming successful. A love letter to a girl named Wendy, the compelling first-person narrative is coupled to a song apparently influenced by The Ronettes' 1963 song “Be My Baby” and its famous "Wall of Sound".
Sample Lyric: "In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream / At night we ride through the mansions of glory in suicide machines / Sprung from cages out on highway nine / Chrome wheeled, fuel injected, and steppin' out over the line."
2. “Dancing in the Dark” (1984)
This upbeat 80s dance track was a hit around the world, helped immensely by an energetic Brian De Palma-shot music video that featured a then-virtually unknown Courteney Cox.
Sample Lyric: "You can't start a fire, sittin' 'round cryin' over a broken heart / This gun's for hire, even if we're just dancing in the dark."
3. “My Hometown” (1985)
The seventh and last hit from the phenomenal Born in the USA album, this elegiac, downbeat tune begins with seeming sweet, nostalgic lyrics before detailing one town's decline. Allegedly inspired by events in Springsteen's own base Freehold Borough, New Jersey.
Sample Lyric: "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."
4. “Streets of Philadelphia” (1994)
The song that won The Boss an Oscar. Asked to write a track for Jonathan Demme's drama about a lawyer who contracts AIDS, he came up with a haunting ballad that struck a chord with audiences around the globe.
Sample lyric: "Ain't no angel gonna greet me / It's just you and I my friend / My clothes don't fit me no more / I walked a thousand miles / Just to slip this skin."
5. “The Ghost of Tom Joad” (1995)
A haunting folk song inspired by John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, the songs of Woody Guthrie and the struggles of those working the land in "Middle America". It was later successfully covered by Rage Against the Machine
Sample Lyric: "Wherever somebody's fighting for a place to stand / Or a decent job or a helping hand / Wherever somebody's struggling to be free / Look in their eyes, Ma, and you'll see me."
6. “Secret Garden” (1995)
Generally associated with its brilliant use by director Cameron Crowe in the 1996 romantic-drama Jerry Maguire, the song was actually released a year earlier. Not one he and the E-Street Band play live often, although it brought the house down when he played it in Brisbane on Valentine's Day.
Sample lyric: "She'll let you in her car / To go drivin' 'round / She'll let you into the parts of herself / That'll bring you down / She'll let you in her heart / If you got a hammer and a vice / But into her secret garden, don't think twice."
7. “My City of Ruins” (2002)
Originally written to help promote the revitalisation of Ashbury Park, New Jersey, this song took on new meaning after both 9/11 and the Christchurch earthquakes of 2010/11 – its hopeful ending inspiring people during turbulent times.
Sample Lyric: "There's a blood red circle / On the cold dark ground / And the rain is falling down / The church door's thrown open / I can hear the organ's song / But the congregation's gone / My city of ruins."
8. “The Rising” (2002)
Written in response to the events of September 11, 2001, this song tells the story of a firefighter in the World Trade Centre and the surreal, desperate environment he finds himself in. By the end of the decade it had become a rallying political song, with Springsteen performing it as part of the inauguration celebrations for President Obama.
Sample Lyric: "There's spirits above and behind me, Faces gone black, eyes burnin' bright, May their precious blood bind me, Lord, as I stand before your fiery light "
9. “We Take Care of Our Own” (2012)
The first single from Wrecking Ball, this track, described by some as a "bitter anthem", makes reference to Hurricane Katrina and expresses frustration that people seem less willing to help each other these days. Became a key song in Barack Obama's presidential re-election campaign.
Sample lyric: "I've been knockin' on the door that holds the throne / I've been lookin' for the map that leads me home / I've been stumblin' on good hearts turned to stone / The road of good intentions has gone dry as bone."
10. “Land of Hope and Dreams” (2012)
Although actually written 13 years earlier, this rock song apparently had to wait while Springsteen rediscovered his rock voice and began working with The E Street Band again. Inspired by both gospel songs and The Impressions' 1965 song “People Get Ready”.
Sample Lyric: "Leave behind your sorrows / Let this day be the last / Tomorrow there'll be sunshine / And all this darkness past."
Written by James Croot. Republished with permission of Stuff.co.nz.