The 30 Day Song Challenge, Day 25

The last few days have been a roller coaster of emotions - angry, happy, sad, weddings, and funerals.  We take yet another turn today with a song that makes me laugh.  While Springsteen can often be humorous on stage and in interviews, his songs are often dour.  Yet I still didn't find today all that much of a challenge:

Bruce has some silly songs such as "Sherry Darling" and "Working On The Highway", but "In Freehold" is always the one that gets me, especially the line about his Catholic education.  I don't want to spoil all the jokes, so give it a listen yourself.

What Springsteen songs make you laugh?

Lyrics Spotlight - In Freehold

"Well, I got a good Catholic education here in Freehold
Led to an awful lot of masturbation here in Freehold
Father, it was just something I did for a smile
Hell, I still get a good one off once in a while
and dedicate it to Freehold."
-- "In Freehold"

Who doesn't love a good masturbation joke? As an amateur comedian, I use masturbation as the crux of so many jokes that I've begun to abbreviate it as "M" in my notebook. It may be low-brow, but it gets a chuckle, or, in Bruce's case here, an enthusiastic cheer.

"In Freehold" is a song Springsteen wrote for a special concert he performed in his old high school gym. While the songs he penned in his teens and early 20s were all about breaking out of this "town full of losers", here he reflects on his youth with nostalgia, humor, and a twinge of sadness. Tales of his first kiss, his first band, his father, and his sister all make it into this epic. But ultimately, Bruce ends it with the one element that everyone can relate to when thinking about their high school years.