The Top 100 Springsteen Songs

Last Thursday, two Springsteen fans released their crowd-sourced list of the top 100 Springsteen songs.  Now, mind you, analyzing "best of" lists on the Internet is tired and pointless, but I can't help myself from sharing a few thoughts.

Firstly, when looking at such a long list, it is important not to get hung up on the rankings of each song.  Whether "Long Time Comin'" is better than "Blood Brothers" does not matter.  I'm grading this list for its comprehensiveness.  Does this list accurately represent Bruce's career?  Can a Springsteen novice use this as a launching pad for exploring Springsteen's music?  On these aspects, the list is very successful.  Nearly every album and landmark single from Bruce's career is represented here.  While Working on a Dream is snubbed, the list still has numerous songs from recent albums such as Magic (4 songs!), The Promise, and Wrecking Ball.  This list is so thorough that even a Springsteen die-hard like myself had to go back and listen to a few songs that I had forgotten about.

Only two downsides pop to mind regarding this list.  One is that it doesn't look like Bruce is anywhere near retirement - I expect him to keep chugging out more albums in the near future (dozens of songs were scrapped in the writing process for Wrecking Ball, so if nothing else, I'd expect another B-sides album).  Therefore, this list will probably  have to be constantly updated.  The other negative of this list probably only bugs me: it is in an image format!  Why not list it out in text?  It makes it easier to search and find specific songs in the list!

With that being said, I've taken a few minutes to type up the list for you, dear reader.  I've also added links to the times we've discussed these songs on the blog, so if you want to know our thoughts on each song, including live performances and analysis of the lyrics, make sure to click away.

1. Thunder Road
2. Jungleland
3. Backstreets
4. Born To Run
5. Incident On 57th Street
6. Racing In The Street
7. Badlands
8. The River
9. The Promised Land
10. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
11. Darkness On The Edge Of Town
12. Land Of Hope & Dreams
13. Prove It All Night
14. Drive All Night
15. Lost In The Flood
16. New York City Serenade
17. Atlantic City
18. No Surrender
19. Long Walk Home
20. 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
21. The Promise
22. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
23. The Rising
24. Something In The Night
25. For You
26. Kitty's Back
27. Growin' Up
28. Brilliant Disguise
29. Downbound Train
30. Spirit In The Night
31. Because The Night
32. She's The One
33. Born In The USA
34. Tougher Than The Rest
35. My City Of Ruins
36. Candy's Room
37. One Step Up
38. If I Should Fall Behind
39. Point Blank
40. Independence Day
41. Youngstown
42. Stolen Car
43. Out In The Street
44. The Price You Pay
45. Adam Raised A Cain
46. Sherry Darling
47. Loose Ends
48. This Hard Land
49. The Ghost of Tom Joad
50. Thundercrack
51. Tunnel of Love
52. Bobby Jean
53. It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City
54. Meeting Across the River
55. Reason To Believe
56. My Love Will Not Let You Down
57. Human Touch
58. Frankie
59. The Ties That Bind
60. Ramrod
61. Dancing In The Dark
62. Back In Your Arms
63. Living Proof
64. You're Missing
65. Long Time Comin'
66. Blood Brothers
67. Streets Of Fire
68. Girls In Their Summer Clothes
69. Glory Days
70. Night
71. Better Days
72. Highway Patrolman
73. Wrecking Ball
74. American Skin (41 Shots)
75. Cadillac Ranch
76. The E Street Shuffle
77. Fade Away
78. I'm Goin' Down
79. Be True
80. Hungry Heart
81. The Fever
82. Death To My Hometown
83. Roulette
84. Radio Nowhere
85. Walk Like A Man
86. Janey Don't You Lose Heart
87. Jackson Cage
88. Lucky Town
89. Take 'Em As They Come
90. Valentine's Day
91. Streets Of Philadelphia
92. I'm On Fire
93. My Hometown
94. None But The Brave
95. Blinded By The Light
96. Across the Border
97. Murder Incorporated
98. Devil's Arcade
99. Happy
100. Open All Night