Song Spotlight - "Frankie Teardrop" by Suicide

In doing my research for last week's Nebraska review, I came upon the note that Springsteen's "State Trooper" was heavily influenced by Suicide's "Frankie Teardrop".  This is not the first time that I've seen the Suicide-Springsteen connection, as Bruce's "Dream Baby Dream" has been frequently discussed on the blog.  However, I was still unfamiliar with Suicide, so I dove right in with the above song, having no idea what I would be getting myself into.  "Frankie Teardrop" is a frightening, experimental track, featuring monstrous screams and a maddening drone that makes the song almost too brutal to play in a haunted house.  It is not for the faint of heart, but, as the wannabe Springsteen historian that I am, it is interesting to hear this song and see how it shaped "State Trooper" (i.e. the screams and the slow, repetitive rhythm) and Nebraska as a whole (with multiple tales of murder).

Album Review - Nebraska

Today marks the 32nd birthday of Nebraska, one of Springsteen's most unique and unexpected albums.  For those familiar with Springsteen at all, you know this album's reputation.  Among the descriptors for Nebraska I have heard over the years are: dark, depressing, uncompromising, challenging, gritty, original, controversial, etc.  It is what makes this review difficult to write - this album has been dissected and analyzed so much these last three decades that I will inevitably end up using one or more of those cliche descriptions.  So, before getting into the review, allow me to indulge in something personal, since it may be the only original idea I will have going forward.

I have had a bias against this album for quite some time.  It really has nothing to do with its content, but rather all to do with what I just wrote about: it's reputation.  Too often, I have heard the album described the following way: "Even if you don't like Springsteen, you'll love Nebraska."  While you could interpret this as saying that Nebraska is Springsteen's best album, or it has a universal appeal, the context is often positioning this statement as a critique of most of Springsteen's other work.  "Here, listen to Nebraska.  It is actually artistic, not that like those other Springsteen records with their overblown sounds and corny lyrics."  It is insulting, yet it is not unusual to hear Springsteen fans themselves promote Nebraska to their non-Springsteen loving friends in the same manner.  So, based on this mildly pretentious description, I developed a resentment towards the album.  Did I like it?  Of course!  It's Springsteen!  But, I bestowed it with the one word used by many a snarky internet blogger: overrated.

But, admittedly, I was being an idiot.  What someone else says or thinks about an album shouldn't affect my enjoyment of it.  When seeking out new music, the first question should be "What is the music like?", not "Who else is listening to this?"  The concept of something being overrated or underrated is silly and arbitrary to begin with.  So, with the anniversary of the anniversary of the record approaching, I decided to try to clear my mind of all preconceived notions of the album and give it a fresh listen (I did the same with Working On A Dream earlier this year).



Upon my first listen, my thoughts immediately confirmed all the cliches I listed in the first paragraph.  It is certainly not a record where you can just put on and go clean the house.  It is a challenging listen to grasp all of what Springsteen is laying out there.  There are complicated characters, stories told from various viewpoints, and a harmonica motif that runs from the first song to the last.

Naturally, as I digested the album more, I found myself always drawn back to songs such as "Atlantic City", "Johnny 99", and "Reason To Believe", which are songs that were eventually given a full-band makeover in the 21st century.  "Atlantic City" is one of my all-time favorite Springsteen songs, and the nature of the lyrics leads to many variations: it can be a tale of a hero making one last stand against the forces of darkness, or the story of a loser deluding himself into yet another failure.  "Johnny 99" is everything that "Outlaw Pete" wishes it was - a raucous scoundrel story with a catchy riff.  "Reason To Believe" is a perfect note in ending the album, as it is probably the most uplifting song on the album (despite starting with the image of a dead dog).



What keeps bringing me back to the album is the themes, both musically and lyrically, that tie the album together.  For example, "Nebraska" starts and ends with a sad, distant harmonica, which is present in almost nearly every other song, such as "Mansion On The Hill" and "Used Cars".  This  harmonica turns upbeat in the concluding song "Reason To Believe".  Another theme is Springsteen's wailling, on "Johnny 99", we hear a joyous "woo!"  Yet, this turns to screams of anguish in "State Trooper".  The darkness permeating the album can be overwhelming at times.  Dirges such as "Mansion On The Hill" and "My Father's House", both dark lullabies about houses of some sort, are more whispered than sung, and are probably the most difficult to get into. Additionally, "Open All Night" stands out as an unusually track to include, as it is a rockabilly toe-tapper and the only song to use an electric guitar.

After going back, I would consider myself a convert to Nebraska.  It is an impressive experiment by Springsteen that has never been exactly duplicated. (Sidenote: While others may point to The Ghost of Tom Joad and Devils & Dust as attempts to recapture Nebraska, I feel Springsteen's best recent "experiment" has been The Seeger Sessions).  It is not my all-time favorite Springsteen album, but it easily stands among his best work, and I would rate it as a 5 out of 5.

Bruce Goes Electric!

Last week I counted down my favorite songs that Bruce re-did acoustically.  This week I will be doing the exact opposite and counting down my favorite songs that Bruce did originally did acoustically but now plays a full electic version with the E Street Band.



5.  State Trooper-
This particular version is recorded with the Arcade Fire, for all you hipsters out there.  Originally on the Nebraska album, I first noticed this song on the season finale of the first season, of the HBO hit show "The Sopranos".  I like this song, don’t love it, but it’s definitely worth a listen The song doesn’t change much too much with the E Street Band, just adds a drum beat and an electric guitar with a pretty cool slide effect.  That isn’t the case with the other songs on the list.  I definitely prefer the original version, the single voice and acoustic guitar definitely give the song a more frantic feeling when it gets to the chorus of “Mr. State Trooper, please don’t stop me.”  That is definitely lost with the E Street version, and is probably why Bruce doesn’t play it all that often.



4.  Reason to Believe-
Oh hell yeah!  This blues-rock version rocks just kicks all kind of ass!  Seriously this song was the highlight of the night when I saw Bruce on March 7th, 2008  at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY.  From the awesome harmonica intro, the pounding drums, to the Doors-esque guitar work this song.  Another Nebraska song, Bruce played this pretty regularly in the 80’s(albeit in a much tamer version, see the Live 1975-1985 box set for an example) and on his solo tours.  This version of the song was played pretty regularly on the first leg of the Magic Tour, and then got inexplicably cut, and rarely played since.  That’s a shame, and something I would love to see changed on this tour.



3.  The Ghost of Tom Joad-
This song, minus Tom Morello’s incredibly masterful solo, is very similar to the original acoustic version heard on the album of the same name.  It’s almost as if Bruce took the song, turned it up to 11, and it has definitely works as Bruce has played this song with a decent amount of regularity on every tour since it’s release.  Named after the main character from John Steinbeck’s novel “The Grapes Of Wrath”,  the song’s lyrics tackle injustice in society.  The song was made popular when it was covered by the band Rage Against the Machine (Hence Morello appearing with band on that night, and on multiple other occasions).  I personally can’t stand the Rage version, but if it made more people seek out the original then I’m all for it.  As excellent as the original version is, I think I prefer the live version as Bruce sounds downright pissed off in it.  And the video I included, taken from the 25th anniversary of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert at Madison Square Garden, just might be Bruce’s best performance of the song.



2.  Youngstown-
Now this is a song where I prefer the changed version as opposed to the original.  Bruce’s 3 folk albums (Nebraska, Ghost of Tom Joad, and Devils & Dust) all have a common theme of struggling working class, even more so than the other albums.  “Youngstown” is a song that fits in perfect of on Tom Joad, and does an excellent job of showing the struggles of what happens to factory towns when the factory goes under.  But instead of being a song of loss and lament, like on the album, the song turns into a song of bitterness and anger, when performed live with The E Street Band.  I love that Bruce still performs the song in this manner to this day.  And check out Nils Lofgren’s CRAZY solo at the end.  If that doesn’t get you fired up, something’s wrong



1.  Atlantic City-
As with most of the lists I do, #1 shouldn’t come as a shock.  There’s not much to say about it, just listen for yourself.  It’s one of Bruce’s best songs, no matter which version you listen to.  Even the completely different version he did with Seeger Sessions Band, is pretty great too.   The fact that Bruce plays this song so regularly to this day, in any version, is a testament to what a great song it is.  There‘s one story that exemplifies what an incredible song “Atlantic City” is and what emotions it can bring out in you.  One time when fellow-blogger Rory and were driving down to Atlantic City, NJ we were listening to Bruce the whole way down.  When we hit that last mile of the Atlantic City Expressway, we played the E Street version of  “Atlantic City“.  We couldn’t help but get excited especially when we heard the song kick in with the full band, with the smell of the ocean air, and the bright lights of the casinos.  We were high-fiving each other and singing along in anticipation of a great night in AC.  The next day, on the drive home, we played the depressing original acoustic version to commiserate with our hungover, poorer selves as opposed to the night before.  Now that’s a powerful song.