Song Spotlight - "Night"

Key Live Performance:



Taken from the The Today Show when Bruce and The E Street Band played on the release day of Magic.  They played a bunch of their classics, like "Night", as well as songs songs from the excellent Magic album.  After the monster success of The Rising, Bruce threw his fans for a loop by putting out Devils and Dust and The Seeger Sessions.  Both great albums, but us fans were dying for some E Steet!   Magic and, in particular, this performance was Bruce and The E Street Band's triumphant return to prove that The Rising wasn't just a fluke.  They were back, and they were back to rock.  "Night" was a perfect choice.  It's by far the most upbeat rock song on Born To Run, even more so than the titular song.  Unfortunately though, I don't think any live performance has come off as great as the album version, which is insanely rare for Bruce.

Key Lyrics: 

"And the world is busting at its seams
And the you're just a prisoner of your dreams
Holding on for your life, 'cause you work all day
to blow 'em away at night."

While Bruce writing songs about blue collar values, fast cars, and overly romantic notions towards women may seem like old hat now, in 1975 it wasn't as much a staple on his first two albums.  He would certainly do it on other songs on this album, and really follow up on those themes on future albums.  I mean just reading these lyrics without knowing anything else about the song or album and it's still pretty easy to identify as Springsteen's lyrical work.  The song is filled with lyrics like the one above, that really any of them could have been used for the "Key Lyrics", but there's something about that particular line that really stands out to me and made me pick it.

Overall:

I love this song.  I love this album.  I put this song on my Bruce For Beginners playlist.  Like I said, this is one of the rare occasions where the studio version surpasses the live versions.  It's impossible not to hear that opening drum, Clarence's signature sax sound, and Bruce's lyrics and not get yourself all pumped up for your next big night out.

Song Spotlight - "My Hometown"

Key Live Performance



This performance is taken from Bruce’s visit to the TODAY Show while promoting the Magic tour. It’s always fun to watch videos from Rockefeller Center and marvel over those lucky attendees getting to see such an intimate show. This video includes several inadvertently funny shots of crowd members singing along soulfully to the lyrics. I can only imagine that I look as silly as they do when I’m doing the same thing at a concert. It also features Bruce blatantly reading from the teleprompter around the 3:00 minute mark. But hey, he’s only human after all (even if it usually doesn’t seem so!). What I like most about this live performance is the way it conveys the solemnity of the song and then builds into an audience sing-a-long where Bruce compels the crowd to claim their own hometown ownership.

Key Lyrics

“I'm thirty-five, we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel
and said son take a good look around,
this is your hometown”

The final lyrics of the song position it as one about ownership and loyalty, as the possessive attached to the hometown changes between the choruses. Prior to writing this post, I’d always associated the song with the third verse, never giving much consideration to the others. The third verse describes shuttered stores and lost jobs. It’s the verse you expect from Springsteen: an elegy for a small town that’s rotted away and the lament over a lost way of life. But that’s a reductive look at this song. “My Hometown” actually progresses smoothly through four distinct chapters. It begins with the narrator’s rose-tinted recollection of an idyllic small town. It then takes a turn into the socially conscious when racial turmoil arises in the mid-60s, leading to violence. In the third section, the hometown appears broken, and beyond repair. In the end, the narrator contemplates giving up on the town and moving away. But ultimately, he takes his son on the same drive that his father took him on, and tells his son, “this is your hometown.” For better or for worse, this is your hometown.

Overall

“My Hometown” may be the Born in the U.S.A. song I’ve listened to the least over the years. I frequently skip it when it comes on at random, and have never given it much attention. This has been my great discovery from revisiting the Born in the U.S.A. album for its anniversary. I can’t say “My Hometown” will make my must-listen list, but it will make it into rotation more frequently than it had before.