Noel decided I had to meet Billy. Billy was a trip. So he set up a bowling date. We met at the bowling alley, we bowled, and we talked about Springsteen. I don't remember too much, really, except being the only one who knew all the lyrics to a particular song off of "Darkness." I was proud of that.
On another occasion, Noel and I were out riding around in my car, listening to Springsteen, and he says, "Billy's at this party over at so-and-so's house." This wasn't a wild, the-parents-are-out-of-town party. It was adults and young men and women socializing. I forget what the occasion was, maybe somebody's birthday. But we're out, listening to Springsteen, and we want to share it with Billy. For some reason, we have the "Born to Run" album in the car with us. So we decide to crash this party. It's one of those ideas that you have to psyche each other up for, and with our youthful energy, that's no problem.
So we get to the house, we park, we knock on the front door, and a perfectly nice and reasonable adult answers, and we say "is Billy here?" And he says, sure, come on in and suddenly we are in the middle of a suburban living room full of folks in mid-party, most of which we don't know. Billy, of course, is delighted to see us. We exchange awkward pleasantries with everyone, and then Billy herds us into the kitchen. As soon as we get in there, we say excitedly, "Billy! We have Bruce in the car!" And he says, "What? No Clarence?"
Riding The River
By college I'd raised the romance of the doomed outsider to an art form (I even wanted to be an artist). During our early college days, Billy, Noel and I would listen to "The River" often. We'd put on side one, and end up listening to all four sides, blown away by the depth of feeling.
"The River" is a lovely album. The production is gorgeous. It's a pleasure to listen to. The music is intricate, the piano rides atop the bass and both are interwoven perfectly with the organ, while the acoustic guitar fills out the edge and it all ebbs and flows and crashes with the drums like the surf. "Oooh the price you pay, oooh the price you pay, now you can’t walk away (crash of surf) from the price you pay." And back behind it all, backing vocals and wonderfully expressive nonwords, oooohhhss, iiiyyiiiyyiiyiiis. Then there's the rockers, including I'm a Rocker (bring it on home!) and the joyous Sherry Darlin (hey, hey, hey, whataya say, Sherry Darlin --- sax solo!). You had your problems (Fade Away, Stolen Car, Jackson Cage) but you also had the ability to dance all over them.
Article comments
1 - Jimmy Jazz
The glory of Bruce in the mid-70's is one of the few things that makes me wish I were older.
Good piece.
2 - George Partington
Thanks, Jimmy Jazz. I only wish I had discovered Bruce before his 1978 visit to the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Ga. The show was broadcast, and I did pick up a copy of it a couple years later. Oh my, was Bruce ever on fire then. If you can find it, I highly recommend that show, or some others from that tour I'm aware of (many were broadcast on FM radio) such as Winterland and Philadelphia.
3 - Chris Browne
Well, Bruce is back to his best.
4 - Leon
Joey Fabian never understood..........
5 - XB Cold Fingers
Thanks. While I grew up on Dylan and Phil Ochs, courtesy of older brothers, I followed a similar path to Bruce in high school. So while others were listening to pop from Billy Joel to Stevie Wonder I listened to "Greetings From Asbury Park" and "The Wild, the Innocent, and the E. Street Shuffle." These are timeless, as is "The Rising."
6 - XB Cold Fingers
After watching the World Trade Center burn and fall - from Broadway between 34th St and 18th St - I wrote "City of Heroes," along with a few hundred thousand other people who responded with their guitars, pens and keyboards. My friends said "this is good but ... listen to 'The Rising.'" I did. Over and over again. Then I wrote "Gone Now Forever," which can be streamed (free) from xbcoldfingers.com slash gonenowforever.mp3