But the first time I heard "Working On A Dream" it didn't do that much for me. In fairness, this was only a thirty second snippet during an NFL broadcast, which is not much to judge a song by. It has since grown on me quite a bit. I especially like the bells at the end of the song — it's been awhile since we've gotten those damn bells in a Springsteen song. These aren't big, Phil Spector bells a la "Born To Run" or "Hungry Heart." But I'll take what I can get.
Even so, the song doesn't come close to knocking me clean on my ass the way that "Radio Nowhere," the first single off Magic, did the first time I heard it. There's nothing really wrong with the track. It's basically a great little pop tune with the sort of killer hook that sticks in your brain long after the last notes have played.
I just really wanted to be knocked on my ass by it, and quite honestly wasn't. "Radio Nowhere" may owe a lot to "Don't Fear The Reaper" and that "867-5309" song from the Eighties — but that song still shit-out rocked. "Working On A Dream" doesn't, at least not in the same way. It's a lot more "Hungry Heart" than it is, say, "Ramrod."
The next single to get leaked as an interest-building free download (great marketing idea, by the way) was "My Lucky Day." Now, this is a lot more like it, I thought to myself when I first heard this one. "My Lucky Day" is an E Street-styled rocker, powered by the always great Roy Bittan's piano accents, a classic Clarence Clemons sax solo, big Max Weinberg drumming — hell, big everything. It's a classic E Street Band track that echoes the matchless energy of their live shows.
Like I said, now we're talking.
In the video below, you can also see part of the process of how Springsteen constructed the song in the studio. Presumably, this will be part of the "in the studio" portions of the bonus DVD on the deluxe edition of Working On A Dream.
The third, and I'm assuming final, leaked single from the album is by far the most interesting, though. "Life Itself" is a much moodier track than the other two. It actually kind of reminds me of "The Fuse" or "Worlds Apart" — two tracks that I felt really stood out like sore thumbs from the rest of 2002's album, The Rising.
Article comments
1 - BillSaysThis
Dude, now you've got me excited about this record!
2 - Ellie
My heart is in my throat. Yes, I think Bruce feels the hot breath of mortality on the back of his neck. Praise be if it results in such generosity. I will always be there. He doesn't know how to be anything but sublime. Blessed be, Bruce Springsteen and all your merry friends, blessed be. I'll be there with everything I got.
3 - Mark Saleski
...is mulling nightly mini-sets
with my luck, i'll go on Tunnel Of Love night.
4 - Glen Boyd
I'm thinking Tunnel doesn't get covered. Its just not considered a classic Springsteen album the same way that Born To Run, Darkness, River, and BITUSA are. But I'll tell ya what Mark...if you saw that record done live, I'd bet you get a new appreciation for it.
In the meantime, I'm hoping I get The River...for reasons which anyone who knows me should be obvious..
-Glen
5 - Mark Saleski
f you saw that record done live, I'd bet you get a new appreciation for it.
i've listened to various live versions of it...and hated every single one.
i do hope you get to see The River though..that'd be cool.
6 - Glen Boyd
Now what would be really cool is if he did all of the Nebraska album live with full band arrangements...
-Glen
7 - Mark Saleski
i, of course, would go for Darkness.... oh man, it give me shivers just thinkin' about it.
8 - Glen Boyd
Have you ever heard the Tunnel show from Stockholm? It was a radio broadcast so the quality is excellent and its pretty easy to find on the Net. The versions of Tunnel, Adam Raised A Cain, and Boom Boom that open the show, all with the miami Horns are drop dead amazing. You should look into that show if you've never heard it...
-Glen
9 - Mark Saleski
in my quest to see what i'd missed out on, i obtained a copy of the stockholm show many year ago. it has some cool stuff on it, but the Tunnel songs just leave me flat. sorry, there's no hope for me on that particular record, the songs just don't resonate in any way (except negatively)
10 - Glen Boyd
Those opening three songs just kill me. Bruce screams his lungs out on Adam and Boom Boom. And Tunnel sounds great when fleshed out by the horn section. I'd actually rank right behind Winterland 78 and Nassau 80 as some of the best live Springsteen stuff out there. Different strokes I guess though...
-Glen
11 - Mark Saleski
Different strokes I guess though...
yep, and i've never really figured this one out as it's the only Bruce record that i get a completely negative reaction to.
12 - Glen Boyd
Human Touch and Lucky Town were like that for me when I first heard them. And I still think the best songs from each would've made a much better single record. But both have grown me in the years since.
-Glen
13 - Glen Boyd
It also took me awhile to warm up to Seeger Sessions.
-Glen
14 - Mark Saleski
weirdly, the only one that took me a while was The River. i was pretty young then and wanted very loud guitar instead of the spector/wall of sound kind of thing.
years later (not too many) my reaction was closer to "what the hell was i thinking?!!"
as for Tunnel, it will always remain a mystery. not only has it not grown on me, i actually get annoyed while listening to it.