Friday , March 29 2024
Tennessee Waltzing with the E Street Band on Ice...

Verse Chorus Verse: Bruce Sprinsgteen & The E Street Band – “Atlantic City”

So there's a place in the E Street cosmos where alleged fans of the E Street Band gather to say awful things about Bruce Springsteen, the band, each other, and anything else they can conjure.  To quote Obi-Wan Kenobi, " You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."  I don't dwell with these people for I cannot abide them.  Unfortunately, 11 does and it pleases him very much to wind me up by telling me the inane things being said by these people.  One of these days, I'm going to find a friend who doesn't take pleasure in winding me up.  Until then, I have 11 and I have you people. 

As Nashville approaches, the dwellers in this den of iniquity were bantering back-and-forth about their Nashville wishlist.  Someone, presumably with a straight face, suggested the band do "Tennessee Waltz."  Another group started talking about which Elvis song Bruce should do, because he has to do an Elvis song.

Okay, maybe a geography lesson is in order.  Bruce should pay attention, too, because he apparently loses track of himself as well.  Elvis was born in Mississippi.  He lived in Memphis?  What in the name of The King's ass does Elvis have to do with Nashville?  Am I the only person who wants to hear Bruce Springsteen songs at this show?  Hell's holy acre!  If you want to hear Elvis songs, go to Vegas!  Save yourself $100 and go to the Wild Horse Saloon in downtown Nashville if you want to hear "Tennessee Waltz."

I don't get it.  I wish I did, but I don't understand it.  I didn't go to the U2:360 show last month hoping they'd play an R.E.M. song, or thinking they should try their hand at "Rainy Night in Georgia."  I didn't think it would be cool to hear Coldplay try something by Guns N' Roses or "Sweet Home Alabama" in Birmingham.  

It's bad enough this has turned into Uncle Bruce and The E Street Band on Ice with "Waitin' On A Sunny Day!"  I cannot possibly be the only person who likes the songs Springsteen actually wrote.  I can't possibly be the only one  who paid $100 on the promise of hearing some of those!  Maybe they have Springsteen impersonators in Vegas.  That seems to be my only hope.

So I realize this doesn't have a lot to do with "Atlantic City" and my reason for wanting to hear it, but I don't get to riff on geography very often and I just went with it.  I can think of a lot of reasons why Bruce should play this one.  We could start with the fact he ignored my sign for it in Atlanta.  The other thing is, he's tried really hard to speak to the troubled economic conditions in the country.  He's played a cover of an old song called "Hard Times (Come Again No More)" to get the point across.  It's unnecessary.  He's got so many great songs of his own that are completely relevant to the situation now.  "Atlantic City" is just one of them, and I love the full-band arrangement from the Reunion Tour of a decade ago. 

How about it, Boss Man?  Let's try one of yours in Nashville on Wednesday?

About Josh Hathaway

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