Tag: Glory Days

Bruce Springsteen – Born In The USA …album

When this came out in 1984 it was some exciting times. Michael Jackson and Prince had released two massive albums. I didn’t really relate to Thriller but I loved Purple Rain. When this album dropped I bought it without buying the lead single which I did for some reason at times. Unlike The River or Nebraska, this one was in your face. The record company knew what they had here…they had a blockbuster album.

After this album, Springsteen wasn’t just a cult-following guy anymore. Just like I mentioned about Bob Seger with Against the Wind…some Springsteen fans loved it and some refused to listen. It was a massive hit and that is one of the reasons given by Springsteen fans I knew at the time. He wasn’t just their secret anymore. The album served as a bridge for people who had heard of him but didn’t really know him. Now the serious ones were going through his catalog.

Bruce toyed with not releasing it. He recorded a lot of it in 1982…2 years before it was released. He knew it was going to be a hit…and because of that, he hesitated. It probably got larger than he ever imagined. From 1984 to 1986 I never stopped listening to this album and neither did radio listeners. I still do from time to time and it holds up well.

My immediate reaction was the sound! Let’s forget the songs for a second. Listen to the clarity of the album. It was the clearest production I’d ever heard and stands as probably the cleanest-sounding rock album I’ve heard to this day. Bob Clearmountain mixed it and that made a huge difference. It sounded so good over your 1980s car stereo at the time…you could hear everything so clearly. Grab some headphones and listen to the album today.

The first big hit off the album wasn’t my favorite. That song was Dancing In The Dark and I liked it but not like the others. When I got the album, the songs to really hook me were Darlington County, No Surrender, Bobby Jean, and the huge title track. This was never my favorite Springsteen album but it broke him into the mainstream with a huge blast.

I thought I would highlight the songs that got me into the album. Most of these were not worn out by radio except maybe the title track. Believe me…if you listened to the radio in the mid-80s…you know the rest! If not I have the album on Spotify at the bottom.

Darlington County – When I think of this album this is the song I think about. This is one of the very few on the album that wasn’t a hit…but it’s just as good as many of the others. Bruce originally wrote this for his 1978 album Darkness On The Edge Of Town, but it didn’t make the cut. The riff in the song reminds me of Cadillac Ranch which was on The River album.

The song resolves itself in the end with the narrator’s buddy in trouble. I have a friend named Paul who I thought of when he mentioned Wayne.

Driving out of Darlington County
My eyes seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
Driving out of Darlington County
Seen Wayne handcuffed to the bumper of a state trooper’s Ford

Surrender – When you are 17 years old and waiting for your life to start… then hear the lyrics Well, we busted out of class, Had to get away from those fools, We learned more from a three-minute record, than we ever learned in school… it gets your attention.

I think every song on the album could have been released as a single. This one did not chart but remains a strong song. Steven Van Zandt convinced Springsteen to include this song on the album because Bruce was going to leave it off.

Born In The USA – It’s probably the most misunderstood Springsteen song out there. Springsteen wrote this about the problems Vietnam veterans encountered when they returned to America. Vietnam was the first war the US didn’t win, and while veterans of other wars received a hero’s welcome, those who fought in Vietnam were mostly ignored when they returned to their homeland.

What a demented-sounding vocal…I LOVE it! I haven’t heard anything like this since Twist and Shout by the Beatles. I remember back in the 80s Chrysler offered Springsteen $12 million to use this in an ad campaign with Bruce… Springsteen turned them down so they used “The Pride Is Back” by Kenny Rogers instead. Springsteen had never let his music be used to sell products. He also turned Ronald Reagan down who wanted to use it for his re-election against Walter Mondale. Walter Mondale then said “I share the same American Dream” as Bruce. Bruce disagreed and said so. I’m happy that he turned both of them down.

Goin’ Down -Bruce makes it abundantly clear that he is not going to town, nor around, or in any way… up…nope he is going down, down, down, etc… He repeats “down” over eighty times in this song…My word count is 90 in the song. I don’t care…its a good song and as Bruce always does he sings it with conviction. It’s a very likable rock/pop song.

The reason I like this song is the overall sound that Bruce got on the guitar and the echo in his voice… it’s just perfect. I can hear the Sun Records’ influence in this one.

Bobby Jean -This one I really think would have been a hit if they had released it as a single…but that can be said about a few other ones also. This song was really poignant when I heard it because I was about to graduate and I was starting to say goodbye to a lot of classmates that I knew I’d never see again.

This was written as a farewell message to guitarist Steven Van Zandt, who left the E Street Band during the recording of Born In The U.S.A. to pursue other projects. Van Zandt returned to the band years later.

Here is the complete tracklist and the Spotify if you want to indulge yourself today.

1. Born in the U.S.A.
2. Cover Me
3. Darlington County
4. Working on the Highway
5. Downbound Train
6. I’m On Fire
7. No Surrender
8. Bobby Jean
9. I’m Goin’ Down
10. Glory Days
11. Dancing in the Dark
12. My Hometown

…

Bruce Springsteen – Glory Days

Glory Days is a true story. In this song, Springsteen sings about a chance encounter with an old friend who was a star baseball player in high school. The old friend is Joe DePugh, and the encounter really did happen.

Springsteen and DePugh were classmates at St. Rose of Lima School in Freehold, New Jersey and played baseball together in the Babe Ruth League. They were good friends but drifted apart as Springsteen pursued music while DePugh took a shot at sports (he tried out for the Los Angeles Dodgers). In the summer of 1973, DePugh was walking into a bar called the Headliner in Neptune, New Jersey while Springsteen was walking out.

Bruce went back in, where he and his old friend talked about the good old days until the bar closed. When “Glory Days” was released, DePugh was living in Vermont, where word got out that he was the subject of the song. Springsteen confirmed the story at his 30th high school reunion in 1997, but DePugh wasn’t there; they finally met up again in 2005 when they met for lunch and once again relived their glory days.

The song peaked at #5 in the Billboard 100, #17 in Canada, #34 in New Zealand, and #17 in the UK in 1985. The song was released in 1984 and really popular through 1985 and remains popular to this day.

 

On my way out … Joe DePugh's story | Editorials | vtcng.com

If you want to read about Joe DePugh here is a link:

https://www.vtcng.com/waterbury_record/opinion/weekly_editorial/on-my-way-out-joe-depugh-s-story/article_eefdcfbc-0804-11e2-8c64-0019bb2963f4.html

From Songfacts

This is one of Springsteen’s favorites. He almost always plays it at the impromptu bar gigs he is famous for on the Jersey Shore.

In concert, Springsteen often extends this to over 10 minutes. Perhaps the most compact version he ever played was at halftime of the 2009 Super Bowl, when he squeezed four songs into a 12-minute set.

Springsteen: “The first verse actually happened, the second verse mostly happened, the third verse, of course, is happening now.”

Originally, this contained a fourth verse which mentioned Springsteen’s father working on the Ford assembly line.

Springsteen performed this June 25, 1993 on the last David Letterman Show on NBC. Letterman is a huge fan but had never had Springsteen on. Bruce did go on the show a few more times after it moved to CBS.

This was one of seven US Top 10 hits on Born In The U.S.A. The band first recorded it in 1982, but it was not released until the album came out.

The video was directed by John Sayles, who also did Springsteen’s promos for “Born In The U.S.A.” and “I’m On Fire.” In the video, Springsteen plays a cross between the character telling the story and the guy he’s singing about.

The full version of the video starts with Springsteen working construction (in real life he never had a job outside of music). In his reverie, he recalls his days playing baseball. Amid the scenes where the E Street Band is playing the song in a bar (Maxwell’s in Hoboken, New Jersey), we see him reminiscing with his glove and trophies from the glory days. At the end of the video Springsteen is on the field pitching to his son until his wife comes by in a station wagon to pick them up. It’s pretty clear that Springsteen was never much of a pitcher – his form is terrible. He was a right fielder when he played.

Julianne Phillips, who was Springsteen’s wife at the time, plays that role in the video, appearing in just one shot where she comes to get her boys. Patti Scialfa, who became the next Mrs. Springsteen in 1991, had joined the E Street Band in 1984 and gets a lot more face time in the clip.

On the day Springsteen released his album The Rising, he played a concert on The Today Show. This was the only song he played that was not on the new album.

Glory Days

I had a friend was a big baseball player
Back in high school
He could throw that speedball by you
Make you look like a fool boy
Saw him the other night at this roadside bar
I was walking in, he was walking out
We went back inside sat down had a few drinks
But all he kept talking about was

Glory days, well, they’ll pass you by
Glory days, in the wink of a young girl’s eye
Glory days, glory days

Well there’s a girl that lives up the block
Back in school she could turn all the boy’s heads
Sometimes on a Friday I’ll stop by
And have a few drinks after she put her kids to bed
Her and her husband Bobby well they split up
I guess it’s two years gone by now
We just sit around talking about the old times,
She says when she feels like crying
She starts laughing thinking about

Glory days, well, they’ll pass you by
Glory days, in the wink of a young girl’s eye
Glory days, glory days

Think I’m going down to the well tonight
And I’m going to drink till I get my fill
And I hope when I get old I don’t sit around thinking about it
But I probably will
Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture
A little of the glory of, well time slips away
And leaves you with nothing mister but
Boring stories of

Glory days, well, they’ll pass you by
Glory days, in the wink of a young girl’s eye
Glory days, glory days
Yeah, they’ll pass you by
Glory days, in the wink of a young girl’s eye
Glory days, glory days

Five Baseball Songs

Since the playoffs are in full swing…thought I would list my 5 favorite baseball songs in no certain order.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game – The classic song of the game written in 1908 and still going strong.

Talking Baseball – Terry Cashman released this in 1981 but it didn’t do much in the charts when it was released but has caught on to be a classic.

Centerfield –  John Fogerty on his “comeback” album of the same name. This is played at every ballpark.

Glory Days – Bruce Springsteen – Based off a true encounter with an ex-classmate that Bruce played little league baseball with when they were young.

Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball – Count Basie