Roll of the Dice: Thundercrack

“We wrote [‘Thundercrack’] as the showstopper. It ended three or four different times–you didn’t know where it was going to go. It was just a big, epic show-ender that was meant to leave the audience gasping a little bit for their breath… Later on, “Rosalita” began to fill that spot in the show and held it for many, many years… Before that ‘Thundercrack’ had the same function. It was meant to make you nuts.” — Bruce Springsteen to Mark Hagen, Mojo, January 1999

“Thundercrack” is no “Rosalita.”

I’m not even sure I agree with the comparison. If anything, “Thundercrack” is the original “Kitty’s Back,” so similar are those two songs in content and structure.

In fact, “Thundercrack” wasn’t even the reliable main-set ender it’s commonly believed to have been. Rosie often followed it even as far back as the third known appearance of “Thundercrack” in early 1973 and occasionally seems to have substituted for it entirely. Bruce’s “later on” wasn’t very later on. (Both “Rosalita” and “Thundercrack” are reported to be based on the same girl, however: Bruce’s girlfriend, Diane Lozito.)

Still, there’s no contesting the historical significance of “Thundercrack.” It’s the template from which Bruce would fashion his more enduring, better-known and beloved change-up showpieces like “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” “Kitty’s Back,” and “New York City Serenade.”

But “Thundercrack” is worthy of consideration and appreciation on its own merits, so let’s take a listen to it together, starting with its earliest known circulating performance, from January 31, 1973.

As we can tell, “Thundercrack” didn’t exactly leave Bruce’s audiences gasping for breath in the beginning. That’s in large part due to the mid-song comedy breaks and extended fadeout section (the latter of which was often so quiet that the band was practically inaudible for long stretches) that sapped the song of its momentum.

Still, “Thundercrack” charms from the outset, immediately putting the audience on notice as it veers from its a capella intro to its “sha na na” chorus before we even arrive at the first verse. It changes tempo and style constantly, and Vini Lopez gets a full fill workout throughout.

Over the next few months, Bruce and the band tightened and heightened their performance. Watch this incredible footage from only three months later, and you’ll see how powerful “Thundercrack” had become in such a short time.

Lyrically, though, “Thundercrack” never evolved. It was fully formed from its first appearance, and for a song so epic in length and varied in musical style, it’s remarkably light in substance. It’s a twelve-minute recitation about an ex-lover with some serious moves on the dance floor, and it’s pretty clear that the dance floor is a metaphor for the bedroom.

Her brains they rattle and her bones they shake
Oh she’s an angel from the Innerlake
Her brains they rattle and her bones they shake
Oh she’s an angel from the Innerlake
Don’t dance with her Henry, don’t you dance with her Jake
Oh she’s an angel from the Innerlake
She gives me all the loving that a good man can take
Oh she’s an angel from the Innerlake

Thundercrack! Baby’s back
This time she’ll tell me how she really feels
Bring me down to her lightning shack
You can watch my partner reeling
She moves up, she moves back
Out on the floor there just is no one cleaner
She does this thing she calls the “Jump back Jack”
She’s got the heart of a ballerina

Straight from the Bronx, hung off the line
Still she slides, she slops, she bops, she bumps, she grinds
Even them dance hall hacks from the west side of the tracks move in close to catch her timing
She moves up, she moves back
Out on the floor there just is no one cleaner
She does this thing she calls the “Jump back Jack”
She’s got the heart of a ballerina

Oh, she ain’t no little girl, no, she ain’t got no curls
Her hair ain’t brown and her eyes ain’t either
Round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round
Round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round

My heart’s wood, she’s a carpenter
She’s an angel in the night, what she does is alright
Dance with me, partner
Dance with me, partner
Dance with me, partner
‘Til the dawn
Baby, all night long

Thundercrack! Baby’s back
This time she’ll tell me how she really feels
Brings me down to her lightning shack
You can watch my partner reeling
She moves up, she moves back
Out on the floor there just is no one cleaner
She does this thing she calls the “jump back jack”
She’s got the heart of a ballerina

Oh, she ain’t no little girl, no, she ain’t got no curls
Her hair ain’t brown and her eyes ain’t either
Round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round
Round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round

My heart’s wood, she’s a carpenter
She’s an angel in the night, what she does is alright
Dance with me, partner
Dance with me, partner
Dance with me, partner
All night…

Yeah, that’s not dancing they’re doing in the dark.

Compare “Thundercrack” with “Kitty’s Back,” which is so similar in content that I suspect it displaced its predecessor from the spot it might have otherwise claimed on Bruce’s second album. Both songs celebrate the return of an ex-lover, but the later track is clad in clever feline clothing that elevates the song above its sublime jazzy backing track. It may have only marginally more substance, but it’s substantially more stylish.

Both songs work best on the stage, and in the case of “Thundercrack,” Bruce was never satisfied with its studio translation. It wasn’t for lack of trying, though: he captured a take of it on the first day of recording for The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle in May 1973, and he continued working on it through the summer before finally abandoning it.

“It was meant to be played live in front of an audience,” Bruce told Hagen, “and when we plunked our way through it in studio… it just didn’t feel right.” Rediscovering it almost a quarter-century later when compiling Tracks, Bruce recalled “It was probably 80 percent done–we had to shape it a little bit.”

Part of the shaping was layering in new background vocals, but there was a problem: it wasn’t just Vini’s drums that stood out in “Thundercrack,” his voice was prominent too. Bruce asked Vini to rejoin him in the studio for an encore performance. “He came in and sang all his parts completely unprompted, like he remembered it exactly from 25 years ago. We put the same harmonies we used at that time and finished it up a little bit.”

It’s unclear what other “shaping” might have been done, but the core performance on the finished tracks is clearly the original E Street Band. “People played very personally and very eccentrically,” Brue acknowledged. “You hear people who have probably really never heard themselves play that much, and so they’re just playing how they play, not playing like this guy or that guy. Garry’s playing is all over the place on the bass, Vini’s all over the drums. We had come out of a band that had jammed a lot, so when I put the band together as an ensemble, they had this tendency to want to play and play and play.”

The band was tighter when they went into the studio to record “Thundercrack” (the finished track is “only” eight and a half minutes), but each member plays just as eccentrically as Bruce described.

At one point considered as the lead-off to Bruce’s second album, “Thundercrack” was ultimately dropped from consideration. It resurfaced as a contender for Born to Run, making it through the first two potential song sequences before being dropped–almost certainly for its now out-of-place eccentricity–never to return, at least not until Bruce resurrected and finished it for Tracks.

Longtime fans were disappointed that “Thundercrack” wasn’t one of the Tracks tracks featured on the Reunion Tour at the turn of the century, but Bruce hadn’t forgotten about it. He just saved it for a hometown crowd. Without any fanfare, he launched into it early in the set at his holiday benefit show in Asbury Park on December 3, 2001. It wasn’t quite the E Street Band (minus Steve and Roy, plus Soozie and the Max Weinberg 7), but it was a joyous and faithful rendition all the same, particularly benefitting from Soozie’s fiddle.

It went over so well that Bruce played it every night of that holiday stand and every night of the next one as well, in 2003.

“Thundercrack” made its next appearance on (of all places) Bruce’s solo acoustic tour, where it received a handful of outings. But this was a song built for a band; it didn’t work well solo. There was an exception, though.

On November 19, 2005, Bruce wasn’t quite solo. Little Steven and The Big Man joined The Boss for a couple of songs, one of which was “Thundercrack.” Remarkably for a song played dozens of times over Bruce’s career, it was Steve’s very first time playing it. The trio’s performance was sweetly nostalgic.

“Thundercrack” made its modern E Street Band debut on the Magic Tour. Over the decade that followed, Bruce and the band have played it over two dozen times, almost always in his early stomping grounds but occasionally a bit further afield.

Truth be told, though, “Thundercrack” never seemed to fully click in its modern outings. I was present for six of them (in Philadelphia, Boston, and San Jose), and each time there was a core, hardcore group of fans that embraced the moment while the majority of the audience seemed more bemused than enthused.

I do, however, have a special fondness for that San Jose performance, where Bruce’s normally unerring on-stage instincts failed him when he decided it would be a good idea to add some audience participation to the song’s ending.

Even with a crowd of perfect-pitch singers, the modern E Street Band is too tight to recapture the loose and sloppy magic that makes “Thundercrack” work best. That doesn’t stop the band and fans from occasionally trying, however.

And really, who can blame them? It’s guaranteed fun at the very least, and a reminder of the band’s long and storied history. “Thundercrack” may rightfully belong to the original E Street Band, but it’s influence can be felt on Bruce’s stage to this day.

Thundercrack
Recorded: 1973-1974, 1997
Released: Tracks (1998)
First performed: October 29, 1972 (Long Branch, NJ)
Last performed: September 7, 2016 (Philadelphia, PA)

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