Editor's Note
With last Friday’s entry, Tunnel of Love becomes the third Springsteen studio album to receive the complete Roll of the Dice treatment.
If you’ve joined me along the way of this five-year exploration, you might find it interesting to explore some of the earlier essays you missed. If you’ve been with me from the beginning, these articles are now updated and crosslinked to help explore the connections, genealogy, and comparisons between songs.
It’s been called his divorce album, but that ignores all the songs about beginnings rather than endings.
Some label it a relationship album, which is closer to the truth, but that discounts the songs for which romantic love is just a backdrop at best.
And yet, Tunnel of Love is truly one of Bruce Springsteen’s most thematically cohesive albums. We just have to look a little deeper to find its center.
Tunnel of Love is about choices.
It’s about the choices we make in life. Have we made the right ones? What do we do when we realize we’ve made the wrong ones? What if we never know? What if we simply refuse to choose?
Without exception, every song on Tunnel of Love concerns the consequences of choosing, written by a songwriter who’s reached the age where the enduring impact of his decisions can no longer be ignored.
“Walk Like a Man” and “Spare Parts” were the first songs recorded for the album in January 1987. The former takes place at the moment of one of life’s great choices, as a groom looks to his father for guidance as he commits to his bride. The latter introduces us to an unwed mother contemplating a terrible decision as she yearns to escape the lasting consequences of a moment of passion.
Over the weeks and months that followed, Bruce recorded song after song, all in Nebraska fashion at home by himself. (He’d eventually ask his bandmates to contribute overdubs to fill out the tracks.)
At first, the songs featured optimism, or at least acceptance.
- “All That Heaven Will Allow” — the classic romance film homage about a working-class Ron who goes all in for his upper-class Cary.
- “Valentine’s Day” — the tale of a man who finally finds the strength and motivation to overcome his fear of commitment.
- “Ain’t Got You” — a Billy Boy Arnold tribute by a self-mocking songwriter who realizes he’s committed to the wrong person
As the sessions stretched on toward April, however, Bruce’s songs took on more shading. His characters appeared caught in some form of purgatory, forced to make the same choices each day while they become increasingly infected by self-doubt and temptation.
- “Cautious Man” — the Night of the Hunter tribute featuring a husband who chooses each day to resist temptation, knowing that he’ll eventually decide otherwise.
- “Two Faces” — the Lou Christie tribute (if you haven’t realized by now, Tunnel of Love is also very much a tribute/homage album) about a man who wrestles with his inner demons daily.
- “Brilliant Disguise” — one of Bruce’s masterpieces, about the secrets we keep from each other and the choices we make to see past our insecurities.
And then there are the songs that take us to the other side of a relationship:
- “When You’re Alone” — What do you do when your ex realizes they made a mistake in leaving you?
- “Tougher Than the Rest,” which salutes one of the hardest choices we ever face: to once again risk heartbreak in search of love.
By the time these songs were in the can, Bruce and his first wife Julianne Phillips had separated, and he had long since taken up with his bandmate, Patti Scialfa. He had two more songs left in him, though, and in his early weeks of separation from Juli, he recorded two of the album’s finest tracks:
- “One Step Up,” one of the best songs ever written about the moment and the reasons one decides to stray
- “Tunnel of Love,” the title track that celebrates the bravery of committing to love when you’ve had enough experience to understand exactly what that entails
When it was released in October 1987, Tunnel of Love earned critical acclaim for its introspective content on the heels of Bruce’s previous album, the poppy, mega-hit Born in the U.S.A. Its first two singles (“Brilliant Disguise” and “Tunnel of Love”) cracked the Top Ten, and “One Step Up” peaked at #13. The album itself went to #1 in the U.S. and the U.K. and was eventually certified triple platinum.
Critics noted, however, the relative absence of the E Street Band and the dark turn for a newly married man, both of which proved to be foreshadowing.
In the 35 years since its release, Tunnel of Love holds up as one of Springsteen’s very best albums. Although its dated production detracts a bit when listening to the original studio recordings, the songs themselves represent some of Bruce’s best songwriting and remain fan favorites to this day. They also remain among the rarest to grace his setlists–only “Brilliant Disguise” and “Tougher Than the Rest” get anything resembling regular appearances.
Bruce would continue to write about love and relationships in the years ahead, but rarely would he do so with such stark emotional honesty as he did on Tunnel of Love. If you haven’t already, click the links in the song titles above to explore the origins, themes, messages, and influences of one of Springsteen’s very best albums.
