Part cover, part adaptation, part tribute, part reminder: Bruce’s “Freedom Cadence” connects the dots from “Born in the U.S.A.’s” Vietnam vet to today’s Iraq war veterans.
Category: Roll of the Dice
One of Bruce’s lightest but truest songs of love and friendship, “Janey, Don’t You Lose Heart” is an instant highlight wherever she turns up.
Ah, the elusive, romantic epic “Frankie.” She’s the one that got away multiple times. It took years, but Bruce and the E Street Band finally did right by her in the studio and on stage. Watch and listen inside.
It may not feature Bruce’s best lyrics, but “The War Is Over” is still a creatively constructed protest song that resonates fifty years down the road in unexpected ways.
More an impressionistic scene than a story, “Wild Billy’s Circus Story” is one of Bruce’s most carefully crafted early songs, full of delightful musical and lyrical detail. Insights, backstory, and some remarkable early performances inside.
When Bruce walked into a recording studio for only the second time, he recorded one of his earliest crowd-pleasers with his band, Steel Mill. Listen to that studio recording along with a great live performance inside.
Undeservedly obscure, “Trouble River” is a fun Human Touch-era soul rocker with deceptively dark lyrics and a long, terrific guitar solo from Bruce–this one needs more attention.
Trace the throughline from an obscure 1909 Broadway musical to Bruce’s lullaby for his newborn son.
“Talk to Me” took a strange and winding path from the studio to vinyl to the E Street stage, but it’s guaranteed to make us laugh anytime Bruce pulls it out. But let’s not think too hard about the lyrics.
Recycled melange or original organ donor? Either way, “American Beauty” ranks among the best songs of Bruce’s Magic period.