{"id":27713,"date":"2021-09-24T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/?p=27713"},"modified":"2023-01-03T06:26:05","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T14:26:05","slug":"roll-of-the-dice-thundercrack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/24\/roll-of-the-dice-thundercrack\/","title":{"rendered":"Roll of the Dice: Thundercrack"},"content":{"rendered":"

“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,\u00a0<\/span>Mojo,\u00a0<\/em><\/span>January 1999<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Thundercrack” is no “Rosalita.”<\/p>\n

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

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.)<\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n