{"id":28866,"date":"1988-03-21T11:00:00","date_gmt":"1988-03-21T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/?p=28866"},"modified":"2026-02-08T07:38:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T15:38:27","slug":"matr-elliot-murphy-and-bruce-springsteen-rock-ballad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/1988\/03\/21\/matr-elliot-murphy-and-bruce-springsteen-rock-ballad\/","title":{"rendered":"Rock Ballad"},"content":{"rendered":"

On January 31, 1974,\u00a0Rolling Stone\u00a0<\/em>reviewed Bruce Springsteen’s latest album,\u00a0The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle. <\/em>The headline on the page read, “He’s the Best Dylan Since 1968.”<\/p>\n

But the reviewer wasn’t referring to Bruce.<\/p>\n

Bruce’s sophomore album shared that page with Elliott Murphy’s debut album,\u00a0Aquashow<\/em>, and it was Murphy who received the New Dylan sobriquet that particular day.<\/p>\n

The New Dylans were already friends by that point–they’d met the year prior when Murphy caught one of Bruce’s shows at Max’s Kansas City and struck up an instant rapport. Their friendship remained strong over the years that followed, but it would be two decades before they’d first perform together on stage.<\/p>\n

That moment came when Bruce’s 1992 world tour arrived in Paris, where Murphy had taken up residence. \u00a0The two old friends took the opportunity to reconnect, and Bruce suggested they sing something together on stage.<\/p>\n

It was Bruce’s idea to play “Rock Ballad,” from Elliott’s 1977 album, Just a Story From America<\/em>.<\/p>\n