{"id":36003,"date":"2022-07-05T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/?p=36003"},"modified":"2023-06-02T03:46:10","modified_gmt":"2023-06-02T10:46:10","slug":"album-companion-darkness-on-the-edge-of-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/05\/album-companion-darkness-on-the-edge-of-town\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Companion: Darkness on the Edge of Town"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Don&#8217;t be fooled by the title: Bruce Springsteen&#8217;s fourth studio album isn&#8217;t dark&#8230; it&#8217;s just real.<\/p>\n<p>If\u00a0<em>Born to Run<\/em> is unbridled romance, <em>Darkness on the Edge of Town<\/em> is unvarnished realism.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"758\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent&#038;listType=playlist&#038;list=OLAK5uy_lDjjM6fhv8UAF1WLd5MyGr39PsIy3DXjs\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>And that&#8217;s easy enough to understand: if you&#8217;d just settled a years-long lawsuit with your former manager that barred you from recording new music and forced you into a never-ending hardscrabble tour of secondary towns and tertiary venues, the romance would probably have been beaten out of you too.<\/p>\n<p><em>Darkness on the Edge of Town <\/em>is devoid of the romantic imagery and characters that populated Bruce&#8217;s previous album, and even the words themselves are tighter, terser, plainer. This is the album where Bruce transitioned away from his rhyming dictionary and vivid scenery and embraced an economical approach to storytelling that would become a trademark going forward.<\/p>\n<p><em>Darkness<\/em> is significant for more than just its lyrical evolution, however. It&#8217;s also the album on which the musical virtuosity of the &#8220;classic&#8221; line-up of the E Street Band can be heard and appreciated for the first time. Gone is the Spectorian wall of sound production, returning is Springsteen the guitar hero, and for the first time, Bruce&#8217;s voice is shaded with the empathy and world-weariness that comes with adulthood.<\/p>\n<p>But don&#8217;t confuse realism with pessimism, because the unifying theme and greatest strength of\u00a0<em>Darkness on the Edge of Town<\/em> is the relentless optimism, defiance, and persistence of its narrators.<\/p>\n<p>Just as their author refused to compromise his principles and willingly paid the price for his resistance, the characters in\u00a0<em>Darkness <\/em>refuse to submit to their lot in life. The resulting collection of anthems and ballads seem to seethe, mourn, and concede at first listen but rouse, galvanize, and uplift upon deeper inspection.<\/p>\n<p>And deeper inspection is exactly what we&#8217;ve done here over the past four years. With this past weekend&#8217;s final <em>Darkness\u00a0<\/em>installment of our\u00a0<em>Roll of the Dice\u00a0<\/em>series, our multi-year exploration of the songs that comprise Springsteen&#8217;s landmark album is complete. (<em>Darkness\u00a0<\/em>is the first album to receive the complete\u00a0<em>Roll of the Dice<\/em> treatment, but more will follow over the months to come.)<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve joined me along the way, you might find it interesting to explore some of the earlier essays you missed. If you&#8217;ve been with me from the beginning, these articles are now updated and crosslinked to help explore the connections, genealogy, and comparisons between songs.<\/p>\n<p>So if you&#8217;re inclined to join me, let&#8217;s take a look back and a look inside the songs that comprise Bruce Springsteen&#8217;s fourth studio album, <em>Darkness on the Edge of Town<\/em>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/20\/roll-of-the-dice-badlands\/\">Badlands<\/a>&#8221; &#8211; the opening anthem that&#8217;s also an allegory for the legal battle that delayed but also influenced the album (originally published May 20, 2019)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/03\/roll-of-the-dice-adam-raised-a-cain\/\">Adam Raised a Cain<\/a>&#8221; &#8211; the Steinbeck-inspired opening salvo in Bruce&#8217;s years-long exploration of father\/son relationships (originally published July 3, 2022)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/28\/roll-of-the-dice-something-in-the-night\/\">Something in the Night<\/a>&#8221; &#8211; the rawest, darkest, and earliest performed track on the album, also rooted in the contemporaneous lawsuit (originally published May 28, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/02\/roll-of-the-dice-candys-room\/\">Candy&#8217;s Room<\/a>&#8221; &#8211; a three-part look at the construction of a song about an idealized and idolized sex worker (originally published May 2, 2022)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/03\/roll-of-the-dice-racing-in-the-street\/\">Racing in the Street<\/a>&#8221; &#8211; an exploration of the themes, influences, and artistry of the album&#8217;s crown jewel (originally published October 3, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/04\/roll-of-the-dice-the-promised-land\/\">The Promised Land<\/a>&#8221; &#8211; the one track that gets darker rather than brighter on a deeper listen (originally published July 4, 2018)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/31\/roll-of-the-dice-factory\/\">Factory<\/a>&#8221; &#8211; the albums&#8217; plainest, most economical and most autobiographical track (originally published October 31, 2018)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2021\/11\/06\/roll-of-the-dice-streets-of-fire\/\">Streets of Fire<\/a>&#8221; &#8211; a cathartic sensory experience of a song that one <em>feels<\/em> rather than hears (originally published November 6, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/roll-of-the-dice-prove-it-all-night\/\">Prove It All Night<\/a>&#8221; &#8211; rock&#8217;s most ferocious wedding song (originally published October 24, 2020)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/10\/roll-of-the-dice-darkness-on-the-edge-of-town\/\">Darkness on the Edge of Town<\/a>&#8221; &#8211; the title track that embodies the album&#8217;s warring themes: the inability to accept defeat, paired with an addiction to the things that ensure it (originally published April 10, 2018)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each of the linked articles above features early outtakes and work-in-progress performances, great live versions, and my own personal reading and consideration of each song. By no means do I consider these authoritative or representative of Bruce&#8217;s intentions, but they do reflect the results of deep listening, research, and reflection.<\/p>\n<p>If you have differing opinions on any or all of the above, I&#8217;d love to hear them. Otherwise, this closes the book on this site&#8217;s treatment of <em>Darkness on the Edge of Town<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bruce Springsteen&#8217;s fourth studio album becomes the first to receive the complete Roll of the Dice treatment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[3509,299],"class_list":["post-36003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-roll-of-the-dice","tag-album-companion","tag-darkness-on-the-edge-of-town"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/darkness.jpg?fit=1500%2C1500&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9w3Lk-9mH","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1469,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/10\/roll-of-the-dice-darkness-on-the-edge-of-town\/","url_meta":{"origin":36003,"position":0},"title":"Roll of the Dice: Darkness on the Edge of Town","author":"Ken","date":"April 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Darkness on the Edge of Town\" is one of Bruce's most enduring classics. But is it a song about heroic defiance or defeat and addiction?","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Roll of the Dice&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Roll of the Dice","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/roll-of-the-dice\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/darkness-e1522030372911.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/darkness-e1522030372911.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/darkness-e1522030372911.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":33251,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/28\/roll-of-the-dice-texas-drive-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":36003,"position":1},"title":"Roll of the Dice: Texas Drive-In","author":"Ken","date":"April 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Among the lost tracks from a lost album is this teaser of a song about a secret love.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Roll of the Dice&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Roll of the Dice","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/roll-of-the-dice\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/texas.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/texas.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/texas.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/texas.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/texas.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20103,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/06\/cover-me-vatican-cellars-darkness-on-the-edge-of-town\/","url_meta":{"origin":36003,"position":2},"title":"Cover Me, Vatican Cellars: Darkness on the Edge of Town","author":"Ken","date":"August 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Back in 2009, Vatican Cellars gave us a cover of \"Darkness on the Edge of Town\" both daring and beautiful--check out their cello-led arrangement inside.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cover Me&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cover Me","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/cover-me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/vatican.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/vatican.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/vatican.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/vatican.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/vatican.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":56994,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/02\/kingdom-of-days-june-2-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":36003,"position":3},"title":"June 2","author":"Ken","date":"June 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Darkness on the Edge of Town was released on this date in 1978! Also on this date: a historic radio performance, the only known performance of \"A Night Like This,\" and more. Great audio and video inside.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Kingdom of Days&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Kingdom of Days","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/kingdom-of-days\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/darkness.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/darkness.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/darkness.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/darkness.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/darkness.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3133,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/17\/cover-me-greg-kihn-band-rendezvous\/","url_meta":{"origin":36003,"position":4},"title":"Cover Me, Greg Kihn Band: Rendezvous","author":"Ken","date":"July 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"When \"Rendezvous\" didn't make the cut for the Darkness album, Bruce went to Greg Kihn to make sure it found a good home.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cover Me&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cover Me","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/cover-me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/kihn.jpg?fit=599%2C598&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/kihn.jpg?fit=599%2C598&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/kihn.jpg?fit=599%2C598&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2966,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/06\/roll-of-the-dice-sherry-darling\/","url_meta":{"origin":36003,"position":5},"title":"Roll of the Dice: Sherry Darling","author":"Ken","date":"July 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Sherry Darling\" is synonymous with summer--one of Bruce's loosest, most carefree (and believe it or not, romantic) songs, yet it dates back to the serious Darkness sessions.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Roll of the Dice&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Roll of the Dice","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/roll-of-the-dice\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sherry-e1530848911928.jpg?fit=600%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sherry-e1530848911928.jpg?fit=600%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sherry-e1530848911928.jpg?fit=600%2C600&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36003"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43518,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36003\/revisions\/43518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}