{"id":7877,"date":"2019-03-14T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-14T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/?p=7877"},"modified":"2024-01-01T18:10:20","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T02:10:20","slug":"roll-of-the-dice-wild-billys-circus-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/14\/roll-of-the-dice-wild-billys-circus-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Roll of the Dice: Wild Billy’s Circus Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

“…I think when you’re a kid, the things you notice about the circus aren’t the things you’re meant to notice. But those are the things that are fascinating to you. You know what you’re watching, that right underneath it… you’d walk down the midway, but I was always interested in what’s going on down that side alley back by that trailer. And then late at night, if you happened to be stranded there at 11:30, midnight, after it had shut down, it was the province of local hoodlums at the time, and it was really scary for a little boy.”–Bruce Springsteen to Elvis Costello, Spectacle, September 25, 2009<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Wild Billy’s Circus Story” is a stand-out track on Bruce’s second album, but not in a good\/bad way. It stands out because it sounds like a holdover from Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.<\/em><\/a>, or even earlier, if you’re familiar with his pre-Columbia recordings.<\/p>\n

There’s a reason for that: “Wild Billy” is the earliest-written song on\u00a0The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle,\u00a0<\/em>written in mid-1972 and performed under the name “Circus Song” throughout early 1973 until it morphed into its final lyrics and name in May of that year.<\/p>\n

Like much of Bruce’s early songwriting, “Wild Billy” is strong on imagery and short on plot. In fact, if we view it as an impressionistic sonic painting, it’s a true work of art: every verse, every turn of phrase adds a new player to the increasingly vivid scene, and the instrumental track is beautifully and meticulously layered–it would be fair to say choreographed, even–to enhance each particular lyric.<\/p>\n

Take a listen (ideally through headphones, if you have them), and hear for yourself.<\/p>\n