{"id":9732,"date":"2019-05-02T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/?p=9732"},"modified":"2021-12-17T13:53:23","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T21:53:23","slug":"roll-of-the-dice-gypsy-biker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/02\/roll-of-the-dice-gypsy-biker\/","title":{"rendered":"Roll of the Dice: Gypsy Biker"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Gypsy Biker” has the soul of Bruce’s classic narrative laments like “Highway Patrolman,” “The Line<\/a>,” or “The River.<\/a>”<\/p>\n

In fact, in its first moments, “Gypsy Biker” almost sounds like a self-homage to “The River.” Seriously: listen to the opening bars of both, and you’ll hear the similarity in the rueful harmonica and acoustic guitar intros.<\/p>\n

As the song proceeds lyrically, it sounds almost like a rewrite of “Shut Out the Light<\/a>” (the two songs even share a lyric),\u00a0 except that “Gypsy Biker” makes the family in “Shut Out the Light” seem fortunate by comparison.<\/p>\n

But where the songs above get lost in contemplative regret, “Gypsy Biker” rages and rocks. It’s an angry song on an angry album, but unlike other\u00a0Magic\u00a0<\/em>tracks, Bruce makes no attempt to disguise the point-of-view character’s pain or underline it with political metaphor. “Gypsy Biker” is a song of mourning.<\/p>\n