Bruce Springsteen’s Most Springsteen-iest Song Ever
Buckle up, kiddos. We’re about to figure out which Springsteen song is the Bruciest of them all. (Thanks to this tweet for the inspiration)Â
Right off the bat, I can think of a dozen or more contenders. How can you pick just one? The Springsteet-iest song isn’t necessarily the “best” song, is it? Is Springsteen-iest a synonym of quintessential? Are we looking for the song that a Springsteen caricature would be playing? All good questions.Â
Rather than try to single one out, we need to list the criteria that would make up the Springsteen-iest song ever and eliminate songs that don’t fit until we’re left with one.Â
1. The Springsteen-iest song would come from one of his defining albums.
We’re eliminating songs from Greetings and everything after Tunnel of Love. The Rising is great, Magic is vastly underrated, and Greetings has some gems. Still, the stretch between The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle and Tunnel of Love is when Springsteen made himself Springsteen. This also means anything from Tracks and other archival releases are out.
This puts us at 79 possible songs.Â
2. You’d want to roll down your windows and blast the Springsteen-iest song.
We lose everything from Tunnel of Love and Nebraska here. They’re both phenomenal albums that showcase the brooding side of Bruce. This side of Bruce plays well because it contrasts with the exuberance of classic Springsteen. The Springsteen-iest song will draw from that classic period, not the subsequent zigs and zags, as great as those are.
57 songs left. (Hey, that’s a familiar number…)
3. The Springsteen-iest song would be one of the Top 50 most played songs at Springsteen concerts
This makes sense, right? Does he play them often because they’re so Springsteen-y or have they become Springsteen-y because he plays them so much? The chicken or egg doesn’t matter in this case. They’re Springsteen-y either way. The top 50 most played song list was taken from Brucebase. We lose 23 songs here. (To be honest, we’re not losing too much firepower. Incident on 57th Street goes, but besides that, we’re not sacrificing much else). 34 songs left.Â
4. The Springsteen-iest song can’t also be the go-to cover song for indie rock bands
Goodbye, I’m on Fire. This article details the phenomenon and gives a plausible reason for it: the song is “recognizable enough to appeal to audiences even if they’re not huge Springsteen fans, but it’s also not overly hallowed ground” We want hallowed ground.
33 songs left.
5. The Springsteen-iest song can’t have been misappropriated by famous politicians and still widely misunderstood today.Â
See ya later, Born in the USA
32 songs left.
6. The Springsteen-iest song would feature someone driving.
I’ll take common Springsteen tropes for $200, Alex. We’re gonna eliminate some great contenders on this one, but rules are rules. Springsteen has done as much for car metaphors as Herman Melville did for whale metaphors. There were some judge’s rulings for this criteria.
- Adam Raised a Cain: “keys to your daddy’s Cadillac"Â
Verdict: Eliminated
- Out in the Street: Is he walking Out in the Street or driving Out in the Street?
Verdict: Eliminated
- You Can Look: He and Dirty Annie are at the Drive-In
Verdict: Eliminated
- Backstreets: the characters “catch rides” and “huddle in [their] cars"Â
Verdict: Still alive
We lose 14 songs total, including these heavy hitters: 10th Avenue Freeze-Out, Badlands, Glory Days, and Dancing in the Dark.
18 songs left.
7. The Springsteen-iest song wouldn’t be very, very similar to another song on the same album.
We lose 4 total here. Cadillac Ranch and Ramrod. Darlington County and Working on the Highway. Can’t be just me who sees those pairs as essentially serving the same purpose, right?
14 songs left.Â
8. Clarence Clemons would be prominent on the Springsteen-iest song.
The Big Man’s sax is the key ingredient that makes classic Springsteen what it is. It’s like the Thousand Island on a reuben. The sax also plays a major role in distinguishing Bruce’s sound from other classic rock bands. Try starting a Bruce Springsteen cover band without a sax player and see how far you get. We gotta be tough here. A few of the songs we’re cutting have a sax moment, but compared to the one’s we’re keeping, it’s just not enough. We lose 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy), Backstreets, Racing in the Street, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, and My Hometown. Wow, brutal. That’s a great set of songs.
8 songs left. See them and the winner under the cut
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