I enjoyed my three-week dive into Tom Petty’s discography so much that I’ve decided to give it another shot with an American rocker whose star shines even brighter — Mr. Bruce Springsteen. As with Petty, I’ll dedicate a week at a time to The Boss with unrelated weeks in-between.
I’ve never been as big a Bruce Springsteen fan as I feel I should be, if that makes any sense. I love everything of his that I own and quite a bit that I don’t own as well, and by all rights he should be up there with the Elvis Costellos of the world in my estimation. The reason he isn’t — or at least isn’t yet — is that I’ve never taken the time to really explore his early work.
For some reason I only started buying new Springsteen albums in the past decade. I suspect if I had done a Springsteen deep dive years ago the way I have with other artists that he’d be among my very favorites today. Perhaps these upcoming weeks on the blog will serve that purpose.
Kicking things off is Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ, Springsteen’s 1973 debut. This album is best known for ‘Blinded By the Light,’ a song that became a much bigger hit for Manfred Mann’s Earth Band than it ever did for Springsteen. In fact, the former version hit #1 while the latter failed to even chart.
The songs on this album owe a huge debt to Bob Dylan… you can see Springsteen straining to write like Dylan on tracks such as today’s SOTD, ‘Growin’ Up.’ But amid the word salad he is already forging his identity as a rugged street poet, far more tuned in to the common man’s hopes and fears than Dylan.
I combed my hair till it was just right and commanded the night brigade
I was open to pain and crossed by the rain and I walked on a crooked crutch
I strolled all alone through a fallout zone and came out with my soul untouched
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said “Sit down” I stood up.
Ooh-ooh growin’ up
The flag of piracy flew from my mast, my sails were set wing to wing
I had a jukebox graduate for first mate, she couldn’t sail but she sure could sing,
I pushed B-52 and bombed ’em with the blues with my gear set stubborn on standing
I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school, never once gave thought to landing,
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said “Come down” I threw up
Ooh-ooh growin’ up
I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere and you know it’s really hard to hold your breath.
I swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared, I was the cosmic kid in full costume dress
Well, my feet they finally took root in the earth but I got me a nice little place in the stars
And I swear I found the key to the universe in the engine of an old parked car
I hid in the mother breast of the crowd but when they said “Pull down” I pulled up
Ooh-ooh growin’ up. Ooh-ooh growin’ up
Meet Me In Montauk 
My first exposure to Bruce was this album, which, as I recall, was owned on vinyl by my sister. I remember borrowing it from her and loving it.
It is interesting that you own and appreciate more of Bruce’s later works, as I have not really been as drawn to recent albums. To be fair, I’m not sure I have heard any of the newer albums in their entirety and I’m sure there are gems on them as well. It just seems as though much of the newer stuff has a less acoustic sound as compared to early works like this and the lyrics don’t feel as sharp.
As I recall, Bruce got into a major fight with his record label sometime around or after this album, which, I believe, led to Manfred Mann’s hit cover (and many would argue butchering) of “Blinded by the Light.” The original song as recorded on this album is wonderful, as is today’s SOTD.
Looking forward to these theme weeks, particularly as you explore later albums with which I am less familiar.