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Song of the Day #1,257: ‘Long Walk Home’ – Bruce Springsteen

In the late 2000’s, Bruce Springsteen went on a tear, releasing four studio albums in five years. I’m skipping over one of those — We Shall Overcome: The Pete Seeger Sessions — in order to wrap things up this week.

That record is Springsteen’s only album of non-original material. It features covers of a dozen folk and protest songs made popular by Pete Seeger. It’s a great listen and features some terrific musical interplay with a group of musicians Springsteen assembled for the cause, but I’m sticking to Springsteen’s own songs during this three-week series.

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Song of the Day #1,256: ‘Reno’ – Bruce Springsteen

In 2005, Bruce Springsteen wasn’t in need of a comeback, but that’s how I viewed Devils & Dust. More accurately, this was the first of his albums that established him — for me — as a relevant contemporary artist.

I was familiar with his great work from previous decades but the only Springsteen album I’d bought upon release — The Rising — had disappointed me. Devils & Dust, on the other hand, inspired me.

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Song of the Day #1,255: ‘Nothing Man’ – Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen waited seven years after The Ghost of Tom Joad before releasing his next studio album — 2002’s The Rising.

The record was inspired by the 9/11 attacks though some of the songs that seem directly tied to the events (such as ‘My City of Ruins’ and today’s SOTD) were actually written well before 2001.

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Song of the Day #1,255: ‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’ – Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen’s The Ghost of Tom Joad, released in 1995, was a return to the style and themes of the haunting Nebraska. Recorded mostly on acoustic guitar, the somber album drew inspiration (and its title character) from Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.

Springsteen has always been a populist songwriter though he tends to not get overly political in his songs. Instead he gets his point across by weaving the hard-luck tales of men and women who are society’s victims.

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Song of the Day #1,254: ‘Further to Fly’ – Paul Simon

Following the release of The Rhythm of the Saints, my family would debate whether this or Graceland was his greatest album.

Initially I sided with Rhythm, citing its earthy, exotic flavors and the way it turned world music into gorgeous pop. Eventually I came back around to Graceland‘s unique tour of South Africa via the Upper West Side. But there is no loser in that battle.

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