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Song of the Day #1,230: ‘Born to Run’ – Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen’s first two albums were critical smashes but they didn’t reach a mainstream audience. Even ‘Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),’ which has become a concert and classic rock radio staple, was ignored at the time.

But in 1975, all that changed with the release of Born to Run. Springsteen’s third album put him on the map, reaching #3 on the Billboard charts and quickly going Gold (it has since sold more than 6 million copies). Columbia Records promoted Springsteen and the album heavily, calling him “the future of rock-n-roll,” much to his chagrin.

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Song of the Day #1,229: ‘Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)’ – Bruce Springsteen

My renewed interest in Bruce Springsteen dates back to that trip to the Spec’s used bins that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. The fourth album I bought (for less than $5) was Springsteen’s sophomore release, The Wild, The Innocent and The E-Street Shuffle. I’ve been addicted to it ever since.

The album was released in 1973 just eight months after Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ. Imagine hearing those two bursts of creative genius from a new artist in the same year. Makes me wish I hadn’t been less than a year old at the time.

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Song of the Day #1,228: ‘Growin’ Up’ – Bruce Springsteen

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.

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Song of the Day #1,227: ‘Oh, Marion’ – Paul Simon

I notice a pattern in Paul Simon’s early work of competition and jealousy surrounding Art Garfunkel. Despite Simon’s status as the songwriter of all those wonderful tunes they recorded together, it sometimes feels as if he saw himself in Garfunkel’s shadow.

Take his nagging regrets over letting Garfunkel take the lead on ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water,’ or the cryptic songs he wrote about their partnership sometimes without even letting Art in on their meaning.

I wonder if Simon decided to jump into acting in large part because Garfunkel had found success there (in films such as Carnal Knowledge and Catch-22).

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Song of the Day #1,226: ‘God Bless the Absentee’ – Paul Simon

Five years after reaching the pinnacle of his solo career (to that point) with Still Crazy After All These Years, Paul Simon made the bizarre move of writing and starring in a movie.

1980’s One-Trick Pony featured Simon in the semi-autobiographical role of a fading folk rock star attempting a comeback in the face of professional and personal obstacles. While supporting characters in the film are loosely based on people in Simon’s own life, the main character seems like a stab at a self-destructive, self-fulfilled prophecy.

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