THE GLOBAL PHENOMENON has never been a site limited to Hoyas coverage, and as the dog days of August take hold of our souls with the Hoyas season still months away, we now take a look at one of the site's biggest passions, the catalog of Bruce Springsteen.
Georgetown alum @ManvilleHoya, who you all should be following on twitter, has reviewed each and every Bruce song on his twitter feed over the past couple of years and has now come up with his rankings of Bruce's releases.
As promised, here are my rankings for Springsteen's releases. Covers are included, as they are part of the canon as far as I'm concerned. Songs in the Top 25 have accompanying live evidence of their greatness.
A couple notes on this whole endeavor, which took about 18 months in total. My ranking system has been unscientific- I'd review a daily song, then find a place in my Springsteen list word document that was after a song I liked more but before a song I liked less. I didn't compare each song to the next, so that could lead to a cascade effect where some songs ended up much lower than they should. That's why I've been very receptive to constructive feedback on placement. That being said, this is my list, and when I feel strongly about a song's placement, such as "Adam Raised A Cain" being very low or a lot of the acoustic album stuff falling below 200, I'll stand by it. It's not that I don't like acoustic; it's that I don't like these acoustic songs as much as the stuff that rocks. I turn to the immortal words of The Nature Boy as response.
Finally, here is my top five to complete the list.
1. Rosalita- This is the last song on every party mix I've ever made. It reminds me of being on the precipice of something great and the electricity that comes with being so positioned. No song makes me happier when it comes on, and that ultimately is what gave it the top slot.
"Now, I know your mama, she don't like me 'cause I play in a rock and roll band And I know your daddy, he don't dig me, but he never did understand Your papa lowered the boom, he locked you in your room I'm coming to lend a hand I'm coming to liberate you, confiscate you, I want to be your man Someday we'll look back on this and it will all seem funny But now you're sad, your mama's mad And your papa says he knows that I don't (have any money) Whoa, your papa says he knows (that I don't have any money) Whoa, so your daddy says he knows I don't have (Papa says he knows that I don't have any money) Well, tell him this is his last chance to get his daughter in a fine romance Because the record company, Rosie, just gave me a big advance And my tires were slashed and I almost crashed, but the Lord had mercy And my machine, she's a dud, out stuck in the mud somewhere in the swamps of Jersey Well, hold on tight, stay up all night, 'cause Rosie, I'm comin' on strong By the time we meet the morning light, I will hold you in my arms I know a pretty little place in Southern California down San Diego way There's a little café where they play guitars all night and all day You can hear 'em in the back room strummin' So hold tight, baby, 'cause don't you know daddy's comin"
2. Thunder Road- It was tough putting "Thunder Road" at #2. It's a nearly perfect song, and we sing it to PGS at bedtime every night. It's like ranking your favorite children at this point.
"You can hide 'neath your covers And study your pain Make crosses from your lovers Throw roses in the rain Waste your summer praying in vain For a saviour to rise from these streets Well now I'm no hero That's understood All the redemption I can offer girl Is beneath this dirty hood With a chance to make it good somehow Hey what else can we do now ? Except roll down the window And let the wind blow Back your hair Well the night's busting open These two lanes will take us anywhere We got one last chance to make it real To trade in these wings on some wheels Climb in back Heaven's waiting on down the tracks."
3. Backstreets- An epic tale of lost friendship, rebellion, abandonment, and ultimately nostalgia, capped with a soaring refrain. A powerful song about what we do to get by when experiencing the alienation of youth and how the memories of that time shape us forever.
"Remember all the movies, Terry We'd go see Trying to learn to walk like the heroes We thought we had to be Well after all this time To find we're just like all the rest Stranded in the park And forced to confess "
4. Born to Run- Windows down, crossing the Key Bridge from Georgetown into Virginia. This is a song about defying expectations, saying goodbye to limitations, and embracing opportunity. It's Springsteen's greatest contribution to the rock canon and I already feel I'm insulting it by making it #4.
"Together Wendy we can live with the sadness I'll love you with all the madness in my soul Oh-oh, someday girl I don't know when we're gonna get to that place Where we really wanna go and we'll walk in the sun But till then tramps like us baby we were born to run."
5. Girls In Their Summer Clothes- This placement will get the greatest pushback from the peanut gallery, but I don't care. This is a beautiful, haunting song, which skillfully modernizes a 50s sound. I don't know that a song better captures what it feels like to get older, and it contains my single favorite Springsteen lyric. I have pretty good seats for the show on 9/1 and I'll be carrying a sign for this one, hoping to hear it live for the first time.
"She went away She cut me like a knife Had a beautiful thing Maybe you just saved my life In just a glance Down here on Magic Street Love's a fool's dance I ain't got much sense but I still got my feet"
6. Promised Land
7. Jungleland
8. Atlantic City
two great versions:
and
9. Death to My Hometown
10. American Land
11. Born in the USA
12. Tenth Avenue Freezeout
13. Jersey Girl (cover)
14. Glory Days
15. Badlands
16. Wrecking Ball
17. 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
18. The Rising
19. The Ghost of Tom Joad
20. Independence Day
21. We Take Care of Our Own
22. Meet Me In the City
23. I'll Work For Your Love
24. The Promise
25. The River
The Rest:
26. Mary’s Place
27. Out in the Street
28. My Hometown
29. Prove it All Night
30. Streets of Philadelphia
31. Trapped (cover)
32. Growing Up
33. Spirit in the Night
34. Incident on 57th Street
35. My City of Ruins
36. Hungry Heart
37. My City of Ruins
38. Further Up the Road
39. I’m On Fire
40. American Skin (41 Shots)
41. Racing in the Street
42. Rocky Ground
43. Land of Hope and Dreams
44. Fire
45. No Surrender
46. Darkness on the Edge of Town
47. Dancing in the Dark
48. Lost in the Flood
49. Red Headed Woman
50. Long Walk Home
51. We are Alive
52. Bobby Jean
53. Better Days
54. She’s The One
55. Because the Night
56. Just Like Fire Would (Cover)
57. It’s Hard to Be A Saint in the City
58. One Step Up
59. Livin in the Future
60. State Trooper
61. New York City Serenade
62. Radio Nowhere
63. The Wrestler
64. Factory
65. The E Street Shuffle
66. Pay Me My Money Down
67. Open All Night
68. You’ll Be Coming Down
69. Ain’t Good Enough for You
70. For You
71. Someday We’ll Be Together
72. Downbound Train
73. So Young and in Love
74. You’re Missing
75. Tougher than The Rest
76. Back in Your Arms
77. Kingdom of Days
78. Save My Love
79. Outside Looking In
80. Pink Cadillac
81. Shackled and Drawn
82. Jack of All Trades
83. Cover Me
84. Loose Ends
85. Roll of the Dice
86. Darlington County
87. Something in the Night
88. I’m Going Down
89. Blinded by the Light
90. With Every Wish
91. Point Blank
92. Gave It A Name
93. Mansion on the Hill
94. Nebraska
95. Candy’s Room
96. Night
97. Cadillac Ranch
98. Streets of Fire
99. Talk to Me
100. What Love Can Do
101. The Ties That Bind
102. Someday We’ll be Together
103. You’ve Got it
104. Jesse James
105. Man at the Top
106. Waitin on a Sunny Day
107. I Wish I Were Blind
108. Jesus Was an Only Son
109. Empty Sky
110. Easy Money
111. Erie Canal
112. Old Dan Tucker
113. Rendezvous
114. Mrs. McGrath
115. Last to Die
116. All I’m Thinking about is you
117. High Hopes
118. Froggie Went A Courtin’
119. Detroit Medley
120. Oh Mary Don’t You Weep
121. Magic
122. From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)
123. Matamoros Banks
124. Code of Silence
125. Sad Eyes
126. This Hard Land
127. If I Should Fall Behind
128. My Oklahoma Home
129. Lonesome Day
130. John Henry
131. My Love Will Not Let You Down
132. Blood Brothers
133. I Wanna Be With You
134. This Land Is Your Land
135. Dream Baby Dream
136. Murder Incorporated
137. City of Night
138. Quarter to Three
139. Gypsy Biker
140. Gotta Get That Feeling
141. Cynthia
142. Living on the Edge of World
143. Jacob’s Ladder
144. Wrong Side of the Street
145. The Brokenhearted
146. Highway Patrolman
147. We Shall Overcome
148. County Fair
149. Nothing Man
150. Candy’s Boy
151. Eyes on the Prize
152. Dollhouse
153. Be True
154. Souls of the Departed
155. Living Proof
156. Seaside Bar Song
157. Roulette
158. Shenandoah
159. Johnny 99
160. Take Em As They Come
161. My Beautiful Reward
162. Drive All Night
163. The Way
164. Two Hearts
165. Brilliant Disguise
166. All the Way Home
167. The Time That Never Was
168. Long Time Comin
169. Shut Out the Light
170. Thundercrack
171. Rockaway the Days
172. All or Nothing at All
173. Chicken Lips and Lizard Hips
174. Lift Me Up
175. Hearts of Stone
176. My Father’s House (cover)
177. Countin on a Miracle
178. This Depression
179. The Big Muddy
180. Cindy
181. How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times as These?
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