Massive Music List

For more than 35 years, Bruce Springsteen has set a standard of consistent excellence that few other rock and roll artists could ever hope to match. He has written so many great songs, as both a solo artist and with the E Street Band, that it would seem almost impossible to try and rank those classics one against another. And yet one fan was daring enough, or maybe foolhardy enough, to try. Following up our Beatles and Stones countdowns, JamsBio presents “No Retreat, No Surrender,” a worst-to-first countdown of every album cut in Springsteen history, plus a few choice outtakes, live classics, and soundtrack songs – that’s 200 tunes ranked and defended. Check out JamsBio.com each day as the countdown is gradually revealed, and prepare to hit the message boards to defend your favorites.

The complete list to date.

The Last Five:

200. “Real Man” (from Human Touch)

199. “All or Nothin’ At All” (from Human Touch)

198. “Mary’s Place” (from The Rising)

197. “The Long Goodbye” (from Lucky Town)

196. “Wild Billy’s Circus Story” (from The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle)

195. “Gloria’s Eyes”

From Human Touch

LISTEN HERE

The tale of a ne’er-do-well damned to a life of scorn from his rightfully distrusting mate, “Gloria’s Eyes” is sort of like “Brilliant Disguise” turned upside down. This time around it’s the narrator who has things he needs to hide, but the girl that he’s wronged knows better, even if the only indication is the subtle change in her peepers.

Although it’s by no means the best set of Springsteen lyrics, they might have still been effective if they could have escaped the monotone groove and repetitive guitar lick. Bruce gives it his all vocally, but the strain is noticeable. He’s screaming here, not singing, and it all sounds a bit overwrought.

His guitar solo has some sting to it, so that’s a bit of a saving grace. But it’s another case of a Human Touch song weighed down by a mushy sound and a lack of inspiration. It’s forgettable even while you’re listening to it, and that’s a true rarity among the Springsteen oeuvre.

194. “All the Way Home”

From Devils & Dust

LISTEN HERE

Would you believe that there is sitar, tambora, and something called the electric sarangi to be found on this Devils & Dust track? But just when you think Bruce might be dropping a raga on you, you listen to “All The Way Home” and get what sounds suspiciously like rock and roll, albeit the punchless kind.

Things start promisingly enough with a thundercrack beat provided by drummer Steve Jordan. But all of those exotic instruments must have canceled each other out, because nothing besides a low drone is distinguishable next to the beat and the main riff, which quickly wears out its welcome.

This track was originally intended for Springsteen’s buddy Southside Johnny, and maybe the barroom setting was a giveaway. The lyrics portray a last-call woo session between a pair of characters who have seen some better days and far more worse ones. Alas, Bruce never adds a tune to those lyrics and he slurs the vocals into one long mess.

Lack of melody is the criticism usually hung on Bruce’s non-band albums, and here it’s all too on-point. The most exciting things about “All The Way Home” are the instrumental credits.

193. “Long Time Comin’”

From Devils & Dust

LISTEN HERE

Somewhere buried beneath some heavy-handed rock moves lies a pretty good country and western song here, even if it has darker edges than most of what comes out of Nashville. (After all, it’s hard to imagine George Strait dropping F-bombs and stripping naked for a ritual burying of his old self, as Bruce does here.)

The hints of steel guitar and fiddle are indications of what this song might have been. “Long Time Comin’” was one of several musty tracks that the Boss exhumed for Devils & Dust, and maybe Bruce’s legendary tinkering process sent this song through one too many incarnations over the years from the time it was first written circa The Ghost Of Tom Joad era. The final version unfortunately doesn’t do justice to the prickly and honest lyrics it holds.

Essentially told from the perspective of a man on a camping trip with his family, the song takes a fresh approach to the intertwined themes of family redemption that Bruce started to focus on heavily in the early 90’s. A bit of Springsteen’s old familiar father-issues rear their head (“When I was a kid he was just somebody/Somebody I’d see around”), but this character also clearly sees his own faults even while vowing to change, inspired by the children in the sleeping bag beside him and the one growing inside his pregnant wife. The final image of Bruce feeling the baby kicking is a poignant one.

Such poignancy would have been better served by a more tender reading. But the mid-tempo rattle that accompanies it doesn’t distinguish itself in the least, and it mitigates the impact of the triumphant chorus as well. As such, “Long Time Comin’” frustrates with its unfulfilled potential.

192. “Silver Palomino”

From Devils & Dust

LISTEN HERE

There is a bit of an academic air to some of the more detailed tracks on Devils & Dust that renders them more admirable than enjoyable. The liner notes to this song include definitions for some of the Spanish words that Bruce uses, along with a brief intro which essentially telegraphs the theme of the song: “A mother dies, leaving her young son to come to terms with the loss.”

This is all well and good, but separated from the liner notes and lyric sheet, you’d be hard-pressed to tell what the hell “Silver Palomino” is about. That’s because Bruce turns in one of his most constipated vocal performances. Whatever melody the song might contain is lost in the singer’s grunts and groans, as are any lyrical nuances that he might wish to convey.

So what you’re left with is a piece of work that reads far better than it sounds. There might be a worthwhile short story in those undeniably heartfelt lyrics, but there isn’t much of a song.

191. “Dry Lightning”

From The Ghost of Tom Joad

LISTEN HERE

Gentle to the point of being sleepy, “Dry Lightning” is one of the few songs on The Ghost of Tom Joad that isn’t really setting-specific. The tale of a man who holds on to the memories of his lost love because they are now all he truly has could be taking place anywhere on the planet, although Bruce throws in some details about horses and plains that makes the song fit in with the Western milieu of the rest of the album.

There are some nice lines scattered throughout, and the titular heavenly phenomena is an appropriate symbol of this character’s overall ineffectualness. But there is a rambling quality to the lyrics that keep them from hitting home like they otherwise might.

The song’s melody owes a pretty strong debt to Tom Waits’ “Jersey Girl,” which Bruce famously covered on his live box set. Danny Federici bathes the song in keyboards while Bruce flicks at his acoustic for some spice now and then. Overall the arrangement is a tad on the hazy side.

There is nothing too objectionable about this track, but it doesn’t leave much of an impact either. Maybe, considering the protagonist and his lonely travails, that was the point.

The complete list to date.

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