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Like Prisoners All Our Lives, Part Two

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Filed under: Popular Music, Technology on July 27th, 2009 | No Comments »

Like Prisoners All Our Lives

The latest post on backstreets.com begins: “You gotta be there. Every time. Every time Bruce Springsteen is in town, you gotta be there”.

I know that, and I do my best. I just learned that the E Street Band has added a Tampa date this fall, and I will be there no matter what. But, even if the band played six straight days in Tampa, I’d have to go to each show, because you don’t know when it’s going to happen. What do I mean by “it”? Let’s review some history.

During the 1978 Darkness tour, Springsteen began inserting a long, improvised interlude into “Backstreets” following the last verse. The sequence generally featured Bruce singing over Roy Bittan’s piano, telling a story about a girl he used to meet in an abandoned car in an open field on the edge of town. “Baby, I remember you”, was how he generally began the interlude which came to be known as “Sad Eyes”. As the Darkness tour progressed, the “Sad Eyes” interlude became more elaborate, until one night he sang, “back then I swore I’d drive all night”. Roy Bittan, at that point, was playing a I-IV-V progression. When The River appeared two years later, “Drive All Night” was the second to last track on the Side Two of the second disc, just before “Wreck on the Highway”. “Drive All Night” is over eight minutes long, and was played at only a handful of shows on the River tour, and seldom heard after. That brings us to July 21, 2009 in Torino.

From backstreets.com:

When the band broke into “Raise Your Hand” to let Bruce collect signs for requests, three identical, sealed and numbered envelopes reached the stage. Inside, the first one says “Drive All Night.” Bruce shakes his head; “naah, too difficult and long,” he seems to say, while the crowd dives into visible desperation. Envelope 2, the paper inside says “Drive All Night” once again. The trick is almost revealed, so when Bruce opens envelope 3 everybody is screaming—and needless to say, marked in black is “Drive All Night”—and a collective dream comes true. In a show really close to perfection (every musical ingredient is there, almost every Bruce topic woven through the setlist), “Drive All Night” is a brilliant example of how the art and magic of Bruce Springsteen not only lies in what the audience usually gets, but resides as well in what it may not get. A majestic song like that might stay unrevealed in an envelope that Bruce may not pluck nor open. This is why you should always be there, every time he plays, if you can.

At the show I saw in 2008, a handwritten poster requesting “Drive All Night” went unfulfilled. I can’t complain, since I got “Jungleland” instead (in a show which also included “Turn, Turn, Turn” with Roger McGuinn). But if I could hear “Drive All Night” live this fall, I’d be a happy man.

Filed under: Musings, Popular Music on July 22nd, 2009 | No Comments »

Breakin’ Rocks in the Hot Sun

The Working on a Dream tour has been going strong for more than six months. The E Street Band has been in Europe since May, and just like he did during the Magic tour, Bruce Springsteen is taking requests. The procedure is simple: bring a handwritten sign into the pit, hold it aloft, and, if you’re lucky, the band will play your tune. Obviously, savvy fans don’t request “Born to Run” or “Badlands”; those are going to be played anyway. Rather, you see signs for “The Price You Pay”, “Candy’s Room”, and “E Street Shuffle”. At the last show I attended, I was sad that he ignored the sign that read “Drive All Night”, but thrilled when he grabbed one requesting “Jungleland”.

As you can see on the autograph setlists, Springsteen leaves a few open slots for audience requests. The most recent trend has been to request covers. The E Street Band is as good as any bar band, and it’s fascinating to see what kind of tunes people ask for. Yes, there are some unusual ones, like “London Calling”, “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide”, and “My Generation”. But there are others that make a lot of sense, like “Pretty Woman”, “Louie, Louie”, and “Mountain of Love”. Last week in Bern, he grabbed a fan’s sign, and played “I Fought the Law”. Watch the video, and notice how well the band pulls this one out. Bruce takes the sign, calls out a key, and continues to give cues (“Bridge!” or “I think there’s a solo!”) when appropriate. Max even remembers the “six gun” fill. It’s pretty good for being a request.

Filed under: Popular Music on July 10th, 2009 | No Comments »

Bombadil, Part Two

Bombadil: Tarpits and Canyonlands – Ramseur Records 2729

For many people, I suppose, music is an evolving art, and what suits the taste is what is new and “relevant”. I am not one of those people. I don’t dispute that music evolves. On the contrary, I have made it my profession to know how music has changed over time, and what those slow, incremental changes sound like. But I don’t care what is current or popular. Indeed, my favorite piece of music of all time was first presented in 1721, and my favorite piece of popular music was written over thirty years ago. Music, to me, needn’t be modern. It needn’t even be relevant to my own experience. But sometimes it is both, and those are happy occasions. Bombadil’s new album, Tarpits and Canyonlands, is such a record.

Tarpits and Canyonlands explores one major theme: marriage. It isn’t difficult to imagine how the band arrived at this concept. The members all seem to be around the age when marriage is the thing to do. At their Gainesville show this spring, there was a handwritten note on the electric piano which read, “Just Married”. I am no longer a newlywed, which makes this album especially relevant, since one question prominently asked is, “What lies beyond the honeymoon?”