BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
NEBRASKA
SEPTEMBER 20, 1982
Left untouched, these songs are rich and raw, representing exactly what the band hears before going into the studio to lay down the tracks that will untimely be the final result. This time, however, Bruce Springsteen decided to release them in rough draft form as all songs were better to be heard in the folk style he initially recorded them in.
Goosebumps rake the listeners body as "Nebraska" opens with a haunting harmonica quickly paired with quiet guitar picking. When Springsteen's voice enters, it sets the pace for the album. It has tribute momentum to the duo Bonnie and Clyde but quickly reality sets in when you realize this could happen any day, anytime, anywhere in this day and age. There is no need to look back to the 30's when the 80's can produce the same real life story.
The frightening lyrics "Everybody dies, baby that's a fact, but maybe everything that dies someday comes back" are the meat and potatoes of the song "Atlantic City." The concepts reflect the beginnings of gambling in Atlantic City, which was to help the area prosper from the income that would reinvent the town. "The chicken man" refers to mafia boss Philip Testa who was killed by a bomb planted in his home. The youngsters in the story decide to take advantage of the future money the casinos will fortitude them but the boy must decide whether this is the path to give the two of them a better life.
The acoustic guitar in conjunction with the haunting 'Oooos' from Bruce supplies the sinister background music. "Johnny 99"is a path any good man could easily follow when the ability to take care of his family is ripped from him. He is not pathological or on a killing spree, he just cannot stay on top the bills that have piled up and with no money to pay them he turns to the bottle. Liquor is now his best friend and this friend will pose a threat to all they come in contact with, including the night clerk who Johnny shoots and kills. The judge presiding over the proceedings now has to determined between the cries of Johnny's mother begging mercy on the court to save her son while Johnny claims, "I got debts no honest man could pay, the bank was holdin' my mortgage and they was takin' my house away, now I sayin' that makes me an innocent man, but it was more 'n all this that put that gun in my hand." so he begs to be shaved and executed.
These song concepts are not new to the true folkies; they have long been writing about the destitution that surrounds so many people in a country that continues to open the gates to the many mouths that need fed from all over the world, forgetting the empty stomachs that fill the darkened streets by the 'night children'. Bruce Springsteen is carrying the torch that has been left behind with the now growing popularity of MTV, a video music channel that wants visual stimulation that can not come from the desolation of the street life.
The love of two brothers bonded by blood in "Highway Patrolman" is written with devotion, as the one brother Joe has built a career in law enforcement while his brother joined the Army during the Vietnam war. Joe has to go against everything he has been trained to do in the pursuit of his brother as he heads to the Canadian border. Franky was fingered by witnesses as the culprit who attacked a boy in a bar fight. Joe chooses to pull over onto the side of the road and watch as his brother's tail lights disappear into the blackness of night.
"Open all Night" is as close to a potential rock song as the listener will find on this album. The lyrical content and the speed with which it is sung brings back some of the song structures from Springsteen's first two releases. The collage of words shapes architecture that is owned entirely by Springsteen. "Rapper's Delight" by the SUGARHILL GANG may have been the early stages of rap music but it is Springsteen who was the first artist since Bob Dylan to expound songs from beginning to end lyrics.
After the release of The River's double album, it is understandable that Springsteen needed to rejuvenate and he chose to do that through the release of this 'not so rock' record. Now, we wait for for Bruce Springsteen to step back into the rock 'n' roll spotlight.
11/29/10
RUSTY
9/20/82