TUNNEL OF LOVE
by BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
OCTOBER 9, 1987
This release was difficult to connect with as my own life was finding stride with love entering my world and the future was wide open. Bruce Springsteen did what he always did, using his own life experience to express what was circulating inside his head and heart. His marriage was on the rocks, to put it lightly. The two came from different backgrounds and soon after the honeymoon was over, it was clear that the immediate future was bleak.
While he contemplated his life the words came, filling blank pages as he purged his system of all that brought him to this place. Words can be a powerful look in the mirror to your own soul and when Springsteen searches deep, everything becomes decidedly crystal clear. The transparency of who he really is was not the reflection looking back at him at this point in his life.
Some could interpret "Brilliant Disguise" as his take on the woman he married, who has now become someone else entirely. When listening to it back to back with "Two Faces", they are like book ends of accountability more for himself that his wife. Placing the title track between that tells the story of how love goes from happiness to jealousy to its death in a short span of time and what is left is painful misunderstanding that never gets a voice.
Bruce Springsteen now attaches a voice to a love gone astray, unable to find the happiness dreamed of for so long. The album tells the story usually found in pages of a book with the songs representing the chapters with glimpses of hope laid out over the agony of loss.
The music is something between Nebraska and Born to Run like a musical score from a film made in black & white. The guitar and his voice are prevalent from the moment you put the needle on the record. This is the first time you hear the music and indulge the lyrics instead of a typical Springsteen extravaganza where each tune's strength is dependent on the sound.
This record has a one dimensional theme and it is so personal that it's shocking it was pressed for audience consumption. It could easily have been shelved in anticipation of the dissolved relationship between Bruce and his wife in hopes that he will find variety in his compositions once again. We must thank him for letting us in, if only for a little while.
Years later, I would find myself with a much better grasp on where his mental state was at the time of writing these lyrics. When love grows sour with neither party able to reach out just for a moment to find your way back together it can be a withdrawal that no methadone clinic can cure. You both know what brought you together, helpless to see the trail that leads your hearts to again touch the ecstasy of your inception. Now, sitting down indulging another listen it is with less speculation and more observation of the mirror that looks back at me now.
11/29/10
RUSTY
10/9/87