Darkness on the Edge of Town - Springsteen, Bruce (CD 1990)

Writing my Janis Joplin book review caused me to go back through some older CDs, and I happened upon Springsteen. Bruce. My boy. My man. My companion on many a long night's drive...

I pulled out Darkness On The Edge Of Town, as that's really my favorite, mostly just to see how it's held up after all these years. How did it do? Tell you later.

Prologue

Bruce Springsteen owned the world in 1975, with the release and overwhelming success of Born To Run. Bruce's manager at that time was a man named Mike Appel (who I came to know personally. One word: snake.) Bruce and Mike had a falling out. An ugly, lengthy court battle ensued, and Bruce won. But it delayed the release of this CD for three years (although I'm not sure when he'd written all of these songs), making it one of the most anticipated follow-up albums in recent history.

The battle in court seemed to change who Bruce was. There seemed to be some innocence lost. Gone was the man of "10th Avenue Freeze-Out" "Backstreets" "Thunder Road" "Jungleland" and "Born To Run". Gone were those joyous yelps, and his belief in something better. This new CD was dark, sometimes hopeless, with a rage that could only be expressed in screams, and primal moans.

But to me this CD stands as some of his finest work. I can't get into his newer stuff, it's not the Bruce I know.
But this CD here? It's the Bruce we fell in love with.

The CD

When I first put this on the other night, I thought it sounded dated. But as I listened, I realized, it just threw me back to the seventies. The days of The Rolling Stones, Patti Smith, The Sex Pistols, The Pretenders - to the days when rock and roll didn't need forty categories in order to define it. It either rocked or it didn't.

In these days of talented "boy" bands, and little Madonna/Mariah wannabes (and I'm not knocking their appeal) I long for the seventies and eighties. I long for the prime of Springsteen. In those days when rock was rock and men were men and we knew the difference.

Badlands refers to life, basically, and how he feels it's treating him. He works hard all day, he's got these big dreams, and the stress of trying to reconcile who he wants to be with where he is right now, is a battle he sometimes loses, but he holds onto his hope:

I believe in the love that you gave me
I believe in the hope that can save me
I believe in the faith and I pray, that someday
It may raise me above these badlands

This is not a completely original song for Bruce - some themes are rehashed - but it's still a powerful song and remains extremely popular.

Adam Raised A Cain is a favorite. The song is dark, sweaty, rebellious, angry, bitter and resentful, and he makes you feel every bit of it. He is angry at his father. He is angry he's like his father. He hates the people who expect him to follow in his father's footsteps.

Daddy worked his whole life for nothing but the pain
Now he walks these empty rooms
Looking for something to blame
You inherit the sins, you inherit the flames
Adam raised a Cain

My father worked in the steel mill, and I see shadows of him in this song, and at one point in my life, before I respected who he was, I felt pretty much like Bruce. Amazing song.

Something In The Night starts off with Roy Bittan's piano, and then some soft moaning from Bruce, and as Max Weinberg's drums start to come in, Bruce raises the decibel level and finally just lets out a Waaaa-aaaa-aaa-ah
that is not quite a scream, but he should certainly feel better after letting go of that.

Then in a voice that sounds half drunk, he talks about not wanting to think, about turning up the radio, stopping for a drink, about the pointlessness of existence at times, and just some things that trouble him. Bruce Springsteen has the gift of pulling you inside his world, and in this song in particular, with lyrics so detailed, you almost feel like you're in the car. My favorite verse:

When we found the things we loved, they were crushed and dying in the dirt. We tried to pick up the pieces, and get away without getting hurt. But they caught us at the state line, burned our cars in one last fight... And left us running burned and blind, chasing something in the night. Add guitar. And then that gutteral, harrowing scream again, repeated until the song ends.

Bruce can be overdramatic, and in someone else's hands, this song might not work. But Bruce believes in what he's saying, and that belief transfers to us. I don't believe the cops burned his car, but I still care about what he's saying. And the symbolism of it. He's an underrated writer sometimes. Sad, powerful song.

Candy's Room is very different for Bruce. Aside from the fact that our hero is sleeping with a hooker, the song starts out spoken, with just Weinberg on the high hats, backing up Bruce in his story. Strangers from the city call my baby's number and they bring her toys. When I come knocking, she smiles pretty, she knows I wanna be Candy's boy.

Bruce with a hooker?!! Oy vay!! And not only is he with her, he wants her all to himself, in a stalker sick sort of way. And the other men don't see that what she wants is me. Okay, dude, whatever. This is really a catchy song, though, if you get past the creepiness.

Racing In The Street... you know, I guess you have to be a part of a crowd that loves to street race in order to totally get this. A friend of mine used to drag race late at night on a main drag, and I know street racing is catching on again, thanks in part to films like The Fast And The Furious.

Well, this is about street racing, and even though I'm not into it, Bruce sings it with a weariness that gets my attention. It sounds like he's outgrown it, but it's all that keeps him going, even though there's wrinkles around my baby's eyes, and she cries herself to sleep at night. When I come home, the house is dark... she sighs, "Baby did you make it all right?" But nothing sounds all right here. This song is drenched in sadness, lost dreams, the pursuits of the desperate man, and a need to leave it behind. Beautiful, detailed writing.

The Promised Land could be every young man's anthem.
Mister, I ain't a boy, no, I'm a man. And I believe in a promised land. And he don't mean heaven. He means the American Dream. But as soon as he holds it up as the standard that he's shooting for, he confesses to his own dismay that he knows, in truth, that a dream is all it is. And not only that, but one that leaves you nothing but lost and brokenhearted. It is only false bravado with which he exclaims pretty soon little girl I'm gonna take charge. Another sad song cloaked in false hope and fist shaking.

Factory is one of the more boring songs I've ever heard Bruce do. Another paen to his father, and the backbreaking work of the factory, this song fails for lack of passion. As monotonous as the ticking of the time clock Daddy punches.

Streets Of Fire is probably one of my Top Five Springsteen songs. It's about wanting to give up, the hopelessness of life, and of just being tired.

In that semi-drunk voice again, he weaves his way through the first verse, without much accompaniment, but tons of emotional tension, and baby I ain't no liar... BAM, every instrument slams in, I walk streets of fire... streets of fire.... God, this is a great song.

And doing vocal acrobatics that literally writhe with agony, he sings, and when you realize how they tricked you this time, and it's all lies... but I'm strung out on the wire in these streets of fire you just stand back, eyebrows arched, goose bumps all over you, going, "okay, now I get it. This is why he was The Boss...."

Prove It All Night is a bit of a letdown after the previous song, and we've basically heard it before. He's taking his girl driving, and they're going to get a ring, although he does warn her of this: girl you want it, you take it, you pay the price. It's that need to get out of town again, out of their non-existence, and it is a good song, it just doesn't say anything new.

Darkness On The Edge Of Town is a bit about racing, but more than that, the girl he lost because of it. Because that blood it never burned in her veins. And I believe it's his ex-wife, as he says, now I hear she's got a house up in Fairview, and a style she's trying to maintain. And later on he talks about having lost his wife and his money. But he's still in love with this woman.

And his racing now seems to have taken a self-destructive turn. The things that used to matter (like his money and his wife) don't matter to him anymore. But he still wants her to see him. He still wants her to find him. He just can't stop racing.

I'll be on that hill with everything I got
Lives on the line where dreams are found and lost
I'll be there on time and I'll pay the cost
For wanting things that can only be found
In the darkness on the edge of town

I like this song alot. It has a great atmosphere, a mood of loss and regret, and again, his voice is magically powerful.

Overall Summary

Exceptional:

Adam Raised A Cain
Something In The Night
Streets Of Fire
Darkness On The Edge Of Town

Excellent:

Racing In The Street
Badlands

Very Good/Above Average:

Candy's Room
The Promised Land
Prove It All Night

Skip It

Factory

Bruce Springsteen has written more songs that are indelibly etched in our consciousness than probably anyone else, except for maybe The Beatles. For me, forget The Beatles. It's mostly Elvis and Bruce, and Bruce kicks Elvis's butt.

I got to see Bruce in concert sometime in the seventies. (I was still in diapers, but my parents took me anyway...) He was singing "Rosalita" and he jumped down into the crowd, right near the stage, and he let people touch him. He was was so friggin' happy. And I wept. I had never seen anyone do that. I have yet to see anyone like him.

He is revered for good reason. He can move you like few others. And for me, personally, not many "rockers" move me like Springsteen does. Why? Because no one writes like he does. He's a writer women love because he's a man who loves women. He's a man who discusses his heart - and actually bares it, dissects it, and asks for your help in healing it. How many men can you say that about?

I said earlier I'd tell you how this CD stands up to time.
Pretty d*mn well.

And if you don't own this CD, you really should pick it up. Some of the best songs on here (in my humble opinion) can't be found on the live discs, or even the "compilations". Although tomorrow they will probably release a "new" old Springsteen catalog. But if they don't, you'll want to have this.