The legendary Bruce Springsteen turned 75 today. Some of biggest hits include Born In The USA, Glory Days, Thunder Road & Badlands, but his catalogue spans 21 studio albums, 23 live albums and 77 singles. That’s a lot of underappreciated music. Brig lists the Boss’s top 10 tunes that aren’t from his ‘golden period’ which we will define as his first album from1973, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J to 1987’s Tunnel of Love (with the exception of songs from those albums included in outtake collections).
10. If I Should Fall Behind (Lucky Town, 1992)
One of the Boss’s most touching ballads from one of his most underappreciated albums. No project that contains this, Better Days & Living Proof is bad. Springsteen called If I Should Fall Behind, “one of my best songs, about the dedication of one person to another that comes with love”. It’s a stunning song with the lyrics “I’ll wait for you, and if I should fall behind, wait for me” are touching.
9. Nightshift (Only The Strong Survive, 2022)
You may be thinking, “Why is a cover song here?”, but as has been proven by the live performance on his recent tour, this is an excellent version of the classic The Commodores’ song. While the album itself is regarded by fans as a mixed bag of successful and not-so-successful versions of classic Motown numbers, Nightshift stands out from the bunch and is one of the fun highlights of his 21st-century output.
8. Hello Sunshine (Western Stars, 2019)
Western Stars was a departure from Springsteen’s usual style, with sweeping orchestral country pop numbers. The first single, Hello Sunshine, is a mellow ballad with acoustic guitars, pedal steel and luscious strings. Lyrically, the track finds Springsteen who has “fallen in love with lonely” on an empty road. Springsteen said in a 2017 Variety interview that the album was inspired by the Southern California pop records of the 1960s and ‘70s and the influence is obvious here.
7. Death To My Hometown (Wrecking Ball, 2012)
2012’s Wrecking Ball found the Boss yet again playing with style, experimenting with Celtic rock and Irish folk influences. This is maybe most apparent in Death to My Hometown. An Irish jig in rock styling. The song finds Springsteen drawing on Civil War imagery as he describes a town that’s been ravaged by capitalism. Springsteen said, “I used a lot of music from the 1800s and the 1930s to show these things are cyclical. The album is resonant with history”.
6. The Ghost of Tom Joad (The Ghost of Tom Joad, 1995)
The title track to the 1995 album sees Bruce return to the musical style of Nebraska. Moody, acoustic, gritty real lyrics. The album was released with little publicity. Tom Joad is a character from Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. The idea is that his ghost, the spirit of community togetherness, will prevail in times of great injustice.
5. Ghosts (Letter To You, 2020)
The Letter To You album seen Springsteen reunite with The E Street Band and the results were glorious. The return of the big, Springsteen sound. The song is a new live staple and fan favourite.
4. Sad Eyes (Tracks, 1998)
Sad Eyes was written and performed by Springsteen on January 25, 1990. But, it wasn’t released until the 1998 box set Tracks. It’s so underappreciated that he has only ever played it live once. Just listen to it… how it was left off an album is a mystery… most artists would kill to have a song this good on their albums.
3. The Promise
There are countless versions of this song available… just find one and listen to it… you won’t regret it. Oh look… there’s one right here:
2. Moonlight Motel (Western Stars, 2019)
Western Star’s perfect closer, Moonlight Motel is about looking back on a good thing that once was but isn’t any more. It’s haunting and melancholic and the live version from the Western Stars film is even more beautiful…
If I Was The Priest (Letter To You, 2020)
If I Was The Priest may have not been released until 2020 but dates all the way back to Springsteen’s singer-songwriter days in the early ‘70s. It’s a narrative with a Catholic/Wild West motif that imagines Jesus as a Sheriff and Bruce as a priest. The song has a deep history. Springsteen performed it solo on piano when he auditioned for John Hammond at Colombia back in 1972 and it was one of the songs that clinched his record deal, however, it wasn’t considered for the tracklist of Greetings from Asbury Park N.J. It was included on Letter to You with two other previously unreleased tracks, Song For Orphans and Janey Needs A Shooter.
Hopefully, these tracks will have you deep-diving into the expensive catalogue of the absolutely legendary Boss.
You can read more of Brig’s Springsteen ponderings here.
Featured Image Credit: Rolling Stone
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