Picking a
single “favorite song” isn’t the easiest thing in the world; probably any of
the top 9 on this list could make a strong case for the honor. In particular,
the top 3 are really more like 1A, 1B, and 1C.
In general,
I get annoyed when people pull out the lyrics from rock (or other) songs and
point to them as poetry. Song lyrics aren’t meant to stand alone. Rather, they’re
designed to work along with the musical elements of the song. So, there are
many great songs with wonderful lyrics that work well in the context of the
song, but aren’t necessarily impressive if pulled out and viewed on their own.
There are,
however, certainly some songs whose lyrics alone could stand on their own
merits, and Springsteen has written more than his share of these (as has Joni
Mitchell). “Thunder Road” for me tops the list, not least for its relative
brevity (as early Bruce goes); as he himself said later in “No Surrender”, “We
learned more from a three minute record than we ever learned in school.” (OK, “Thunder
Road” actually runs 4:51, but you get the point.)
My college
roommate and I were introduced to Bruce’s music by our next-door neighbor in
the dorm, who hailed from the Philadelphia suburbs. The three of us wound up
developing a Sunday night ritual of listening to one side of a Bruce album –
there were only two at the time – every Sunday night, and on October 20, 1974 we
made the drive from Lebanon Valley to Dickinson College in Carlisle to see him
perform, in what appeared to be the college dining hall / multi-purpose room. For
some reason, I have never forgotten that the opening act was (as introduced by
Bruce) Hange Range, from Schooley’s Mountain, New Jersey. Don’t think he did “Thunder
Road”, but we do remember him doing “Jungleland”.
