Top 15 Bruce Springsteen Songs

With the release of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s new CD Magic only five days away, this is a good time to take a look back and give my completely subjective Springsteen Top 15 (at least as it stands at 7:01 am today, and in no particular order). I know that normally lists like this are Top 10s, but this is Bruce after all.

I also know that Springsteen is one of those rare artists whose songs impact us differently at different points in our lives, so I include a song like Thunder Road for a totally different reason at 41 than I would have when I was 18. Regardless, for me it always makes the Top 15.

1. Born To Run. Whether it’s the original version, the live version from the 1985 tour, or acoustic, it’s still the greatest rock song of all time, and one that will improve your mood from the moment the drums kick in.

2. Thunder Road. If it still doesn’t give you goose bumps 30 years later, then you have no soul. And if you get the chance, look up the YouTube video of Bruce doing this as a duet with Melissa Etheridge. Classic.

3. Growin’ Up. Because at some point in our lives, we’ve all “stood stone-like at midnight”.

4. Rosalita. I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve used the line “Some day we’ll look back on this and it will all seem funny.”

5. Hearts of Stone. An incredible song that Bruce originally gave to Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, he finally released his version on the Tracks CD.

6. Lost in the Flood. A post-Vietnam song from the first album that, sadly, translates well into the Iraq War-era.

7. Sherry Darling. Along with “Double Shot (of My Baby’s Love)” and “Quarter to Three”, the greatest frat-rock song ever.

8. Bobby Jean. Bruce’s farewell to Little Steven Van Zandt in 1983. Thankfully he returned to the band for The Rising.

9. Mary’s Place. Released in 2002, it’s not only the best song on The Rising, but also proof that the E Street Band hadn’t lost a step.

10. Brilliant Disguise. From the Tunnel of Love CD. Written during his troubled first marriage, the perfect example of someone opening a vein and just letting the lyrics pour out.

11. Racing in the Street. I wouldn’t have made it through 1986 without the Darkness on the Edge of Town album, and definitely not without this song.

12. None But the Brave. A great song from the Born in the USA sessions that didn’t make it onto the final album but finally came out on The Essential Bruce Springsteen. The sheer number of great songs that Bruce used as B-sides or simply left in a vault for years would be entire careers for most people.

13. Backstreets. Still trying to learn to walk like a hero.

14. Open All Night. An underrated song from the underappreciated Nebraska album.

15. Pay Me My Money Down. From the Seeger Sessions CD. It’s my kids’ new favorite, and proof that Bruce transcends generations.

16. Jungleland. I know I said Top 15, but I got to the end and realized “Jungleland” wasn’t here, and that just won’t do. Clarence’s 2-minute sax solo in the middle is simply awesome.

I realize that four of the eight songs from Born to Run made the cut, and that’s because it is, with apologies to Sgt. Pepper’s and Dark Side of the Moon, the greatest album of all time.

This list could change by the end of the day, and certainly by the time the new CD comes out; that’s one of the things that makes Bruce one of the best friends I’ve ever had. As for your absolute favorite song that I completely omitted, as Bruce wrote at the end of the liner notes for The Essential Bruce Springsteen, “one man’s coffee…”

Reference:

• www.brucespringsteen.net