[brucemas day 11]
Open All Night
I have a weird relationship with this song. This is because I am a heretic who doesn't care much for Nebraska as an album. I recognize the artistry, I get the concept, I admire him for locking himself in the barn and recording an album, I just...don't enjoy listening to it. All of the versions of Nebraska songs that I really like are live cuts.
In the case of "Open All Night," what got me was the Seeger Sessions. Specifically, the first Bruce concert I went to, Bruce & The Sessions Band in Columbus, Ohio, two days before my 22nd birthday. ::draws hearts everywhere:: It was a fun concert; the arena was only about half-full, and Bruce got a little snarky about that, but the band was pumped up and they did a good show.
Including this song that I completely did not recognize, and figured must be a cover. This song that was crazy and fun and fast and had Bruce talk/singing so fast I couldn't make all the words out. I *loved* it, whatever it was. It started out with some verse about a car up on blocks.
And of course the set list was on the Internet the next morning, and I realized it was one of those weird, slow, falsetto songs from Nebraska. But it didn't sound like that!
Later, of course, Live In Dublin was released, with a bunch of "Seegerized" re-interpretations of lots of old Bruce canon. And there is not a one of them I don't love like crazy. Both because they are, to a one, *fun* and jazzy and swing-y and full of energy, and because you can tell he had a *blast* playing with his old toys like that. He sounds like he's having a *good time*, and what's more fun than that, listening to an entertainer who is getting off on entertaining you?
...I meant that like 52% less dirtily than it sounded.
Anyway, this song! The Seegerized spin totally turns the album cut on its head. The album cut is wistful and sad, this guy whose life kind of sucks (that's a theme on Nebraska, if you're new), but at least he has his car, which he kind of fixates on, and he's trying to keep himself awake while he drives to see his girl (who is probably sleeping with someone else and going to dump him, prompting him to go on a killing spree, because that's just the kind of thing that HAPPENS to characters on Nebraska).
The Seegerized version, though! This guy has HOPE! He's been fixing up his car because he LOVES it, and he LOVES HIS GIRLFRIEND, and he's not going to let his stupid boss get in his way of seeing her! I bet he talks with a lot of exclamation points! And it's a HAPPY SONG. I love love love LOVE (this has been a theme through the three years of Brucemas, if you're new) when he reinterprets the songs to totally flip the emotional payoff. LOVE IT. The different takes on "Thunder Road" are my prime example, but THIS one just blows me away, how the very same song becomes a totally different thing.
Also, the line "New Jersey in the morning like a lunar landscape" is one of my top ten favorite Bruce lines in the canon. Tell me my boy's not a poet. <3
Well, I had the carburetor, baby, cleaned and checked with her line blown out she's hummin' like a turbojet
Propped her up in the backyard on concrete blocks for a new clutch plate and a new set of shocks
Took her down to the carwash, check the plugs and points
Well, I'm goin' out tonight. I'm gonna rock that joint
Early north Jersey industrial skyline I'm a all-set cobra jet creepin' through the nighttime
Gotta find a gas station, gotta find a payphone this turnpike sure is spooky at night when you're all alone
Gotta hit the gas, baby. I'm running late, this New Jersey in the mornin' like a lunar landscape
Now, the boss don't dig me, so he put me on the nightshift
It's an all night run to get back to where my baby lives
In the wee wee hours your mind gets hazy radio relay towers, won't you lead me to my baby?
Underneath the overpass, trooper hits his party light switch
Goodnight good luck one two power shift
I met Wanda when she was employed behind the counter at route 60 Bob's Big Boy Fried Chicken on the front seat, she's sittin' in my lap
We're wipin' our fingers on a Texaco roadmap
I remember Wanda up on scrap metal hill with them big brown eyes that make your heart stand still
Well, at five a.m., oil pressure's sinkin' fast
I make a pit stop, wipe the windshield, check the gas
Gotta call my baby on the telephone
Let her know that her daddy's comin' on home
Sit tight, little mama, I'm comin' 'round I got three more hours, but I'm coverin' ground
Your eyes get itchy in the wee wee hours sun's just a red ball risin' over them refinery towers
Radio's jammed up with gospel stations lost souls callin' long distance salvation
Hey, mister deejay, woncha hear my last prayer hey, ho, rock'n'roll, deliver me from nowhere
I have a weird relationship with this song. This is because I am a heretic who doesn't care much for Nebraska as an album. I recognize the artistry, I get the concept, I admire him for locking himself in the barn and recording an album, I just...don't enjoy listening to it. All of the versions of Nebraska songs that I really like are live cuts.
In the case of "Open All Night," what got me was the Seeger Sessions. Specifically, the first Bruce concert I went to, Bruce & The Sessions Band in Columbus, Ohio, two days before my 22nd birthday. ::draws hearts everywhere:: It was a fun concert; the arena was only about half-full, and Bruce got a little snarky about that, but the band was pumped up and they did a good show.
Including this song that I completely did not recognize, and figured must be a cover. This song that was crazy and fun and fast and had Bruce talk/singing so fast I couldn't make all the words out. I *loved* it, whatever it was. It started out with some verse about a car up on blocks.
And of course the set list was on the Internet the next morning, and I realized it was one of those weird, slow, falsetto songs from Nebraska. But it didn't sound like that!
Later, of course, Live In Dublin was released, with a bunch of "Seegerized" re-interpretations of lots of old Bruce canon. And there is not a one of them I don't love like crazy. Both because they are, to a one, *fun* and jazzy and swing-y and full of energy, and because you can tell he had a *blast* playing with his old toys like that. He sounds like he's having a *good time*, and what's more fun than that, listening to an entertainer who is getting off on entertaining you?
...I meant that like 52% less dirtily than it sounded.
Anyway, this song! The Seegerized spin totally turns the album cut on its head. The album cut is wistful and sad, this guy whose life kind of sucks (that's a theme on Nebraska, if you're new), but at least he has his car, which he kind of fixates on, and he's trying to keep himself awake while he drives to see his girl (who is probably sleeping with someone else and going to dump him, prompting him to go on a killing spree, because that's just the kind of thing that HAPPENS to characters on Nebraska).
The Seegerized version, though! This guy has HOPE! He's been fixing up his car because he LOVES it, and he LOVES HIS GIRLFRIEND, and he's not going to let his stupid boss get in his way of seeing her! I bet he talks with a lot of exclamation points! And it's a HAPPY SONG. I love love love LOVE (this has been a theme through the three years of Brucemas, if you're new) when he reinterprets the songs to totally flip the emotional payoff. LOVE IT. The different takes on "Thunder Road" are my prime example, but THIS one just blows me away, how the very same song becomes a totally different thing.
Also, the line "New Jersey in the morning like a lunar landscape" is one of my top ten favorite Bruce lines in the canon. Tell me my boy's not a poet. <3
Well, I had the carburetor, baby, cleaned and checked with her line blown out she's hummin' like a turbojet
Propped her up in the backyard on concrete blocks for a new clutch plate and a new set of shocks
Took her down to the carwash, check the plugs and points
Well, I'm goin' out tonight. I'm gonna rock that joint
Early north Jersey industrial skyline I'm a all-set cobra jet creepin' through the nighttime
Gotta find a gas station, gotta find a payphone this turnpike sure is spooky at night when you're all alone
Gotta hit the gas, baby. I'm running late, this New Jersey in the mornin' like a lunar landscape
Now, the boss don't dig me, so he put me on the nightshift
It's an all night run to get back to where my baby lives
In the wee wee hours your mind gets hazy radio relay towers, won't you lead me to my baby?
Underneath the overpass, trooper hits his party light switch
Goodnight good luck one two power shift
I met Wanda when she was employed behind the counter at route 60 Bob's Big Boy Fried Chicken on the front seat, she's sittin' in my lap
We're wipin' our fingers on a Texaco roadmap
I remember Wanda up on scrap metal hill with them big brown eyes that make your heart stand still
Well, at five a.m., oil pressure's sinkin' fast
I make a pit stop, wipe the windshield, check the gas
Gotta call my baby on the telephone
Let her know that her daddy's comin' on home
Sit tight, little mama, I'm comin' 'round I got three more hours, but I'm coverin' ground
Your eyes get itchy in the wee wee hours sun's just a red ball risin' over them refinery towers
Radio's jammed up with gospel stations lost souls callin' long distance salvation
Hey, mister deejay, woncha hear my last prayer hey, ho, rock'n'roll, deliver me from nowhere