The Top 100 Bruce Springsteen Songs: 20-11
The penultimate list...
20. Spirit In The Night Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. (1973)
“Crazy Janey and her mission man were back in the alley tradin’ hands / Along came Wild Billy with his friend G-man all duded up for Saturday night / Well Billy slammed on his coaster brakes and said anybody wanna go on up to Greasy Lake / It’s about a mile down on the dark side of Route 88 / I got a bottle of rose so let’s try it / We’ll pick up Hazy Davy and Killer Joe and I’ll take you all out to where the gypsy angels go / They’re built like light and they dance like spirits in the night.”
19. My City Of Ruins The Rising (2002)
“There’s a blood red circle / On the cold dark ground / And the rain is falling down / The church door’s thrown open / I can hear the organ’s song / But the congregation’s gone / My city of ruins.” This song, originally written about Asbury Park, but you can’t hear it now without thinking of post-9/11 New York, combined with the rest of The Rising is probably responsible for a new generation of Bruce Springsteen fans.
18. Candy’s Room Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978)
“In Candy’s room there are pictures of her heroes on the wall / But to get to Candy’s room you gotta walk darkness of Candy’s hall / 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 / There’s a sadness hidden in that pretty face / A sadness all her own from which no man can keep Candy safe.” Extra points are awarded to this song for the alternate take titled “Candy’s Boy” off The Promise.
17. Drive All Night The River (1980)
“There’s machines and there’s fire waiting on the edge of town / They’re out there for hire but baby they can’t hurt us now / Cause you’ve got, you’ve got, you’ve got / You’ve got my love, you’ve got my love / Through the wind, through the rain, the snow, the wind, the rain / You’ve got, you’ve got my, my love / Heart and soul.” The end of this song is simple epic. Bruce draws it out as long as he possibly can, and yet it’s some of the most beautiful singing you’ll ever hear.
16. The Rising The Rising (2002)
“Can’t see nothin’ in front of me / Can’t see nothin’ coming up behind / I make my way through this darkness / I can’t feel nothing but this chain that binds me / Lost track of how far I’ve gone / How far I’ve gone, how high I’ve climbed / On my back’s a sixty pound stone / On my shoulder a half mile line / Come on up for the rising / Come on up, lay your hands in mine / Come on up for the rising / Come on up for the rising tonight.”
15. The Wish Tracks (1998)
Two points about this song. First, it is one of way too many amazing songs that got buried on Tracks, which was in part to The River what The Promise is to Darkness on the Edge of Town. But then again, The River was amazing (and double-sized) as it was, so… Second, this song - which I danced to with my mother at my wedding - combined with Walk Like A Man at #30 - which I walked out to at my wedding - prompted my mother to say “Bruce has a song for everything, doesn’t he?”
14. Radio Nowhere Magic (2007)
If there was any doubt, the Magic album proved that after 30+ years, he still has it. Any of these songs would have been perfectly at home on one of his albums out of the 70’s or 80’s, and yet like those decades-old songs, they still have that same resonant truth and beauty in 2011.
13. Backstreets Born to Run (1975)
What makes this song isn’t the lyrics and the story - which are of course amazingly beautiful - nor is it Bruce’s epic singing - the bone-chilling way he wails the line “hiding in the backstreets”. What truly makes this song is the instrumental portions, particularly the full minute of Roy Bittan’s piano that opens the song, which prompted the following line in the album’s Rolling Stone review: “Backstreets begins with music so stately, so heartbreaking, that it might be the prelude to a rock & roll version of The Iliad.”
12. Glory Days Born in the U.S.A. (1984)
When Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band finally played the Super Bowl halftime show, I called it, predicting he’d play Glory Days for its sports relevance, Born to Run because it’s the song, something from the new album, and if he happened to have time for a fourth song, I figured he’d play something good but relatively obscure (opening with Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out).
11. Night Born to Run (1975)
“The rat traps filled with soul crusaders / The circuits lined and jammed with chromed invaders / And she’s so pretty that you’re lost in the stars / As you jockey your way through the cars / And sit at the light, as it changes to green / With your faith in your machine off you scream into the night.”
20. Spirit In The Night Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. (1973)
“Crazy Janey and her mission man were back in the alley tradin’ hands / Along came Wild Billy with his friend G-man all duded up for Saturday night / Well Billy slammed on his coaster brakes and said anybody wanna go on up to Greasy Lake / It’s about a mile down on the dark side of Route 88 / I got a bottle of rose so let’s try it / We’ll pick up Hazy Davy and Killer Joe and I’ll take you all out to where the gypsy angels go / They’re built like light and they dance like spirits in the night.”
19. My City Of Ruins The Rising (2002)
“There’s a blood red circle / On the cold dark ground / And the rain is falling down / The church door’s thrown open / I can hear the organ’s song / But the congregation’s gone / My city of ruins.” This song, originally written about Asbury Park, but you can’t hear it now without thinking of post-9/11 New York, combined with the rest of The Rising is probably responsible for a new generation of Bruce Springsteen fans.
18. Candy’s Room Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978)
“In Candy’s room there are pictures of her heroes on the wall / But to get to Candy’s room you gotta walk darkness of Candy’s hall / 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 / There’s a sadness hidden in that pretty face / A sadness all her own from which no man can keep Candy safe.” Extra points are awarded to this song for the alternate take titled “Candy’s Boy” off The Promise.
17. Drive All Night The River (1980)
“There’s machines and there’s fire waiting on the edge of town / They’re out there for hire but baby they can’t hurt us now / Cause you’ve got, you’ve got, you’ve got / You’ve got my love, you’ve got my love / Through the wind, through the rain, the snow, the wind, the rain / You’ve got, you’ve got my, my love / Heart and soul.” The end of this song is simple epic. Bruce draws it out as long as he possibly can, and yet it’s some of the most beautiful singing you’ll ever hear.
16. The Rising The Rising (2002)
“Can’t see nothin’ in front of me / Can’t see nothin’ coming up behind / I make my way through this darkness / I can’t feel nothing but this chain that binds me / Lost track of how far I’ve gone / How far I’ve gone, how high I’ve climbed / On my back’s a sixty pound stone / On my shoulder a half mile line / Come on up for the rising / Come on up, lay your hands in mine / Come on up for the rising / Come on up for the rising tonight.”
15. The Wish Tracks (1998)
Two points about this song. First, it is one of way too many amazing songs that got buried on Tracks, which was in part to The River what The Promise is to Darkness on the Edge of Town. But then again, The River was amazing (and double-sized) as it was, so… Second, this song - which I danced to with my mother at my wedding - combined with Walk Like A Man at #30 - which I walked out to at my wedding - prompted my mother to say “Bruce has a song for everything, doesn’t he?”
14. Radio Nowhere Magic (2007)
If there was any doubt, the Magic album proved that after 30+ years, he still has it. Any of these songs would have been perfectly at home on one of his albums out of the 70’s or 80’s, and yet like those decades-old songs, they still have that same resonant truth and beauty in 2011.
13. Backstreets Born to Run (1975)
What makes this song isn’t the lyrics and the story - which are of course amazingly beautiful - nor is it Bruce’s epic singing - the bone-chilling way he wails the line “hiding in the backstreets”. What truly makes this song is the instrumental portions, particularly the full minute of Roy Bittan’s piano that opens the song, which prompted the following line in the album’s Rolling Stone review: “Backstreets begins with music so stately, so heartbreaking, that it might be the prelude to a rock & roll version of The Iliad.”
12. Glory Days Born in the U.S.A. (1984)
When Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band finally played the Super Bowl halftime show, I called it, predicting he’d play Glory Days for its sports relevance, Born to Run because it’s the song, something from the new album, and if he happened to have time for a fourth song, I figured he’d play something good but relatively obscure (opening with Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out).
11. Night Born to Run (1975)
“The rat traps filled with soul crusaders / The circuits lined and jammed with chromed invaders / And she’s so pretty that you’re lost in the stars / As you jockey your way through the cars / And sit at the light, as it changes to green / With your faith in your machine off you scream into the night.”