Top 10 Bruce Springsteen songs

It’s hard to believe it, but today is The Boss’s 62nd birthday. So, here’s a postcard from Asbury Park, NJ, complete with a list of Bruce Springsteen’s ten best songs.


1. “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, 1973
The amount of energy that just pours out of Springsteen’s first albums is incredible. The epic-ness of every track from “Blinded by the Light” to “New York City Serenade” is amazing. The best, though, is the song about Rosie, the desired girl of a wannabe-Rock star who is “...comin' to liberate you, confiscate you, I want to be your man!”


2. “Born to Run,” 1975
“Born to Run” and the album that it was named for solidified Springsteen’s stature, which is great because it encapsulates everything about his work. It’s full of characters who want and have to get out of their dull lives. After listening to any Springsteen song, you want to join them right away.


3. “Jungleland,” Born to Run, 1975
Just listen to that epic sax solo by Clemmons. It’s almost impossible not to shed a tear now that he’s gone. No one could ever replace him. The song is one of the most powerful album climaxes ever produced.


4. “Racing in the Street,” Darkness on the Edge of Town, 1978
If “Little Deuce Coup” ever grew up, it would be “Racing In The Street,” a dark track from a dark album about a ridiculous scene of worn-out dudes racing their cars.


5. “Drive All Night,” The River, 1980
Only Bruce Springsteen can make an 8-minute song about a guy waking up in the middle of the night, swearing that he’d drive all night just to buy his girl some shoes interesting. OK, so it’s about a little more than that, but who cares when Clemmons comes on with that sax solo?


6. “Atlantic City,” Nebraska, 1982
Nebraska is about as bleak an album as a Rock star has ever made (right next to John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band) and “Atlantic City” epitomizes that album, which is filled with depressing people and families. This song though, is about an entire depressed city.


7. “Bobby Jean,” Born in the U.S.A., 1985
Born in the U.S.A. is also a record filled with all great songs, but Springsteen’s ode to Steve Van Zandt is one of the most heartbreaking tracks on the record. “We liked the same music we liked the same bands we liked the same clothes/We told each other that we were the wildest, the wildest things we'd ever seen.” Now, that’s love.


8. “Tunnel of Love,” 1987
Tunnel of Love is a really strange record because it’s all love songs, but it is surprisingly good despite that the production hasn’t aged all that well. Still, the title track is great, with lyrics that question what it means to be in love, while also being positive about it.


9. “Meet Me At Mary’s Place,” The Rising, 2002
The ‘90s weren’t that great for the Boss. Sure, there are a couple of good songs on The Ghost of Tom Joad, but 2002’s The Rising was a real comeback record. The tracks are all more or less inspired by the 9/11 attacks. “Meet Me At Mary’s Place” is one of the few fun songs on the album, which are mostly introspective, but this one is about moving on. “Meet me at Mary’s place, we’re gonna have a party.” Sure, it’s torn right out of the Sam Cooke playbook, but Springsteen’s song has all the added joy that there was too little of in 2002.


10. “Livin’ In The Future,” Magic, 2007
Magic was Springsteen’s ant-President Bush record and in no song was that more explicit than “Livin’ In The Future.” He writes about all the things that were going on in the country at the time and can’t face that. “Don't worry Darlin', now baby don't you fret/We're livin' in the future and none of this has happened yet.” Unfortunately, it all did.

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