Top ten Bruce Springsteen songs

7. Thunder Road
Taken from the album "Born to Run" (Columbia, 1975)



Well, what can you say. This is one of the best album-openers there ever was. The piano and harmonica duet at the start. (The piano isn't a piano, but a glockenspiel.) Springsteen wrote a lot of the Born to Run album on the piano, but played little to nothing on the recording. Because of the use of piano in the writing the album has a lot of recurring themes and nuances that wouldn't have been there if it had been written on a guitar. You just don't go the same way from one chord to another on the two instruments.

"Thunder Road" is a whole movie in under five minutes. The scene is set in the intro, the characters are introduced and the story is ploted out. Our hero wants to take his girlfriend away from the small town and out on the open road where the possibilities are endless. Lyrically it's one of my absolute favourites. Who can write better lines than these:

"We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back, heaven's waiting on down the tracks
Oh, come take my hand
We're riding out tonight to case the promised land.."

A cinematic song that gives everyone that hear it some faith that there is something better out there for us all, you just got to take a chance and don't be afraid to make a change.

The thing that does it for me with this song is Roy Bittan's amazing playing throughout the song, simply perfection.

"It's a town full of losers
And I'm pulling out of here to win"



listen:

Bruce Springsteen - 106 - Thunder Road


Found at skreemr.com


A cool and very different cover by Tortoise & Bonnie Prince Billy:

Tortoise and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Thunder Road


Found at skreemr.com

Comments

tone almhjell said…
Can't wait to see where this will go! You write beautifully, my dear.