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Rating: “When I was a boy, there were two unpopular things in my house: one was my airplane, the other was my guitar. My father never referred to my guitar calling it Fender or Gibson; for him, it was always the damn guitar... Every time he popped into my room, all I heard was 'Turn down that damn guitar'. (Los Angeles, July 7, 1978, Bruce Springsteen's introduction to the live-act of 'Growin’ Up').
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen, class of 1949, was born in Freehold (NJ), growing up with a stern father (who worked as a prison guard and bus driver) and a tender Italian mother (a mid-'80s bootleg was printed under the name Bruce Zirilli) who balanced the father's austerity by allowing their middle child to cultivate a passionate, affectionate, and highly sensitive temperament. History tells us that Bruce's first guitar was purchased at a flea market, while the rest was done by American radios broadcasting rock 'n' roll and the unforgettable episode of the Ed Sullivan Show featuring Elvis Presley. It's the other America that emerges, where the dreams of a daring adolescent range from those about sex to music, clashing with the reality of the small province he's part of. Thus, the first songs come along, covers performed, accompanied by his six-string, from 'Like A Rolling Stone' by Dylan to Roy Orbison, Rolling Stones, and classic blues and soul.
What is defined as a pre-adolescent trance state leads the young Bruce to form and dissolve bands with uncertain names (from The Castiles to Doctor Zoom And The Sonic Boom) with extreme rapidity. In the vibrant scene of Asbury Park, Springsteen works hard, attending numerous concerts of bands touring the East Coast, reaching the Big Apple, and playing alongside figures like Southside Johnny and other colleagues who will earn a place in the friendly congregation later baptized as the E Street Band. Contact with manager Mike Appel is imminent, as is the legendary audition on May 3, 1972 at Columbia Records, during which John Hammond - discoverer of Dylan and Aretha Franklin - is positively impressed by the personal performance with just an acoustic guitar by a (nearly) anonymous young musician from New Jersey, delivering it authentically and sincerely, which will be his passport to his first record contract with the major label.
The album consists of nine tracks that express a concentration between that urban rock - which Springsteen was used to proposing in the venues where he performed - and a singer-songwriter style with a very simple origin that was far from providing a clear identification of the musical direction taken. The air that is breathed is one of spontaneity and intimacy, accompanied by lyrics in which lost and disillusioned characters clearly represent the embryo of ideas and concepts that will find a better route for the careful evolution that will come in the not-too-distant future.
The opening of 'Blinded By The Light' gives us a taste of the genuineness of a popular-sounding style, revealing all the right cards to spark interest among the patrons of those East Coast venues who could easily find themselves protagonists for an extraordinary night, in the story of an unknown provincial musician. With the driving rhythm of 'Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?' and the flexibility of 'Lost In The Flood', beyond the composure of the melodies, makes the listener aware of how important the records of Van Morrison and Gary U.S. Bonds were to the musical formation of the young Springsteen. And if 'The Angel', like 'Mary Queen Of Arkansas', where a deep and cautious personification proves difficult to assimilate, 'For You' finds fertile ground in those who have a naturally available soul to be carried away by that mix of melody and rhythm that marks (perhaps) the first Springsteenian ride. In an album where themes of love, the province, and isolation often recur, the vivacity of 'Growin’ Up', the lush poetry of 'Spirit In The Night', and not forgetting the measured tightness of 'It's Hard To Be A Saint in The City' – placed at the end - form a happy triple that manages to represent, without infamy and without praise, those artistic features that, properly elaborated, can only become trademarks of an impeccable musical identity.
We are facing the first step (or leap?) of a young singer-songwriter (who does not give up on a band of his own) in the jaws of a music-biz that, forcibly and counterproductively, wants to propose him as another Dylan due to that positive air blowing in favor of folk for some time, but that immediately does not bring the expected results. An album conceived to follow and be bottled in the folk-rock stream, although the decent attempt to combine melody and tradition with gentle splashes of that liveliness in which the sax of Clarence Clemons (ex James Brown Band), the drums of Vincent “Vini” Lopez, the bass of Gary Tallent, and the keyboards of David Sancious put their hands in short the baptism of what will be the historic E Street Band.
Although the phrase placed at the bottom will help many understand the essence of the record, it is clear to call 'Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.' a sufficiently defined and castigated work by hesitant production, seeing Springsteen compressed by the market's necessity to follow seemingly clear musical paths, but lacking the ineluctable contamination with that dose of significant expressiveness that only the determination of a particular debutant will soon achieve.
“...when the first record came out, people were scandalized there was no electric guitar! All I heard everywhere I went was 'Where's the guitar, man? What happened?'. I had a big reputation in the New Jersey area – even a little further south – as a hard rock band guitarist.” (Bruce Springsteen interviewed by Bill Flanagan).
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Blinded by the Light (05:04)
Madman drummers bummers
And Indians in the summer
With a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps
As the adolescent pumps
His way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder
Feelin' kinda older
I tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasing
Sneezing and wheezing
The calliope crashed to the ground
Some all-hot half-shot
Was headin' for the hot spot
Snappin' his fingers, clappin' his hands
And some fleshpot mascot
Was tied into a lover's knot
With a whatnot in her hand
And now young Scott with a slingshot
Finally found a tender spot
And throws his lover in the sand
And some bloodshot forget-me-not
Whispers daddy's within earshot
Save the buckshot, turn up the band
And she was blinded by the light
Oh, cut loose like a deuce
Another runner in the night
Blinded by the light
She got down but she never got tight
But she'll make it all right
Some brimstone baritone
Anti-cyclone rolling stone
Preacher from the east
He says, "Dethrone the dictaphone
Hit it in its funny bone
That's where they expect it least"
And some new-mown chaperone
Standin' in the corner all alone
Watchin' the young girls dance
And some fresh-sown moonstone
Was messin' with his frozen zone
To remind him of the feeling of romance
Yeah, he was blinded by the light
Oh, cut loose like a deuce
Another runner in the night
Blinded by the light
He got down but he never got tight
But he's gonna make it tonight
Some silicone sister
With her manager's mister
Told me I got what it takes
She said I'll turn you on, sonny
To something strong
If you play that song with the funky break
And go-cart Mozart
Was checkin' out the weather chart
To see if it was safe to go outside
And little Early-Pearly
Came in by her curly-wurly
And asked me if I needed a ride
Oh, some hazard from Harvard
Was skunked on beer
Playin' backyard bombardier
Yes, and Scotland Yard
Was trying hard
They sent some dude with a calling card
He said, "Do what you like
But don't do it here"
Well I jumped up
Turned around, spit in the air
Fell on the ground
Asked him which was the way back home
He said take a right at the light
Keep goin' straight until night
And then boys, you're on your own
And now in Zanzibar
A shootin' star
Was ridin' in a side car
Hummin' a lunar tune
Yes, and the avatar
Said blow the bar
But first remove the cookie jar
We're gonna teach those boys to laugh too soon
And some kidnapped handicap
Was complainin' that he caught the clap
From some mousetrap he bought last night
Well, I unsnapped his skull cap
And between his ears I saw a gap
And figured he'd be all right
He was just blinded by the light
Cut loose like a deuce
Another runner in the night
Blinded by the light
Mama always told me not
To look into the sights of the sun
02 Growin' Up (03:05)
I stood stone-like at midnight
suspended in my masquerade
I combed my hair till it was just
right and commanded the
night brigade
I was open to pain and crossed
by the rain and i walked on a
crooked crutch
I strolled all alone through a
fallout zone and came out with
my soul untouched
I hid in the clouded wrath of
the crowd but when they
said "Sit down," I stood up.
Ooh...growin' up
The flag of piracy flew from
my mast, my sails were set
wing to wing
I had a jukebox graduate for
first mate, she couldn't sail
but she sure could sing,
I pushed B-52 and bombed em'
with the blues with my gear
set stubborn on standing
I broke all the rules, strafed
my old high school, never once
gave thought to landing,
I hid in the clouded warmth of
the crowd but when they said,
"Come down," I threw up,
Ooh...growin up.
I took long month vacations in
the stratosphere and you know
it's really hard to hold your
breath,
I swear I lost everything I
ever loved or feared, I was the
comic kid in full costume dress,
Well, my feet they finally took
root in the earth but i got me
a nice little place in the stars
And I swear I found the key to
the universe in the engine of
an old parked car
I hid in the mother breast of
the crowd but when they said,
"Pull up," i pulled up
Ooh...growin' up. Ooh...
growin' up
03 Mary Queen of Arkansas (05:21)
Mary Queen of Arkansas, it's not too early for dreamin'
The sky is grown with cloud seed sown and a bastard's love can be redeeming
Mary, my queen, your soft hulk is reviving
No, you're not too late to desecrate, the servants are just rising
Well I'm just a lonely acrobat, the live wire is my trade
I've been a shine boy for your acid brat and a wharf rat of your state
Mary, my queen, your blows for freedom are missing
You're not man enough for me to hate or woman enough for kissing
The big top is for dreamers, we can take the circus all the way to the border
And the gallows wait for martyrs whose papers are in order
But I was not born to live to die and you were not born for queenin'
It's not too late to infiltrate, the servants are just leavin'
Mary queen of Arkansas, your white skin is deceivin'
You wake and wait to lie in bait and you almost got me believin'
But on your bed Mary I can see the shadow of a noose
I don't understand how you can hold me so tight and love me so damn loose
But I know a place where we can go Mary
Where I can get a good job and start all over again clean
08 Spirit in the Night (05:00)
Crazy Janey and Her Mission Man were
back in the alley tradin hands
Long 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 up to Greasy Lake
It's about a mile down on the dark side of Route 88
I got a bottle of rose so lets try it
Well pick up Hazy Davy and Killer Joe
And I'll take you all out to where the
gypsy angels go
they're build like light
and they dance like spirits in the night
all night in the night all night
oh you dont know what the can do to you
spirit in the night
all night in the night all night
stand up right now and let them shoot through you
Well now wild young billy was a crazy cat
and shook some dust out of his coonskin cap
He said trust some of this it'll show
you where your at or at least it'll
help you really feel it
By the time we made it up to greasy lake
I had my head out the window
and Janey's fingers were in the cake
I think I really dug her because I was to loose to fake
I said I'm Hurt
She said honey let me heal it
and we danced all night to a soul fairy band
and she kissed right like only a
lonely angel can
She felt so nice just as soft as a spirit in the night
all night in the night all night
Janey you dont know what she do to you
spirit in the night
all night in the night all night
stand right up and let it shoot through me
Now the night was bright and the stars
threw light on Billy and Davy dancin
in the moonlight
They were down near the water
having a stoned mud fight
Killer Joe gone passed out on the lawn
Well now Hazy Davy got really hurt
he ran into the lake in just his socks and his shirt
Me and Crazy Janey was makin love in the dirt
singin our birthday song
Janey said it was time to go so
we closed our eyes and said goodbye
to gypsey angel row
felt so right
together we move like a spirit in the night
all night in the night all night
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Other reviews
By Night87
"Lost In The Flood can easily be considered among Springsteen’s 15 best songs."
"I recommend this as the album to start with to appreciate the resources of this extraordinary singer-songwriter."
By MAR1973
Inside the album, there are some authentic gems like "Growin' Up" and "Lost In the Flood."
An unsettled record, perhaps still unripe, but already crowded with those characters that will populate Springsteen’s songs in the future.
