Thunder Road...an appreciation

The first of a series where I go ape over a song that has become part of my bloodstream, and I try to explain why (I DON'T think Judgement Day is gonna be me explaining why I like this song and not the other, unless God has some spare time and we sit down with His CD collection.....)

Thunder Road is the opening song on Bruce Springsteen's world-changing album Born To Run (reviewed prev), released in 1975, at the addled end of country rock, as people were reaching out for a bit of authenticity in their pop (punk and disco were about to really explode, do battle, tear down, but their time had not yet come).

I have discussed the piano playing on this song with Sophie...

G: What do you think?

S: Great, but really difficult!

Yeah...

The piano playing on this song, courtesy of Roy Bittan, who is publicly acclaimed every time he plays with The Boss, is...so many things...

It is symphonic in scope - goes way beyond honky-tonk blues vamping, and sets up a harmonic, melodic and structural foundation, which reappears in the more fully orchestrated sections.

Bittan thinks polyphonically (complex lines) in this intro, and gives us all the musical material we will need for our journey from Mary's front porch along Thunder Road (would YOU hop into a car with Bruce in 1975 and head out into the night???).

Bruce's harmonica is there at the start too - bluesy, uncluttered, soulful - he's actually a very good harmonica player, with a much better strike rate than Dylan (not difficult!), but not the sophisticated brilliance of Stevie Wonder (THE man for harmonica).

The tempo gets set and the lyrics introduce us to Mary, whose screen door slams as she awaits pick-up by the young tearaway, Bruce...

As with ALL of Springsteen's best songs (and there are many - but start here!), the song is a story, with real characters, real situations, real pain, fear and wonder coursing thru their veins as they try to navigate their world...

Most of the songs on Born to Run are about the dream, the wonder, the escape (it's poignant to note the stories where the characters DON'T quite get out of their holes), unlike the follow-up album, where we have the "demons" (emotional) coming out and ripping or melting the dreams away...

And Thunder Road offers that escape.

The song builds and builds and builds...the structure has broken away from a three-chord Status-Quo brickie-bum workout, and, thanks to the Bittan/Springsteen chemistry, transcends the sometimes limited concept of rock'n'roll...

This is demonstrated in the way that the chord patterns, rather than resolve at the end of 4, 8 or 12 bars, actually drop into a surprise chord and suspend the end of the verse (there are not really choruses in a neatly defined sense in this song).

The other neat thing about the build-up is the constant edition of instruments - a simple but very effective way of creating climax.

By the end of Bruce's story per se, the whole of the E Street Band is in there, not chugging but pumping...as much energy into this song as the stereoids (sic) will allow!

The last few sections are simply the band rocking out - all that has been necessary to say has been said.

What else is there?

Escape is the theme - beauty, wonder...

Bruce's lyrics move (and had done on his previous 2 albums - Blinded By the Light is a terribly underrated epic from the first album, Greetings From Asbury Park, New Jersey, done equal measures of harm and good by scoring a number one hit in the hands of Manfred Mann's Earth Band) way beyond anything we were getting in the early 70s - sure, cleverness, detachment, beauty were there, but nobody tells a story like Bruce, or captures a rock'n'roll essence/energy with a line or two...

It's the musical/lyrical combo that makes a song, and when the elements are great, the combo hopefully is terrific (someone once wrote that there can be NO successful marriage between words and music - only some kind of rape, with one element achieving the upper hand in the struggle - this is not true, I BELIEVE - I have to, or it makes nonsense of my favourite occupation of the last 40 years - i.e. songwriting).

Born To Run the title track works similarly, and it's interesting to note that that song kicks off Side 2 (from vinyl days...)

I may give you some views on that one on another day, but here just want to point out that the mood is quite different, tho the aspiration/dream/car/escape stuff is there...

If you have not feasted your ears on Thunder Road, make sure you do before you lose your hearing, your dreams and your rock'n'roll essence.

Small note - Bruce has taken to doing this with only piano backing live (Roy is probably Bruce's most erstwhile musical companion} - while this creates a certain intimacy in what are otherwise wonderfully extravagant concerts, it changes the identity of the song somewhat, and is a less definitive version than the one I've been raving about...

Small note no.2 - Bittan, Tallent (bass) and Weinberg (drums) got paid some good money and are the musical power behing Meatloaf's/Steinman's Bat Out of Hell - whilst a rollicking rock epic, it is a Bruce-clone, and nowhere in the same league as the original stuff you get on Born To Run (these guys also feature on a Bob Dylan song or 2, around the Infidels period)...

So, do you understand why I HAVE to listen to at least this song on a Sat or Sun am at the start of the day???

If you have songs you would like to suggest for appreciation, let me know....

Anyone still reading??