Among all the great American songwriters of the past 40 years, few have the songbook of Bruce Springsteen...

Interestingly, I have a fairly easy time picking out "Bob Dylan's Best Song", and a very easy time picking out his Top 5... of course in my opinion only.

NOT WITH SPRINGSTEEN !! What I thought would be an easy task is just anything but easy.

A few years ago I put together my own "Greatest Hits" CD for BS. It came to no less than 37 songs! Plus another 11 live concert collaborations with the likes of John Fogerty, Neil Young, Jon Bon Jovi, Tina Turner, and Bob Dylan... That's a 48-song 3-CD Greatest Hits collection and there's not a lame track on it.

NOW, what's his VERY BEST SONG ???

Well, the first challenge is to start trimming down the "Top 48"... Well without too much heartache I was able to reduce it to 17 Songs...

It becomes very apparent, very quickly, the magic of this songwriter... as good as Dylan is, I can pick 3 or 4 "standout" songs. Try doing that with Bruce Springsteen... each of his songs pulls on a different psychic corner from rock to dread to uplifting to crashing down to waiting for endtimes to innocent street rockin' in the 60's to failed love to forced marriage... and back to uplifting hope again...

What a songbook this guy has....

Well, with real trouble I was able to SLOWLY narrow the "final list down to his very best 5"... and here they are:

Ooops... only the best one can make this thread...

Well, it's with a Hungry Heart that I'll wear a Brilliant Disguise and hop in a Stolen Car down The River to The Promised Land to pick the one and only very best Bruce Springsteen song... his very greatest stadium rocker:

Ramrod.

And if you don't like this song, you don't have Rolling Stones blood in ya veins!

"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-12-27 07:44 by BornOnTheBayou.

Impossible. He's written so f-king many classics. My Top Big Number runs like this (in no order of preference):


Drive All Night
State Trooper
Candy's Room
Something In The Night
Incident on 57th Street
Rosalita
The Ghost Of Tom Joad
Hungry Heart
The Ties That Bind
Sherry Darling
Dead Man Walkin'
Darkness On The Edge of Town
Adam Raised A Cain
Wages of Sin
You're Missing
Missing
Tunnel of Love
Tougher Than The Rest
Brilliant Disguise
I Wish I Were Blind
Frankie
Brothers Under the Bridge
My love Will Not Let You Down
The Fever (Live Winterland 1978 boot version)
Jungleland
Stolen Car
Dancing in the Dark
Born To Run
Blinded by the Light
Born To Run
Growin' Up
Lonesome Day
4th July Asbury Park (Sandy)
New York City Serenade
Sad Eyes








Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-12-27 12:40 by Nikolai.

I would have to say Thunder Road. It's like a 4 minute feature film. Still hear new things in that song.

Rosalita

The River
Thunder Road
Blindec By The Light
Atlantic City
The Ghost Of Tom Joad
Devils And Dust
Hungry Heart
Born To Run
It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City
Dancing In The Dark
Streets Of Philly
This Hard Land
Because The Night
Growin' Up
Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?
Bobby Jean
I'm On Fire
Murder Incorporated

Valentie's Day
41 Shots
Land Of Hope & Dreams
Thunder Road
Jungleland!
Racing In The Street
57th St into Rosie (segue as good as 2000 Light years into Sympathy 89)
Better Days
Highway Patrolman
Nebraska
Mary's Place

Some of these are very heartfelt and personal. I wish Mick would do more of that.

Hey! No one mentioned:

CADILLAC RANCH!

The Stones could do that one; with Bobby wailing on the sax

I like the ones that appeared on "Tracks" box.

Love "Loose Ends".

MV.

Also from Tracks, "Where The Bands Are" - great energy.

Really, though, too many to name.

Tough one...

Thunder Road
The River
I'm Going Down
Cadillac Ranch
Pink Cadillac

Those are my top 5...

Oh, and I really like Trapped, too (although he didn't write it).

And Because the Night...

And Badlands...

Yes, it's hard--those are the ones that came to me off the top of my head.

Here we go.1.Downbound train 2. Sad eyes 3.My best was never good enough 4.The river5.Born to run 6.Nothing man7.adam raised the cain8.your missing9.streets of fire10.empty sky11.because the night12.waiting on a sunny day13.this land is your land14.prove it all night . its hard to choose.

Hard choice. But my trilogy would be without any order:

Born To Run
Thunder Road
Born in The USA

Thunder Road
Born to Run
Atlantic City

Springsteen is a great artist. Nebraksa is as classic as any other masterpiece out there. Every song on the album is a gem, beautiful songwriting all the way through. Very much like Exile in a way, although it's in completely different style.
Aside from Nebraska I think Point Blank is one of his best songs ever. The way he builts it up.. The River's lost treasure IMO. Darkness is great too.

JUNGLELAND

THUNDER ROAD

"...you ain't a looker but hey you're alright"
love that line! LOL

This thread pretty well proves it....

It's even harder to pick the best Springsteen song than it is the best Dylan song...

"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."

All of them.

Incident on 57th Street (live version)

1) Born to Run
2) Badlands
3) Darlington County
4) Ramrod
5) Open All Night
6) Nebreska
7) Thouger Than The Rest
8) The Rising
9) Two Hearts
10)This Hard Land

harlito1969 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> THUNDER ROAD
>
> "...you ain't a looker but hey you're alright"
> love that line! LOL


It's actually "...you ain't a beauty but baby, hey you're alright."

Growin' Up

My top 2 never changes, but aside from that its almost impossible, but heres 20

1. Jungleland
2. I Wish I Were Blind (his most underrated song IMO)
3. New York City Serenade
4. This Hard Land (the BITUSA outtake thats on 'Tracks', not the 1995 version, good though it also is)
5. The Promise (unreleased version, not the 1998 re-recording thats on 'Tracks')
6. Backstreets
7. Incident on 57th Street
8. When You're Alone (a surprise choice, I bet)
9. Born To Run
10. The Wish
11. Thunder Road
12. No Surrender
13. Worlds Apart
14. Shut Out The Light
15. Blood Brothers (the version thats on the promo EP, not the Greatest hits version)
16. Drive All Night
17. The Promised Land
18. Brothers Under The Bridge
19. Point Blank
20. Frankie

I'm not listing any covers (no one has covered other artists songs better) or live versions (it would make the list even more impossible)

If I had to pick just ONE, then I'd go for Loose Ends off the Tracks box set.

He did it in Manchester a couple of years back and I had to pinch myself to see whether I was dreaming or not. The sound man came in late with Clarence's sax solo but it was still nirvana.

einte Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Incident on 57th Street (live version)


This is indeed a brillaint track with just Bruce on the piano.

Still,Jungleland & Thunder Road(acoustic) take some beating.

Jersey Girl

It's funny. With all due respect, he's just not in the same weight class as the Stones or Dylan or Neil Young for me. Doesn't mean that I haven't enjoyed his stuff immensely, just that I somehow connect more deeply with the others.

Now, having said that, there are plenty of Springsteen tracks that absolutely slay me:

1. "If I Should Fall Behind"
2. "My Beautiful Reward"
3. "Brothers Under The Bridge"
4. "Valentine's Day"
5. "Rosalita"
6. "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"
7. "Johnny 99"
8. "Atlantic City"
9. "I'm On Fire"
10. "Racing In The Streets"
and
11. "Born To Run (live, acoustic)"

Ringo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jersey Girl


which he didnt write.

As huge a Bruce fan as I am, Tom Waits' original blows it away

Uh-oh. I just HAD to resurface with an agreement about "Ramrod" -- a lovely Stones-style rocker. Everyone knows that Steve Van Zandt is a huge Stones fan.

However, I also gotta mention "Streets of Philadelphia". It's simple, but incredibly emotional.

Continuing in the emotional vein, I also have a soft spot for "Into the Fire" and "Land of Hopes and Dreams".

In the flat-out rocker mode, I like "My Love Will Not Let You Down" and "Pink Cadillac". The latter song also has a Stones-like groove.

In short, Bruce Springsteen is, IMHO, the greatest American rock n roll performer alive today.

Amongst all the tunes mentioned, I think I like Dancing In The Dark the best. Certainly his biggest single and the song that propelled him from a star to a Superstar. Video also made a star of Courtney Cox!