Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City (Live, 1985)

Okay, I promise I’m not trying to bring everybody down with these songs, they’re just so good I can’t help but post them.

I’m still not sure which version of this song I prefer, the original or this live one, but I can’t resist posting live versions of Bruce in concert because the songs really take on a new life when you see/hear him giving his all.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again and again: see him live.  It’ll be an experience you’ll never forget.

“Now I been lookin’ for a job but it’s hard to find
Down here it’s just winners and losers and don’t get caught on the wrong side of that line
Well I’m tired of comin’ out on this losin’ end
So honey last night I met this guy and I’m gonna do a little favor for him

Well I guess everything dies baby that’s a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back
Put your makeup on fix your hair up pretty and meet me tonight in Atlantic City”

Bruce Springsteen - Bobby Jean (Live, 1985)

“Now we went walking in the rain talking about the pain from the world we hid
Now there ain’t nobody nowhere nohow gonna ever understand me the way you did
Maybe you’ll be out there on that road somewhere
In some bus or train traveling along
In some motel room there’ll be a radio playing
And you’ll hear me sing this song
Well if you do you’ll know I’m thinking of you and all the miles in between
And I’m just calling one last time not to change your mind
But just to say I miss you baby, good luck, goodbye, Bobby Jean”

Bruce and his band give me goosebumps more than any other artist I can think of at the moment; they’ve got a rare raw spiritual power which seems so simple, but goes so far.

And when Clarence Clemons comes in with his sax solo, especially in this song…I’m gone.

R.E.M. ft. Bruce Springsteen - Man on the Moon (Live, 2004)

Thank you all for all the great music.  Here’s a great performance to remember them by, featuring the one and only Boss himself.

“Moses went walking with the staff of wood. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Newton got beaned by the apple good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Charles Darwin had the gall to ask. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Hey Andy, did you hear about this one? Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Hey Andy, are you goofing on Elvis? Hey baby, are you having fun?
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there’s nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool”

Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen - Dancing in the Dark (1984)

“Man, I’m just tired and bored with myself
Hey there baby, I could use just a little help”

So much to say about Bruce it’s hard to know where to start.

Some of my earliest memories are driving up to the mountains with my Dad to go skiing and listening to Bruce, Bob Dylan, Nirvana, Prince, and other masterworks.  I was a lucky little kid.

If you’ve never seen Bruce in concert, go see him ASAP.  It’ll change your life for the better.  I just wish you could’ve seen him perform with Clarence Clemons.  That man will never be replaced.

(How awesome is Courtney Cox in this video?  Check that, how awesome is EVERYONE in this video?  Clarence is a clapping, smiling, dancing fool.)

“You sit around getting older
there’s a joke here somewhere and it’s on me
I’ll shake this world off my shoulders
come on baby this laugh’s on me”

Today I helped my uncle move out of his bookstore, and copped the following 12-inches:

The Allman Brothers - Eat a Peach
Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful Word!
The Band - The Band
Dave Brubeck - All-Time Greatest Hits
The Clash - Combat Rock
Elvis Costello - My Aim is True
Bob Dylan - Another side of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline
Bob Dylan - New Morning
Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced?
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Madness - One Step Beyond…
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Exodus
Mothers of Invention - Just Another Band from L.A.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will the Circle Be Unbroken?
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley
Sly and the Family Stone - Stand!
Bruce Springsteen - Greetings from Asbury Park
Bruce Springsteen - The River
Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Peter Tosh - Equal Rights
Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy
Warren Zevon - Warren Zevon

Nice.  Bullseye.

Neil Young & Bruce Springsteen - Helpless (Live, 19??)

If you’re a regular reader here you know how much I love Bruce, which is why I was so excited to find a live version of this song featuring The Boss himself, but I’ll be damned if the accordion isn’t the best part of this performance—absolutely beautiful.

“Blue, blue windows behind the stars
Yellow moon on the rise
Big birds flying across the sky
Throwing shadows on our eyes
Leave us

Helpless, helpless, helpless…”

It is with overwhelming sadness that we inform our friends and fans that at 7:00 tonight, Saturday, June 18, our beloved friend and bandmate, Clarence Clemons passed away. The cause was complications from his stroke of last Sunday, June 12th.

Bruce Springsteen said of Clarence: Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Born to Run (1982)

In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on highway 9,
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected
and steppin’ out over the line
Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we’re young
‘Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs ‘round these velvet rims
and strap your hands across my engines
Together we could break this trap
We’ll run till we drop, baby we’ll never go back
Will you walk with me out on the wire
‘Cause baby I’m just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta find out how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
girl I want to know if love is real

Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
The girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you Wendy on the streets tonight
In an everlasting kiss

The highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody’s out on the run tonight
but there’s no place left to hide
Together Wendy we’ll live with the sadness
I’ll love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday girl I don’t know when
we’re gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go
and we’ll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us
baby we were born to run

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (Live, 1993)

Fun fact: It’s difficult to type while crying and dancing at the same time.

Clarence Clemons, saxophonist for the E Street Band, had a stroke yesterday.

Going to a Bruce concert will make you believe in God, and I’m so thankful I’ve had multiple opportunities to see he and the E Street Band—including a healthy but aging Big Man. 

The music they made is magic, and I aspire to be able to create or do something that will be shared and affect so many people in a similar manner, whether through music, literature, or some other form I just don’t know yet.

Please watch this video and send your prayers to Clarence Clemons and his family.

Bruce Springsteen - Growin’ Up (Live, 1972)

Holy shit.

One of the best things I’ve seen on the internet.

An almost 40-year old performance of a 23-year old Bruce Springsteen doing a solo acoustic set while opening for some forgotten about band?  Wow.

Words cannot describe the passion and power Bruce commands, it can only be felt, heard, seen, and experienced.

Plus he is one goddamn handsome motherfucker.

Gives me goosebumps.  Chills.  Makes me tear up.

It’s a treat hearing him talking before the song, and then it begins…

“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.”

Brrrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccceee!!!!!