Bruce Springsteen - "Born In The USA" (the song remains the same)

Super Bowl LIV is in the books and it was a good game, especially since I won $100 off my friend Drew.  Neither of us particularly cared who won, but the group of people we were with decided that a wager would make the game more entertaining.  I chose Kansas City simply because VT alum Kendall Fuller plays there, and there's no way I could bet against a Hokie.

The halftime show, featuring a double bill of Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, was well received by most -- or at least those who aren't afraid of sexy, middle-aged Latin women making a number of political points: kids in cages, a reversible Puerto Rican / USA flag, and a snippet of Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA".  Yes, that "Born in the USA".  I was going to riff on the segment of "Kashmir" they cleverly snuck in, but I can't pass up the opportunity to address the point that "Born in the USA", while patriotic, is not a jingoistic anthem.  Instead, it is a protest song, a bittersweet acknowledgement that for some the American Dream remains inaccessible.

First, borrowing the Wikipedia page, they managed to squeeze a lot into 14 minutes:

Shakira

1. "She Wolf" (contains elements of "Dare (La La La)")
2. "Empire" / "Ojos Así" (contains elements of "Inevitable" and "Kashmir")
3. "Whenever, Wherever"
4. "I Like It" (with Bad Bunny; contains elements of “En Barranquilla Me Quedo”)
5. "Chantaje" (with Bad Bunny; contains elements of "Callaíta")
6. "Hips Don't Lie"

Jennifer Lopez

7. "Jenny from the Block"
8. "Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix)"
9. "Get Right"
10. "Waiting for Tonight"
11. "Que Calor" / "Mi Gente" (with J Balvin; contains elements of "Booty", "El Anillo", "Love Don't Cost a Thing" and "Lento")^[52][53][54]
12. "On the Floor"

Shakira and Jennifer Lopez

13. "Let's Get Loud" / "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" (with Emme Muñiz; contains elements of "Born in the U.S.A.")

While the show was entertaining, outside of the hits I'm not really qualified to review most of their songs.  But the inclusion (at 12:14), however brief, of "Born in the USA" was genius.  The best way to understand the song is to remove the chorus and focus on the remaining stanzas:

Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
End up like a dog that's been beat too much
'Til you spend half your life just covering up 

Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man 

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man said "son, if it was up to me"
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said "son, don't you understand?" 

I had a brother at Khe Sanh
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone
He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms, now 

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go

Puerto Rico is part of the United States, to the surprise and/or dismay of some, and referencing Bruce in Shakira's and JLo's celebration was a great way to tap into the powerful history of this song, as well as provide a hat tip to a great 2009 halftime show.

Bruce Springsteen - "Born in the USA" studio version (from the 1984 LP of the same name), 1982 demo version from the "Nebraska" sessions. 

Patti Smith - "Because the Night" (the song remains the same)

The final entry in my recent trilogy of autobiographies is Patti Smith's 2010 book "Just Kids" (the other two were Chrissie Hynde's "Reckless" and Kim Gordon's "Girl in a Band").   In "Just Kids", Smith lovingly details her tumultuous relationship with the late Robert Mapplethrope as they find themselves and their voices in the late 60s / early 70s Manhattan bohemian world of Max's Kansas City, The Factory, Hotel Chelsea, and CBGB.

It's an informative and entertaining book, and Smith is an engaging story teller.  Of course I knew a bit about Patti Smith -- everyone with even a passing interest in punk knows of her.  But she was less contemporary for me than Chrissie Hynde or Kim Gordon, so I learned a great deal about her early life, career, and contributions.  For example, I was unaware of her lyrical contributions to Blue Öyster Cult, via her relationship to BOC's keyboardist Allen Lanier, and  I also did not know of her brief relationship with the recently departed Sam Sheppard (see Patti's eulogy in the New Yorker), which culminated in the semi-autobiographical play "Cowboy Mouth" (which would later inspire a band of the same name).  And while it's only briefly mentioned in this book, I also did not know that she later married Fred Smith of MC5. 

But despite the many positive aspects of "Just Kids", it fails in one critical area: Patti can't rehabilitate Mapplethorpe.  Occasionally I see him as the Byronic hero that she sees, but mostly he comes off as selfish and cruel. Julia Felsenthal, in her article "Patti Smith, Where's Your Critical Distance?", quotes Tom Carson's New York Times book review:

Peculiarly or not, the one limitation of "Just Kids" is that Mapplethorpe himself, despite Smith’s valiant efforts, doesn’t come off as appealingly as she hopes he will. When he isn’t candidly on the make - "Hustler-hustler-hustler. I guess that’s what I’m about," he tells her - his pretension and self-romanticizing can be tiresome.

On the other hand, perhaps the discomfort Carson, Felsenthal, and I feel is because late 60s / early 70s Patti isn't yet the iconic, feminist badass that we demand of her.  Maybe it's simply disappointing to learn they were "just kids".

I do get the impression that without Robert's extensive encouragement and support, Patti would have never pursued a musical career.  An unkind reading might be that he directed her then unfocused artistic energy into an area that would not compete with him (she found success well before he did); or perhaps he just legitimately assessed the locus of her true talent.

I could choose to highlight some of her early work, like "Horses" or "Piss Factory", but instead I'll highlight her biggest hit, 1978's "Because the Night", from her "Easter" LP.  It was partially written by Bruce Springsteen, recorded but unfinished during the "Darkness on the Edge of Town" sessions, and based on Bruce and Patti sharing the same studio and studio engineer, "Because the Night" was given to Patti for her to record.   

This song is interesting me because it's only partially a cover -- in addition to releasing it first, Patti reworked the lyrics significantly from Bruce's version, to the point where her version is considered canonical, with Bruce even occasionally performing in concert Patti's version.   In the image below, Patti's lyrics are on the left and Bruce's original lyrics (as released on his "Live/1975-85" LP) on the right. 

This is one of the few times you can say "boy, someone really improved on Bruce's version". 

Patti Smith - "Because the Night", live 1978, live 2002, Patti explains the story behind the song
Bruce Springsteen - "Because the Night" (live 1985?), live 1978.
U2, Bruce, Patti: "Because the Night"

Bonus cover: 10,000 Maniacs - "Because the Night"

Woody Guthrie - "This Land Is Your Land" (spotlight)

Super Bowl LI (notice how we're back to Roman numerals?) looked like it would be a blow out, but then featured 25 unanswered points for an OT win, the first in Super Bowl history.  Lady Gaga did a great halftime show, and I'm not even a big fan of hers.  The right was busy congratulating themselves for Lady Gaga "not being political".  Perhaps the right-wing snowflakes were too hurt by, you know, beer commercials and such to notice, but Lady Gaga's performance was filled with left-wing dog whistles.

First, she's Lady Gaga, and she's singing LGBT anthems like "Born This Way", in front of Mike Pence et al.  That's only apolitical if you don't understand the words.  Second, in the opening patriotic, pre-recorded piece it was not an accident that she ended with "...with liberty and justice for all".  Third, she started with a snippet from "God Bless America", but then followed it with Woody Guthrie's response song, "This Land is Your Land".  That also wasn't an accident, and it invokes the history of the song, recorded in various versions, most often with the overtly political verses removed.  Here are the full lyrics of the song as written in 1940:

This land is your land this land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.

I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

So yes, while Lady Gaga's show wasn't anti-anything, it was an appeal to our better angels.

"This Land is Your Land": Woody Guthrie (1944?), Bruce Springsteen (1985), Bruce Springsteen & Peter Seeger (2009)

Bonus link: full halftime show.

INXS - "Don't Change" (the song remains the same)

Most people's don't realize INXS had a full career before 1987's "Kick", which was so popular when I was in college it effectively blocked everyone's memory of anything that came before it.  One of my favorite songs is "Don't Change", a single from their 1982 LP "Shabooh Shoobah".  It's a great song that still sounds fresh some 24+ years later.  You also have to enjoy the low budget video as well -- over the top videos were apparently still a few years away.

So imagine my delight when I recently uncovered Bruce Springsteen doing a fun cover of it while in concert in Australia in 2014. 

I'm standing here on the ground
The sky above won't fall down
See no evil in all directions
Resolution of happiness
Things have been dark for too long

INXS - "Don't Change"
Bruce Springsteen - "Don't Change"

Bruce Springsteen - "The Ghost of Tom Joad" (the song remains the same)

A Labor Day special...

Here's the condensed version of the conversation I've had dozens of times with some of my European friends: Bruce Springsteen is an activist / protest singer in the tradition of Woody Guthrie, but his songs are written with such a distinctly American, individualistic perspective that the message of struggle, hope & despair, and identity is often obscured, if not completely misunderstood.

In contrast to some of his more indirect songs, "The Ghost of Tom Joad", the title track from the 1995 LP of the same name, is one of Bruce's most overtly political songs. The blistering message is tamed by Bruce's muted, acoustic delivery; it was Rage Against the Machine two years later that realized the inherent, well, "rage" of the narrator against forces so complex and overwhelming that individuals must succumb. In Bruce's songs, the hero can often overcome through sheer force of will (e.g., "Badlands", "The Promised Land", "Thunder Road", "Born to Run") -- or at least believes he can. In "The Ghost of Tom Joad", the hero is bleakly aware of his futile state:

Men walkin' 'long the railroad tracks
Goin' someplace there's no goin' back
Highway patrol choppers comin' up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Shelter line stretchin' round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleepin' in their cars in the southwest
No home no job no peace no rest

The highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Searchin' for the ghost of Tom Joad

Tom Joad is of course the main character and anti-hero in Steinbeck's 1940 novel "The Grapes of Wrath", which tells the fictionalized story of the Joad family's travels from Oklahoma during the dust bowl to California in search of a land, jobs, and a better life. Instead, they find California is controlled by corporate farmers, in collusion with each other as well as local law enforcement to ensure an ample supply of cheap, unorganized labor. In short, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's dream.

Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me Mom I'll be there
Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand
Or decent job or a helpin' hand
Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me."

Bruce Springsteen: studio version, live in the studio 2009

Bruce Springsteen & Tom Morello: live 2009

Rage Against the Machine: 1997 single version, 2000 LP version, live 1999 version, fan video

"The Grapes of Wrath": New York Times Review, ReThink Review

Bruce Springsteen - "For You" (the song remains the same)

I recently reviewed "Blinded by the Light", the song from Bruce Springsteen's first LP, "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J." that was made famous by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. For MMEB's 1980 LP "Chance", they went back to the well again, recording "For You" from Bruce's 1973 debut LP. (Bruce never released "For You" as a single, so I chose MMEB's covert art.)

I don't recall ever hearing Bruce's version on the radio, only occasionally for the MMEB version, and nothing on classic rock radio in I don't know how many years. Which is too bad, since this is quite a good song. MMEB used the same formula they used on BBTL: increasing the production complexity and greatly simplifying the lyrical complexity (three stanzas to 1.5 stanzas), even to the point of removing half of the chorus. The LP version clocked in at almost 6 minutes, but the 7" version is just under 4 minutes. Bruce's version:

I came for you, for you, I came for you, but you did not need my urgency
I came for you, for you, I came for you, but your life was one long emergency
and your cloud line urges me, and my electric surges free

MMEB's version:

I came for you
I came for you
I came for you
For you
I came for you

Eliminating the urgency/emergency portion significantly changes the meaning of the song; explore the original version and the MMEB version for additional changes.

For You: Bruce Springsteen (studio version, 1978 live version), Manfred Mann's Earth Band (7" single version, LP version, 1986 live version).

And for completeness, I suppose I should mention the 2005 release by The Disco Boys, based on the MMEB version: Radio Edit version, Freemasons Remix version.

Bruce Springsteen - "Blinded by the Light" (the song remains the same)

How should I observe the passing of Clarence Clemons? An obvious choice would be "Jungleland", which is often cited as having one of Clemons' best solos (it occurs ~ 4:03 in this live 1978 version). Instead, I'm going with a song most people probably don't know was written by Bruce: "Blinded by the Light", the first (and ultimately unsuccessful) single from Bruce's first LP, 1973's "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.".

"Blinded by the Light" was later made famous by Manfred Mann's Earth Band as a single from their 1976 LP "The Roaring Silence". Whereas Bruce's version was still very much in Dylan's shadow, MMEB trimmed the voluminous lyrics (original lyrics vs. MMEB's lyrics), provided a slick 70s synth sound, and added some clever counterpoint at the end. The Manfred Mann version came in two versions, both of which you still hear regularly on classic rock radio: a 7 minute LP version and a 4 minute single version. And while it very much sounds like a mid-70s song, I never tire of it (see also: "Cruel to be Kind").

The various characters in the song (the drummer, diplomat, mascot, preacher, chaperone, etc.) are partially explained in the VH1 Storytellers DVD, but the interesting explanation is cut short by the video's editors! Danette bought this as a Christmas present a few years ago precisely because she knows I'm fascinated by this song's cast of characters and she thought all would finally be explained. Unless someone has an unedited version of this performance we'll never know who all these people are (though it is clear they are all real, or at least based on real characters). I've seen various explanations on the web, but none that I'd consider canonical. And if you're only familiar with the MMEB's version, you're missing out on the those that MMEB removed: the "hazard from Harvard", the "dude" from Scotland Yard, the shooting star, and the avatar.

While "Blinded by the Light" is probably not the first song you think of when Clarence Clemons is mentioned, I will point out that it is one of only two GFAPNJ songs on which Clemons appears and as such I consider it a fitting tribute.

Bruce Springsteen: studio version, 1974 live version, 2009 live version, VH1 Storytellers version (starts at ~9:00 into the video).

Manfred Mann's Earth Band: LP version, Single version, 1975 live version.