Said Bruce Springsteen, who's doing that show on Broadway.
It sounds very similar to what Ray Davies did with his show "The Storyteller," which I saw here in Madison years ago. (It's available on line here.) From a 2002 review in the AV Club:
An articulate narrator with a great ear for translating his music into smaller-scale arrangements, Davies is engaging as both a singer and a storyteller. Beginning with the story of his birth in working-class London, Davies concludes by detailing the recording session that produced "You Really Got Me," the song that made [The Kinks] careers and changed music history in the process. He stops along the way to recount his early experiences with music—first as an admirer and then as a performer—that are always linked to his busy, vibrant family....I love the part where he talks about his mother's opinion that the song "That Old Black Magic" was too sexual for young children to hear and then proves his mother's point by singing the song (beautifully, with emphasis on its sexuality).
Anyway, I have no idea how well Bruce will do in this format. He's starting big — on a Broadway stage — and selling some very expensive tickets. But the idea for the show is all about intimacy. The statement quoted above is devoid of human warmth and individuality: "in pursuit of my constant goal to provide an entertaining evening and to communicate something of value." As if what matters is his striving rather than what the audience actually receives.
But don't listen to me if you like Bruce. I have never been a Bruce Springsteen fan, largely because the idea seems to be to enact striving. Straining.
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67 comments:
Oh, my sister should definitely see this. Total FanGirl. Sister : Springsteen :: Althouse : Dylan.
I saw BS in concert in 1977 during his heyday. In the performance I witnessed, he sang, danced, even did a flip off-stage into the crowd. He wore a guitar around his neck and occasionally strummed it. But he did not play the guitar. I'm a middling fan of his still, never been swept away by "The Boss". I've always considered him kind of fake, just like the guitar he wore onstage. Strange he would give 'the guitar" second billing in his fabulous show.
Odds on a political lecture appearing somewhere during the show?
I like a few of BS's songs. Considering the scope of his production it's a low batting average.
He should go all Wayne Newton and get a main room in Vegas. Or better yet, since he's a Jersey kids, Atlantic City. I think I would enjoy ignoring his missing talents there than on Broadway.
Let’s see if your commenters pick up on the class undertones of your animus against striving and straining.
Bruce Springsteen on Parties:
He was gonna be your Romeo, you were going to be his Juliet
These days you don't wait on Romeos you just wait on that welfare check
While other girls your age are out with lovers taken in the night
Do you miss the party lights?
Do you miss the party lights?
Do you miss the party lights?
When you're lying in bed tonight
Grand Funk Railroad on Parties:
We're an American band
We're an American band
We're comin' to your town
We'll help you party it down
We're an American band
I know who I want to hang out with.
I am Laslo.
110 percent.
No Thanks...I live in New Jersey and have been lectured to by him enough. Wouldn't waste a dime to get his anti Trump rhetoric, all you have to do is listen to any interview with him.
DrSquid said...
"The Boss". I've always considered him kind of fake, just like the guitar he wore onstage.
I thought he was fake, too, and for some reason called him Bruche Schtink-Schtink on occasions like this.
Bruce Springsteen: The 'Boss' of Mediocrity
"However, what truly infuriates me most about Springsteen (aside from his puzzling popularity and success) is the way he seeks to portray himself as a “voice” for the dispossessed and blue-collar Americans whose jobs, lifestyles and aspirations have been wiped out by the decline of manufacturing and by corporate greed.
Need I point out the hypocrisy of a multi-millionaire like Bruce claiming to “represent” the poor and working class?
Need I also point out how Bruce himself has extravagantly prospered in a capitalist economic system he has repeatedly condemned as “unfair,” “cruel” and “exploitative”?
Does he really “feel the pain” and struggles of the country's poor and working classes?
Even John Lennon (a great songwriter, of course, but also a rank hypocrite in many respects) admitted late in his life that the militant left-wing “activism” he once espoused was largely phony and driven by the guilt and embarrassment he felt having amassed such enormous wealth.
Would Bruce – who is worth at least $100 million, perhaps much more – ever make such a dramatic, cathartic admission?"
I am Laslo.
10 Reasons I Hate Bruce Springsteen
Reason #6 Why Bruce Springsteen Sucks: The Earring
As far back as the 1970s, Bruce Springsteen was sporting an earring, making millions of working-class grunts think they had the right to do the same. Men with earrings would become an unfortunate trend that lasted far too long, and one that has seen an unfortunate but slight resurgence in recent years. When in doubt, fellas, skip the stud. And men who wear gauges, I’m not talking to you. You go right ahead with your bad selves. Same goes for anyone who wears a diamond-crusted grill. Everyone else, don’t do it.
I am Laslo.
Going downtown, gonna see my gal
Gonna sing her a song
I'm gonna show her my ding dong.
Wouldn't waste a dime to get his anti Trump rhetoric
Consider how many lefties will pay whatever they charge to hear the boss validate their beliefs.
I won't suck up to the Boss
"Whatever Thunder Road and Born to Run have to say, the Animals said much more succinctly: "We gotta get out of this place if it's the last thing we ever do." His lyrics are wrought from overcooked high school poetry ("we ride through mansions of glory on suicide machines"), homespun hokum, and the York Study Notes to John Steinbeck.
Springsteen appeals to the eternal adolescent in every rock fan, but not the fun, irreverent version, rather the inner Holden Caulfield, earnestly searching for ANSWERS and TRUTH, desperate to be a hero in the drama of his own life, utterly incapable of laughing at himself or the world..."
I am Laslo.
Two links: Springsteen at a concert having water poured on himself so can show "fake sweat": http://www.nypress.com/springsteens-fake-sweat/
and the suggestion that he's one of several imitators of Van Morrison: https://www.splicetoday.com/music/why-they-suck-bruce-springsteen
The crazy dog caught a badger yesterday, and the non-crazy dog jumped in to help but was like "Ack! Get it off me!" when it grabbed her collar despite looking a bit like a bulldog.
One of my favorite Bill Murray stories.
5. Cutting Chevy Chase down to size
In 1977, Murray replaced Chevy Chase in the cast of Saturday Night Live. Though widely loathed by all he left behind in order to become a film star ("scumbag" and "asshole" being the more polite terms used to describe him), Chase returned to guest host the show. After a whole week of snippy remarks and perceived snubs between the two, Murray and Chase came to blows minutes before recording began. As recounted in the book Live From New York, Chase compared Murray’s acne-marked face to the surface of the moon; Murray in turn implied that Chase was incapable of satisfying his wife in bed. After the pair were pulled apart by fellow cast members, a "foaming at the mouth" Murray delivered what could be the most perfect put-down of all time: "Medium talent!"
That is an apt description of Springsteen: Medium Talent.
I am Laslo.
"Let’s see if your commenters pick up on the class undertones of your animus against striving and straining."
Men strive and strain. They grunt and sweat. They clench and crunch. It's all so messy.
If you must blame something, consider biology rather than socio-economics.
So, you're a teenage boy, stuck in a small town, dreading the fact that a shit job at the local factory awaits you upon graduation, dreaming of better things, just dying to get in your car, with Betty Jane, for a late night drive, with the radio on, blasting a Roy Orbison tune, with the windows down, feeling the gush of wind in your hair, as Betty Jane smiles coyly and slowly migrates closer to you, in the front seat of your Dodge Charger......
I mean, growing up with Springsteen was a rite of passage for us blue-blooded American boys!
It’s like Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen are in a weird competition for the guy go most won’t go away
Springsteen was fun and then he met Jon Landeau. At that point he started to take himself too seriously and as the years went by he was taking himself more and more seriously. And then he met Jackson Browne and it just became worse.
The joy got sucked,out of his music. I loved the Springsteen who wrote 'Rosalita'. The one who wrote 'My Home Town' - not so much.
The format of these shows is perfect for him - he is a great story teller and I am sure it will be a wonderful show.
Bob Dylan's spoof on Springsteen:
Tweeter and the Monkey Man
From Wiki:
""Tweeter and The Monkey Man" is sometimes regarded as a playful homage to the songs of Bruce Springsteen, who was often hailed as "the next Dylan" early in his career. The lyrics include the titles of many Springsteen songs, and the song borrows many of Springsteen's themes. The setting of the song itself is New Jersey, Springsteen's home state and the setting for many of Springsteen's own songs. New Jersey locations such as Rahway Prison and Jersey City are mentioned by name. Springsteen song title references include: "Stolen Car", "Mansion On The Hill", "Thunder Road", "State Trooper", "Factory", "The River", and the song made popular by Springsteen but written by Tom Waits, "Jersey Girl"."
I am Laslo.
It won't be wonderful because he's a fucking asshat jerk and his music outside of 4 songs on Born to Run makes me sick.
What a fake, what a fraud.
But the best word that describes this sanctimonious asshole is...HACK.
"Men strive and strain. They grunt and sweat. They clench and crunch. It's all so messy."
You should read this new Daily Mail article, "Your guide to 'the perfect number 2': Expert reveals the FOUR signs your bowel movements are healthy or an early indicator of serious illness":
"Movements should be smooth, quick and pain free... When you have fully evacuated you should experience a sense of elimination 'euphoria' and finish with a smile on your face."
Wayne Newton by the way is incredible. Never woulda thought it till I was in Begas and my late wife dragged me to a show. Dude loves him some America and realizes it made all his dreams come true, unlike that sanctimonious hack.
By the way, I saw Chris Hiilman, Herb Pederson and John Jorgensen last night. I was the youngest person in the whole damned building.
That was some damned fine music. They only did one Flying Burrito Brothers song, which Hillman only acknowledged as a Hillman/Parsons song. I love the guy, but I sure wish he'd let that animosity toward Gram go.
But man that was incredible.
Whoops, that's four songs on The River, Born to Run is the worst man, the worst.
His Broadway show will be as much fun as listening to Rachel Maddow.
"The statement quoted above is devoid of human warmth and individuality: "in pursuit of my constant goal to provide an entertaining evening and to communicate something of value." As if what matters is his striving rather than what the audience actually receives."
He's the Hillary of rock.
'My Home Town'
This and 'Glory Days' are two of my favorite Springsteen songs (Rosalita is another one).
Maybe because I grew up near towns where My Home Town could really be the truth.
Movements should be smooth, quick and pain free...
So not Beethoven.
I was a teenage headbanger listening to, and attending concerts of, acdc, iron maiden, motley crue .... when my parents gave me their two tickets to Bruce's Born in USA tour in mid 80s. I was not enthused, did not really want to go, but my parents didn't want to waste money so my sister and I went, reluctantly. And I was amazed by live performance, concert lasted almost three hours and his fans loved it, it was hard not to get caught up in excitement of crowd.
I enjoy live music, go to at least one live performance per month for over two decades now and that Springsteen show is in top ten concerts ive seen even tho I am not really a fan of his records.
You an' me, we sweat an' strain,
Body all achin an' racked wid pain.
I saw Springsteen at the LA Coliseum in 1985 - who sells out a 90,000 seat venue? The Boss, that's who! Speaking of The Who, I saw them at RFK stadium in the summer of '89. But it was blazing hot, so we all stripped most of our clothes off, and I was with a hot girl, JM, so I can't even remember the set they played, except for "The Bargain".
I never paid attention to Springsteen, no real reason, but I do like Tougher Than the Rest as sung by Chris Ledoux.
Marilyn Monroe sang That Old Black Magic in Bus Stop. It has to be seen to be appreciated how much she made it sizzle.
Bruce Springsteen on Broadway...
People say, Bruce, how can you write about the poor and the oppressed when you're so rich? Like, somehow I forgot about Jersey, you know? I NEVER forget about Jersey, it's like my soul. I remember being broke and giving blow-jobs below the boardwalk for money for cigarettes...
I remember giving a blow-job to this guy, people called him Fat Eddie. Well, Fat Eddie didn't smell so good, and when he came it was like drinking motor oil -- real sludgy. Yeah, yeah: Fat Eddie, he died not too long ago -- diabetes is a bitch, you know...?
So one day I was sitting on the toilet, thinking about Jersey and Fat Eddie, and I started writing a song. It happens that way sometimes -- I'm just sitting on the toilet, and I got a new song. Anyway, Fat Eddie was a dreamer, man. He was always talking about ways to make money fast, but when he paid for his blow-jobs it was always quarters and dimes, you know what I mean...?
Fat Eddie, he sometimes hung out with a street-kid named Bonesy. Everybody called him Bones because he was so skinny, skinny in that Jersey-Nothing-Left-To-Lose way, right? Well, Bonesy, he always had a bad cough. He had pneumonia bad as a kid, and now he chain-smoked those Marlboro Reds...
Well, one day the cops pick up Bonesy, they got him for stealing a car. It's Jersey, right? You get with your friends, steal a car and head out on the highway to drink some beer and talk about the girls you'll never get to have. Fat Eddie, he scraped up the cash to bail out Bonesy, but by the time he had the money Bonesy had hung himself in his cell...
Some people say the guards gave him the shoelaces to hang himself, Jersey can be hard that way. So like I said, I was sitting on the toilet and this song came to me, 'Bonesy and Fat Eddie', I'm a-gonna play it for you now...
I am Laslo.
Yesterday most people rose to the defense of Linda Ronstadt despite her politics. People are much more unforgiving of Springsteen and his politics. Does sexism play any part of this?.......I repeat the comment I made yesterday. People with wounded souls become artists. In our era, the artists pin the blame for the pain of life and bad weather on bad decisions made by Republicans. If you want to enjoy any music outside of C&W (and even there it's touch and go), you just have to accept the fact that your favorite musician thinks you're some kind of trog or fascist.
If you want to enjoy any music outside of C&W (and even there it's touch and go), you just have to accept the fact that your favorite musician thinks you're some kind of trog or fascist.
It's best not to think of musicians as people at all. To know them is to hate them.
Laslo, you're on fire today. Well done, mate. Very well done indeed.
Bruce Springsteen on Broadway...
Man, those Jersey days, sometimes I can't even believe I was that young. It was like just me and my guitar against the world, you know? And sometimes the world kicked the ass of a skinny Jersey punk like me...
I'd love to say I don't regret a thing, but then I think about Handshake Deke. Deke, he was always on the make, shaking hands and stealing wallets, real Jersey...
Well, one day Handshake Deke paid me to let him fuck me in the ass. What can I say, I needed the money bad, my guitar was in the pawn shop. Without my guitar I'm nowhere, you know...?
Well, Deke fucks me in the ass and then gives me my money, and I go down to the pawn shop, only Pawnshop Pete tells me it's not twenty dollars to get my guitar back, now it's twenty-five...
Five more bucks? Five bucks back then was like fifty, and fifty was like a hundred, you know what I mean...
So Pawnshop Pete says I can't give you your guitar, but I'll let you have a tambourine for twenty bucks. What can I say, I took the tambourine...
You know how hard it is, writing songs on tambourine? I tried, man: I tried. But that damn tambourine, it wasn't me, you know...?
Anyway, I'm at my shitty little apartment thinking about my shitty little life, when Handshake Deke shows up at the door. And -- guess what -- he's holding my guitar. What can I say? I let him fuck me in the ass again, and the guitar was mine...
Now, I was talking about regret, right? And I don't regret letting Handshake Deke fuck me in the ass -- it was about a guitar, right? But I DO regret pawning that guitar in the first place, that's what I regret.
So anyway, here's a song I'm a-gonna play for you: it's called 'Handshake Deke and the Tambourine'...
I am Laslo.
"Movements should be smooth, quick and pain free... When you have fully evacuated you should experience a sense of elimination 'euphoria' and finish with a smile on your face."
Man, I did that once, in the desert, behind a cactus, while primitive camping. And then I buried it. Food for thought.
"You should read this new Daily Mail article"
LOL -- no thanks. But I definitely heard that iteration of "strain" in your original post.
This thread is making me laugh. Lots of laughs. After the week I've had, that's a really great thing.
donald:
I share your opinion on Chris Hillman's greatness. He is brilliant, a gifted artist. His animosity towards Parsons is really anger at Parsons for the latter wasting his life and talent. Hillman is a very intense guy (I mean that in a good way) and very intense about music (also in a good way). He felt that Parsons was gifted and was disappointed that he threw it all away for drugs. I know this for a fact, because Hillman told me.
Laslo's theme for today is a bunch of fucking assholes fucking assholes.
Springsteen did much the same thing in 2003, touring small theaters solo acoustic, telling the stories behind songs like VH-1's Behind the Music.
My favorite story of his went, "I love Manfred Mann... but it's "deuce, deuce!"
The problem was that Springsteen arrived right after rock and roll died.
Now he's charging beaucoup dinero for tickets, and probably uses a f'n cane...
Need I point out the hypocrisy of a multi-millionaire like Bruce claiming to “represent” the poor and working class?
A guy who never had a job in his life that didn't involve a guitar pick.
Laslo seems to catch the rhythms, if not the message, of Springsteen's little heartfelt homilies. This makes me suspect that Laslo was at one time or maybe still is a Springsteen fan......I liked Sprinsteen's music, but those earnest little intros to his songs less so.
The case for Bruce Springsteen (the artist, not the performer or hacktivist):
"Blinded by the Light"
"Spirit in the Night"
"Kitty's Back"
"Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"
"Backstreets"
"Adam Raised a Cain"
"Point Blank"
"Fire"
"Open All Night"
"I'm on Fire"
“One Step Up”
Oh, I know Roughcoat. Here's the thing, my wife and my absolute best buddy in life drank themselves to death. They completely disintegrated. I still struggle a whole lot, and well, I lost a whole helluva lot more than Chris and I forgive them. Whenever I think of them I remember just how fucking awesome they were. I want (Don't expect) him to let it go. He's better than that. He's old, he's brilliant, and last night he was incandescent. God that was incredible.
Every one of those songs suck. They don't just suck, they're putrid.
The case for Bruce Springsteen (the performer, arranger, and bandleader):
“O Mary Don't You Weep”
Fail.
Need I point out the hypocrisy of a multi-millionaire like Bruce claiming to “represent” the poor and working class?
No, that's highly appropriated because Bruce doesn't sing about real working class people. He sings about the sort of hopeless, trapped working class victims that the Left has a fetish for.
If he sang about real working class people he'd be doing Country Music. And we know what the Left thinks of that!
Springsteen is all about striving and straining. His workmanlike effort is what he's most praised for by fans and critics alike. It's true he strives to sing notes outside his range, and strains his throat to try to reach them, and it strains my ears. It hurst just to look at the effort shown on his face.
True, he has sung within his range, especially on a few mellower tunes, and they're not bad, but I'm not a fan. And if you have to TELL a story to SELL a song, I'm not buying it.
I like "Thunder Road" and "Girls in their Summer Dresses."
The future of rock and roll has always been Broadway show tunes.
"Wayne Newton by the way is incredible. Never woulda thought it till I was in Begas and my late wife dragged me to a show."
LOL. i had a somewhat similar experience. wasn't my wife - she only cares for Chinese opera - but i went with relatives to a Newton show around 2003. I thought, OMG, wayne newton..really?
And he was fantastic. He's 10x better in person. I'm mean its not like I'd buy a CD or anything, but he's not joke he's made out to be.
As for Springsteen, large numbers number of conservatives think "Born in the USA" is patriotic song. LOL. Does anyone listen to Rock and roll lyrics?
Because I'm not that way, I'm always astounded at how "touched" people are with music and singers.
Gov. Christie actually cried when "The Boss" agreed to meet him and talk for a few minutes. I mean, this is a grown man who's in charge of a Fucking State!
Every month I go into the local library and every time there's more and more bios about Singers and rock 'n roll bands, and fewer and fewer bios of Writers, Intellectuals and Sports Stars.
Dude's (Newton) got one helluva personality.
And...He hires truly top notch talent and let's em roll baby.
"One of life's most over-valued pleasures is sexual intercourse; of one of life's least appreciated pleasures is defecation."
----Mark Twain
"We think that, after Ray Davies, you're the most literate rock songwriter" ... Lou Reed (Live! Take No Prisoners, how the song Walk on the Wild Side got written)
... "I'm the best choice to write about cripples? Ya gotta be kidding me ... hey, cripple cripple ..."
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