The 10 Greatest Springsteen Songs (Part 5)

continued from last post

9) Rosalita

I hesitated to put this on the list because I've never liked it as much as I'm supposed to. But what the hell, it does have one of my favorite Springsteen moments ever, and it's one of my favorite moments in all of rock and roll too. It's the bridge up through the whole third verse and I'll quote the whole fucking thing because I'm from the swamps of Jersey too. We're talking to a girl named Rosie;

Now I know your mama she don't like me 'cause I play in a rock and roll band
And I know your daddy he don't dig me but he never did understand
Papa lowered the boom, he locked you in your room
I'm comin' to lend a hand
I'm comin' to liberate you, confiscate you, I want to be your man
Someday we'll look back on this and it will all seem funny
But now you're sad, your mama's mad
And your papa says he knows that I don't have any money
Tell him this is last chance to get his daughter in a fine romance
Because the record company, Rosie, just gave me a big advance

My tires were slashed and I almost crashed but the Lord had mercy
My machine she's a dud, I'm stuck in the mud somewhere in the swamps of Jersey

Hold on tight, stay up all night 'cause Rosie I'm comin' on strong
By the time we meet the morning light I will hold you in my arms
I know a pretty little place in Southern California down San Diego way
There's a little cafe where they play guitars all night and day
You can hear them in the back room strummin'
So hold tight baby 'cause don't you know daddy's comin'

What more can you say. Rosie where'd you go.




10)Backstreets

He wrote too many songs that mean a lot to ever fit on just one list. What about Badlands, Tenth Avenue Freeze Out, So Young And In Love, The River, No Surrender...but "laying here in the dark you're like an angel on my chest" is a line I'm not willing to leave off this or any other list. What can you do? Terry left him on the backstreets when she said they'd always be together, and now she's back and Bruce looks her in the eyes and says, "You lied, didn't you? You lied". No, don't leave it off the list, take the song to heart instead. (I can't embed my favorite version of the song but I can link to it underneath the video here. It's from Winterland in '78, the classic song from the classic show).





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDctqRZq7pg


Epilogue) The Wrestler

I'll put this one on here too just because I just saw the movie and it's a hell of a fucking movie. And the song makes me like the movie more and the movie makes me like the song more too. (Except the "have you ever seen a one legged dog trying to make his way down the street" line. One legged dogs don't try to make their way down any streets. They just lay there. But he makes up for it with "Have you ever seen a one legged man trying to dance his way free" line, and yes I have, and here you go).