Bruce Springsteen: Movie Nerd
“I still like to go out on a Saturday night and buy the popcorn and watch things explode, but when that becomes such a major part of the choices that you have, when you have 16 cinemas and 14 of them are playing almost exactly the same picture, you feel that something’s going wrong here. There’s an illusion of choice that’s out there, but it’s an illusion, it’s not real choice. I think that’s true in the political arena and in pop culture.”
 Bruce Springsteen
Opening scene: A quiet neighborhood. It’s late summer. Dusk. The lights have just come up. The camera glides in and pulls up short on the windshield of a Chevy revving its motor in front of a modest house. Somewhere in the suburbs of Jersey. A young hood  greasy hair, white shirt, busted-up blue jeans  sits impatiently behind the wheel. He looks up to the front door. Suddenly…
The screen door slams,
Mary’s dress waves
Like a vision she dances across
The porch as the radio plays…
If there is a rocker whose songs invoke the feel of cinema more moodily and triumphantly than Bruce Springsteen, The Shamus has never heard of him. Let’s face it: The Boss is a geek like us. A major movie nerd. Whoa, Thunder Road.
And in the songs that made his reputation, you can see and hear his love for everything from Robert Mitchum to John Ford, from Brando to Burt Reynolds, and especially for the darker, pulpy, brutal/romantic visions of film noir. Hell, the titles of his songs sound like a Warners box set: “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” “Thunder Road,” “Born To Run,” “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” “Incident on 57th Street,” “New York City Serenade,” “Kitty’s Back,” “Candy’s Room,” “Badlands.” Even The E Street Band sounds like a gang from “The Big Combo,” right down to the nicknames: The Boss, The Big Man, Miami Steve, Mighty Max.
Or as the Boss puts it himself on “Backstreetsâ€Â:
Remember all the movies, Terry
We’d go see
Trying to learn how to walk like the heroes
We thought we had to be.
With Springsteeen’s new disc, “Magic,†coming out Tuesday and being hailed as a return to the guitar god of his earlier albums, it’s a good time to look at the nexus of film and music in his work. I’ve got to admit: Springsteen’s music hasn’t grabbed me for years. But there was a time when he meant everything, and he put on the two greatest concerts I’ve ever seen. I’m sure I’ll buy “Magic,†even if, for me, the real magic is in the old stuff. So, it’s time for yet another Shamus List:
THE FIVE BEST BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN “FILM” SONGS
THE SONG: “Meeting Across The River”
THE ALBUM: “Born To Run”
THE MOVIE CONNECTION: It’s a film noir screenplay, all dialogue, disguised as a song. It’s the kind of screenplay a Shamus can appreciate. Call it “The Big Haul.” A bunch of mooks  The Narrator With No Name, his lapdog pal Eddie and Narrator’s wisecracking moll Cherry are on the skids, looking for one score to put them over the top and set them up for the sweet life. Cherry’s almost had it, and she’s gonna walk if things don’t get better. After all, they just hocked her freakin’ radio. But, man, don’t she understand that two grand’s practically sitting there waiting for them tonight? All they gotta do is play it cool, show some style and take a little meeting across the river. Burnished by Michael Brecker’s moody noir trumpet, this song is a three-minute movie. In my opinion, this is the best song Springsteen ever wrote.
THE MOVIE “DIALOGUE”: “We gotta stay cool tonight, Eddie/’Cause man, we got ourselves out on that line/And if we blow this one/They ain’t gonna be looking for just me this time.†That’s a whole episode of “The Sopranos” right there.
THE SONG: “Adam Raised A Cain”
THE ALBUM: “Darkness On The Edge Of Town”
THE MOVIE CONNECTION: Elia Kazan and James Dean meet a blaze of guitar blowback. “East of Eden†is namechecked here, as is the classic Biblical story of a burning hate/love between a father and son. When Springsteen talks of the daddy in pain walking “these empty rooms looking for something to blame,†your mind flashes on those dinner table scenes from the Kazan film, those overhead angled shots looking down on Raymond Massey, or Dean in the hallway of the whorehouse looking for his mama. White hot fury, baby. Springsteen never rocked more insistently  or screamed out his inner pain more urgently  than on this gem of the “Darkness†disc and another underrated Boss classic.
THE MOVIE “DIALOGUE”: “In the Bible, Cain slew Abel/And East of Eden, mama, he was cast/You’re born into this life paying/For the sins of somebody else’s past.”
THE SONG: “The Ghost of Tom Joad”
THE ALBUM: “The Ghost of Tom Joad”
THE MOVIE CONNECTION: Springsteen’s most direct movie lift, from John Ford’s classic “The Grapes of Wrath.†Springsteen said it was the movie, not the Steinbeck novel, that prompted this song that connects the Okie homeless of the ‘30s with the soup kitchen drifters of modern America. It’s a song with a quiet vale of sadness that seems to almost meld perfectly with the feeling you get from the campfire soliloquy of Henry Fonda’s character, Tom Joad.
THE MOVIE “DIALOGUE”: “Now Tom said Mom, wherever there’s a cop beatin’ a guy/Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries/Where there’s a fight against the blood and hatred in the air/Look for me mom I’ll be there.â€Â
THE SONG: “Nebraska”
THE ALBUM: “Nebraska”
THE MOVIE CONNECTION: This song is another movie, Terrence Malick’s “Badlands.†The opening lines of the song replicate the opening scene of the movie. Malick’s film, starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek as a bored, thrill-kill couple, as well as such movies as Ulu Grosbard’s brilliant “True Confessions†had a strong impact on this album and its songs. Springsteen specifically referred to the “stillness†you can find in those films, and it’s true. Watch the opening scene of “True Confessions†in the desert and you’ll see how Springsteen got it into the grooves of “Nebraska.â€Â
THE MOVIE “DIALOGUE”: “I saw her standin’ on her front lawn just a-twirlin’ her baton/Me and her went for a ride sir and 10 innocent people died.”
THE SONG: “Born to Run”
THE ALBUM: “Born To Run”
THE MOVIE CONNECTION: This is song as ‘50s teen alienation movie or biker movie, the ultimate “we gotta get out of this place if it’s the last thing we ever do†anthem. While “Thunder Road” has the same cinematic atmosphere and “It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City†namechecks Brando specifically, this is the real Brando song. Or a James Dean song. Or a “West Side Story†song. These rebels don’t have any cause but getting loose of the soul-deadening grind of a nowheresville town, to find out if revving engines can lead to mind-blowing sex and whether a mere kiss from the girl of your dreams can kill you
THE MOVIE “DIALOGUE”: “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.â€Â
Have you got a favorite Springsteen film song? Tell the Shamus.
(Cross posted at The Shamus’ office: badfortheglass.blogspot.com)
- Microscopic Pet Blog Combines Art, Science and Technology
- Reading with Lyrics
- A Partnership in Discovery
Add New Comment
Viewing 7 Comments
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Add New Comment
Trackbacks
(Trackback URL)
September 29, 2007 at 3:40 am
[...] Fatally*Yours wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt“I still like to go out on a Saturday night ...
September 29, 2007 at 9:24 am
[...] admin wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAll they gotta do is play it cool, show some ...