Still Figurin' Out Who I Think I Am

This one's about the E. Street Band.

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Today in the "Resurrection Jukebox" , "the 'big man' joined the band". Like any ol' kid in the early 80's, Bruce Springsteen was an idol because girls loved him and women adored him...plus he was what dads wanted to be and moms wanted to be with dudes like him. I'm guessin', at least...I have no insider info on this other than when I got my first tape player/recorder from my aunt, it was a Panasonic joint that sat across the table unlike a boom box, as if it were meant to be held up against a transistor radio in the earliest of forms of music piracy. And my first tapes were Rick Springfield cassettes because my mother confused him with Bruce Springsteen. Guess bein' a stay-at-home mom watchin' soap operas will lead you to that .

So for that reason you could say I took the long way around to Bruce (even if I eventually cobbled up enough allowance booty to allow myself to own a copy of Born In The U.S.A.)...landmark as it was, but I had no idea he was some kind of champion for the middle class. He was the spokesman for a generation before I knew what that meant or entailed. And before he was even thought of as that, he was rockin' bar band music for the people bustin' their asses day-in and day-out...I can only imagine that New Jersey workin' folks were like "fuggeddabouddit man...come to the E. Street Band gig tonight, where we'll drink our faces off over this".

I think I speak for so many children of Rust Belt cities and everyone who's ever gone to a quote-unquote classic rock bar with a band playing that we owe Bruce Springsteen at least a little bit of gratitude for our upbringing. If he wasn't "the voice of a generation", he was the voice of the generation that raised us...even if that generation's way of raising us wasn't the same as they were raised, and/or that way of raising kids was now outmoded by technology, television, layoffs, politics, or shitty and now unethical business practices. Bruce spoke (and still does) to the past, and righteousness, and unity among the "little people" who still get fucked over in small towns. He gives his fans their money's worth and then some at shows, and he still resonates among generations unlike some performers of his age, who are content with sucking on the teats of past success for a few extra bucks.

And like I said, I got into Bruce and his E. Street Band the long way. I worked <they don't merit the promotion> that pumped in the obligatory "shop here" muzak, and one of the songs on heavy rotation was "10th Avenue Freeze-Out".Of course, after time, it became a favorite...like, the day would be ok, but once that song came on, it'd make the day that much better when compared to all of the other shitty music I'd have to put up with for a paycheck before I got to listen to anything else in my personal collection.

Clarence Clemons was Bruce's sax player then, and was for a long, long-ass time. And like a true old-school "you were always my guy then, so you're always gonna be my guy" type of loyalist, he remained until he died. And then Bruce gave the sax job to Clemons' nephew Jake...keepin' the family in the biz/keepin' the business in the fam. Noble move that Bruce, even though...well, his personal business is none of mine.

So yeah...my favorite Bruce Springsteen and the E. Street Band number...

"When Scooter and the Big Man bust this city in half
with a Tenth Avenue freeze-out..."
Lyrics and interpretations.