Has Bruce Been Listening To New Order?

Maybe I'm crazy, but listening to Springsteen's latest We Take Care of Our Own, I kept hearing the chorus of New Order's Love Vigilantes.

Bruce, Neil & Jimmy Do Willow

whip my hair bruce springsteen & jimmy fallon as neil young
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Willow Smith's song is mainstream.   Jimmy Fallon as Neil Young is joined by Bruce Springsteen for their rendition of Whip My Hair.  

The Boss Divulging All?

The NY Post seems to think so. The Post claims that Bruce Springsteen is quietly working on his autobiography and kept voluminous journals throughout his career.

Celebrity Playlist Podcasts

I usually check out the celebrity playlists on the weekly iTunes email. Today I finally discovered a celebrity playlist podcast. I listened to two and they are short and informative insights into a musicians head. This week Keith Urban shares 10 of his favorite songs. In all 10 choices, songwriting played a big part in the appeal of the song. He also cites lyrics. Lyricists are some of the most underrated professionals. Everyone knows Burt Bacharach, but how many people know he had a lyricist/writing partner name Hal David?

Keith on the songs:

God Only Knows-The Beach Boys "Shines as an original way to say I love you." He always loved the bands harmonies, but as he got older he really appreciated the songwriting.

Joelen-Dolly Parton Rhythmatically there is great stuff going on in this song. "The story is fabulous. It's a really hypnotic track."

Bohemian Rhapsody-Queen. "It continues to be mind blowing. A masterpiece."

Nothing Compares 2 U-Prince "He's a genius." Regarding his live show: "You see him and you're like that's what great is." The Song: It's haunting. It gets under my skin."

Jamey Johnson-The High Cost of Living "The Lyrics are not watered down." It reminds him of the rawness he heard in Waylon Jennings records.

Secret Garden-Bruce Springsteen "One of the last great romantics. He has a great way of describing a woman."


Tom Jones' list is more about the music he discovered early on in his career and how some of it developed into relationships with other musicians. Midnight Hour by Wilson Picket and Dance to the Music by Sly and the Family Stone are two songs he heard on his first trip to NY. He brought Dance to his producer as he loved the sound of that record. He and Stevie Wonder did a duet of Superstition on his TV. Dusty Springfield also performed with him on TV and he lists her classic Son of a Preacher Man.

Most of these podcasts are less than 15 minutes. There are snippets of the song choices interspersed in the interview. It's worth a few minutes each week to get a glimpse into what makes musicians tick.

Springsteen Super Bowl Show

At one point I thought I was hearing echo/reverb in the stadium during Glory Days. It was actually the crowd singing along. The song closed a rousing set of music, complete with pyrotechnics, precisely choreographed to the music. A choir added to the spectacular of Working on A Dream, kept short and sweet. Choirs are the accessory of choice for singers these days. Faith Hill was backed by one for her rendition of America the Beautiful, which preceded a visibly nervous Jennifer Hudson performing the National Anthem. The Boss opened with Tenth Avenue Freeze Out and without missing a beat, segued into Born To Run. Although Bruce is not a football fan, (at the Super Bowl press conference he said if you are going to ask me football questions, this will be a short conference) football fans are Bruce fans. The crowd was enjoying every moment and they looked like football fans. Thank God it was not another one of those crowds brought in by central casting. The excitement of The Steelers; James Harrison's 100 yard return for a touchdown to close the second half had the crowd going. Springsteen kept the momentum going.

We Are One: Concert at the Lincoln Memorial

Singing in 20 degree weather can't be easy. Yesterday musicians paid tribute to Barack Obama by performing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It's a dramatic and inspiring backdrop. Many of the songs were performed with a choir. Springsteen with acoustic guitar and choir behind him delivered a poignant version of The Rising. John Mellencamp and choir belted out a rousing version of Pink Houses. The only full band performance came from U2. They paid tribute to Martin Luther King Jr with In The Name of Love and followed it up with City Of Blinding Lights.

The ladies really rocked the show. They out rocked the guys.

1. Mary J Blige's cover of Lean On Me took on steam as the song progressed.
   
2. Renee Fleming powerfully interpreted Roger's and Hammerstein's You'll Never Walk Alone.
3. I was very exited to see Heather Headley perform with Josh Grobman. She has one of the best voices and she hadn't been on my radar lately. Their duet was a beautiful interpretation of My Country Tis of Thee.
4. Bettye LaVette proves that she just keeps getting better. She blew me away with her rendition of Love Reign O’er Me at the Kennedy Center Honors last month and continued to do so yesterday with her performance of A Change Is Gonna Come. Jon Bon Jovi sang with her.
5. Beyonce closed the show with America The Beautiful with the days performers joining her on stage for the last verse.
   

With the exception of U2, it was a celebration of the music of this country, although the lone jazz artist represented was Herbie Hancock. HBO is running it online, watch it. The performers were there because they wanted to be and the passion and pride were evident on every one of their faces. It's good to be an American.

New Year's with Springsteen

Happy New Year. I haven't spent very many New Year Eve's listening to live music. As an intern at MTV, I had to work the New Year's Rocking Eves which wound up being a lot of fun. When I was in college, my friend Dino was obsessed with Bruce Springsteen. He must have told me a hundred times that seeing Springsteen live would change my life. I went to school at Fordham in the Bronx. It seemed like every mixer ended with guys jumping in the air to Rosalita. FU was Boss Town.

Dino got tickets for The River tour, which landed at the Nassau Coliseum on New Year's Eve 1980. I have a great memory of Bruce singing In The Midnight Hour, the Wilson Pickett song. I've since seen Springsteen several times: Giant Stadium, Shea Stadium, The Garden, etc. He is a performer! He plays for his audience and he plays for himself. If he doesn't love his job, he is the greatest actor.

Springsteen's latest musical offerings have been downright good. Magic is a great album filled with great songs. His latest single, Working On A Dream is another great song. Lately it's hard to find great songs, so I don't use the term lightly. When In the Midnight Hour was a hit, (much to my surprise it peaked at only #21 in August of '65) great songs were all over radio. Just a sample of what would have been playing on WABC-AM: California Girls, Help!, We Gotta Get Out of This Place, Down in the Boondocks and For Your Love. It's a comfort to know that Bruce is writing songs that are as valid as the ones he played on that New Year's Eve in 1980.

Bruce Springsteen's Halloween Treat

Shore Fire Media sent me a link for Halloween.

A Note from Bruce:
A NIGHT WITH THE JERSEY DEVIL
Dear Friends and Fans,
If you grew up in central or south Jersey, you grew up with the "Jersey Devil." Here's a little musical Halloween treat. Have fun!




You can download the MP3 for free. The video is a bit creepy, which I'm guessing is the point. It starts off with The Boss emerging from water. It's dark, it looks like it's cold. He sings about witches and the devil. He wears a cross, looks angry and is a bit scary. He makes his point. In the final seconds of the video he submerges himself back in the water. Is it a baptism? Does this exorcise the devil?

Concerts of Note

PHISH: After a 4 year retirement, Phish is reuniting for 3 shows at the Hampton Coliseum March 6, March 7 and March 8, 2009.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: will perform Monday at an Eastern Michigan University rally for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Springsteen will play a free acoustic set and headline the rally at Oestrike Stadium on Eastern Michigan's campus.

Springsteen is also scheduled to perform Saturday at a Philadelphia rally and on Sunday at Ohio State University. Springsteen will team up with Billy Joel in a joint concert at an Obama campaign fundraiser in New York City on Oct. 16 at the Hammerstien Ballroom. It looks like ticket prices range from $500 to $10,000 if there are any to be had.

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