The Boss

Another recent musical conversion of mine involves Bruce Springsteen.

When his “Born to Run” single was current, and he hit the covers of Newsweek and Time, being hailed as “The Next Dylan”, my thoughts ran along the lines of, “Who cares?”

He didn’t strike me as being anyone to get excited over, and certainly not as great as The Beatles or Rolling Stones, who were my faves at the time.

I should also mention that the expression, “The Next Dylan”, meant nothing to me, as I never understood why Dylan was such a big deal in the first place. At least until I saw the recent PBS documentary about him. And even then, it was more of an intellectual understanding. He still doesn’t move me in the way he obviously did move millions of others. Perhaps I was born a few years too late?

Or maybe I just don’t get it ;-)

Back to Bruce. I do admit to having liked a few of his songs along the way, such as Jersey Girl, Trapped, Cover Me, Glory Days, & Hungry Heart. But, like Dylan, I never got the reason why he was SO popular.

About a year ago, I had an epiphany. PBS was doing one of their subscription drives, and happened to show a film of Bruce at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1975. For some reason, I watched it. The first thing that struck me was how motley Bruce and the E-Streeters looked. And then there was the beat that prevailed. Not the beat I like. A bit too hung-up for my taste.

But as I watched, I mysteriously began to enjoy the proceedings. It looked like they were having fun – no posturing, no attitude. Just watching Bruce tired me out. The guy was all over the place.

The effect outweighed my previous prejudices, and I think I finally “got it”.

I happily informed a longtime friend, who was probably the one most fully aware of my attitude toward Bruce, that I was now on board. He responded by sending me a copy of Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, which I now enjoy on a regular basis.