Another Boss Moment

Anthony C lent me his copy of the DVD Wings for Wheels - The Making of Born to Run. I watched it last week and was overwhelmed. In a good way...

Even though it brought back the 70s in less-than-glorious black and white video imagery, the music and attitude behind it came straight through. I grimaced at the thought of how much work went into that album. For instance, they worked on the song Born to Run for six months. I get antsy if I'm in the studio for less than six hours. Can't imagine what six months is like. And taking 14 hours to get a saxophone solo that worked - completely beyond my comprehension.

On the other hand, Bruce's single-mindedness and extraordinary devotion to the project inspired me greatly. Something I must have heard about along the line, but never registered. I take it as a challenge now!

Bruce said two things that touched me especially. He mentioned how he was running away from his hometown, yet at the same time writing songs about it gave him his identity. And now, apparently, he lives near there still. Secondly, he referred to the Born to Run effort as a kind of communion with his band, and that the record was sacramental, in a way.

Now THAT was something I'd never heard from a rock star before. A most interesting description, and one that might have been illustrated by some concert footage from 1973 that was included on the DVD.

One thing that always bothered me about Springsteen songs was that they were rather complex. I couldn't easily follow them musically. For example, if I were in a jam session, I would not be able to do any Springsteen songs, except for Glory Days, Cover Me, or Trapped. It would be a lot of work to learn some of his earlier, longer songs.

But watching the concert footage I was floored by how tightly the band played, and how Garry Tallent played a tuba in one song, not to mention the dynamics and drama, even though I had no idea what the songs were about.

I was drawn in.