Springsteen’s seventh album was released in 1984, and it is his most successful album. What an album this is! There genuinely isn’t one bad track on here and it’s such a great listen. A lot of effort went into this album, as seventy songs were recorded and only twelve were selected for track listing. Most of these tracks have energy injected into them, and they make you feel like you don’t want to stop singing and dancing along to them. It features seven top ten hits, which is such a great achievement, and it speaks volumes of how great this album is. Majority of the tracks fall within the rock genre, with some singer-songwriter hits.
1. Born in the USA
Commencing the album is the self-titled album track, which many people believe to be about an I love America song, but the reality is it’s a Vietnam anti-war song. It was originally titled, ‘Vietnam Blues’ and was recorded as a downbeat acoustic track in 1982. Which is very different to the version we hear now, as Springsteen and the E Street Band recorded the rock version of it a few months later. It opens with a low synth note, before higher synth notes play a riff over the top. Meanwhile, the drum is hitting for two beats per bar. The progression of the lower notes builds suspense, and its simple sounds blended creating an ear pleasing listen. Then of course, the Boss’ vocals begin, with the initial line, “Born down in a dead man’s town”. A harsh/raspy effect can be heard on the vocals, which is just emphasising the emotion. An opening line which suggests he comes from a town where nothing is happening, there is no life and it’s a boring place to be. One of the catchiest choruses is this one, with the hook of, “Born in the USA” repeated in such a passionate tone. Throughout the track, it tells the story of a soldier being sent off to war, returning and struggling to find employment. It also explores the memories of fighting in Vietnam, and how the soldiers would fall in love with the local women. My favourite line from the first track is, “End up like a dog that’s been beat too much”.
Overall Rating — 10/10
2. Cover Me
Initially, Springsteen wrote this track with the intention of giving it to Donna Summer, but as it happened, he wanted to keep it for himself after he recorded a demo of it. It begins with a great bassline, with some rocky lead guitar coinciding. Verse one implies a struggle, as “Times are tough now, just getting tougher, this old world is rough, it’s just getting rougher”. “Well I’m looking for a lover who can come in and cover me”, is the final line of verse one, and the melody reminds me of ‘Psycho Killer’ by Talking Heads, when they sing, “Run, run, run, run, run, run, run away”. Anyhow, the hook that the guitar plays is so gripping, it plays around my head every time after I listen to this song. I interpret the lyrics in this song as the writer wanting to settle down and uses the door as a metaphor, saying that outside that door is a wild world full of single people, “trying to score”. He states how he wants the door to be bolted and he, “ain’t going out there no more”. The guitar is just the icing on the cake for me, in regard to this being a great tune. My favourite line has to be, “This whole world is out there just trying to score, I’ve seen enough; I don’t want to see anymore”.
Overall Rating — 10/10
3. Darlington County
When I first saw the track list for the album, this is one of the numbers that stood out to me, simply because there is an area called Darlington not too far off where I live, so I always find it interesting when there are places named the same in other countries. Anyways, getting back to the track itself, it’s very much a honky tonk track if I’ve ever heard one. Sometimes, when Springsteen plays this live, he will play ‘Honky Tonk Women’ before singing the first verse of ‘Darlington County’. And if you haven’t guessed from the first verse, the writer and his friend Wayne are driving into Darlington County. It definitely gives off feel good vibes, they’re excited for their road trip there, they’re going to look for work and to meet girls. Cleverly, the beat of the cowbell makes it sound like you’re there amongst workmen. It appears the writer and Wayne have luck on their side as they haven’t been stopped by any police, and it sounds like they’re having a great time blasting music in their car. Verse two shows how they’re trying to impress the women with their big city experience, saying that their, “Pa’s each own one of the world trade centres”. I love the feature of the saxophone in the instrumental, it adds a great flavour to such an upbeat track. As the song progresses, it appears the writer has lost Wayne, but then sees him in handcuffs facing onto a police car. My favourite line from this song is, “We drove down from New York City, where the girls are pretty, but they just want to know your name”.
Overall Rating — 10/10
4. Working on the Highway
Wow, what an incredible track! In terms of instrumental, it’s brilliant. First off, the upbeat rhythm that can be heard throughout is great, it’s near on impossible to not move with this track. Featuring call and response in the first verse, Springsteen sings a line, which is then responded with a clean, rocky guitar riff. Lyrically, it expresses the writers desire to move up in the world. As he has a tedious job, holding a red flag for traffic, he has plenty of thinking time, which seems to be spent thinking about a “pretty little miss”. Each line in the chorus begins with, “Working on the highway”, and then follows on with an activity he does at work. I love the instrumental after this section. Following on from the first verse, with the mention of a girl, in verse two he sees her at a local dance, where they make eye contact and will go on walks together. The bridge is a great switch up of the track, but it still fits perfectly. It suggests within the lyrics that the girls father disapproves of this relationship because he thinks she is too young. In the final verse, the writer is taken away in prison, for what I’m assuming is because of the age of the girl. My favourite line from this song is, “One day I looked straight at her and she looked straight back”.
Overall Rating — 10/10
5. Downbound Train
You can feel the decline in the tempo in comparison to track number four. However, the song is still catchy and has rock features within. A brilliant picking guitar riff begins the track, before the bass and drums fall in. Lyrically, it tells a depressing tale of a man who has started to lose things from his life. In the first verse, there is a steady beat, as the narrator reveals he lost his job and started to go through a bad time with his girlfriend. He now finds himself working at a carwash and feels like his life isn’t going to stop declining. Subtly, synth plays in the background, which I think is a great feature of this song and creates empathy, as well as the lyrics. Verse two is the confirmation of his girlfriend leaving him, “She just said, “Joe, I gotta go, we had it once, we ain’t got it anymore””. In the final verse, it feels like it’s just you and the singer because all instruments stop, except the synth. Now, the writer is starting to imagine his girl has come back. As he is explaining what I presume is a dream he had, the synth comes to a crescendo, an acoustic guitar is gently picking. Then eventually, the drums and bass return and all instruments are present for the outro. My favourite line from this track is, “and I feel like I’m a rider on a downbound train”.
Overall Rating — 9/10
6. I’m On Fire
I have already reviewed this track, featuring as a song of the day, which you can find further down my page. Therefore, I will keep this one brief. It’s a soft rock track, with a train drum groove, with a palm muted guitar picking pattern and keys. Lyrically, it suggests the writer backing his abilities as a lover in comparison to a girl’s current boyfriend. It’s evident that the writer feels so much for this girl, and it heavily attracted to her. My favourite line from this song is, “Sometimes it’s like someone took a knife baby edgy and dull, and cut a six-inch valley through the middle of my skull”.
Overall Rating — 10/10
7. No Surrender
Returning to an up-beat track is ‘No Surrender’. A kick drum count in begins this one, with the feature of backing vocals, an organ which gives it a bright sound, and a bass line which plays a continuous note before it fluctuates either up or down. Lyrically, it’s about what music, more specifically rock music, means to Springsteen, shown in the great line, “We learned more from a three-minute record, baby than we ever learned in school”. This is also a line that Taylor Swift went on to steal in one of her shows. In the chorus, it shows how friendships should always last because the writer and his friend made a promise that they’d always stick together. “Like soldiers in the winter’s night with a vow to defend” is in relation to the Vietnam war, just like track one. In verse, two, it progresses from them being friends in school to growing old and that the writer wants to stick to the promise of sticking together. My favourite line from tis song is, “I want to sleep beneath peaceful skies, in my lover’s bed with a wide-open country in my eyes”.
Overall Rating — 9/10
8. Bobby Jean
This track is considered a goodbye from Springsteen to guitarist to Steve Van Zandt, as he left the band. They’d been friends since they were kids, so the emotion in the vocals is touching. As well as the memories that he is reflecting on. The instrumental on this track is just brilliant, I love the bright and joyful sounds, but when you understand the lyrics, it almost feels bittersweet. Again, it’s another foot tapping track that lifts the spirits just that little bit. Then the lyrics contrast the sound of the music, as he discovered his friend has gone away and there was nothing, he could do about it. In verse two, he reflects on their friendship when they were younger, and you can feel the love and appreciation he has towards him. This is shown in the line, “Now you hung with me when all the others turned away, turned up their nose, we liked the same music, we liked the same bands, we liked the same clothes”. When the song reaches the bridge, the passion in the vocals hit that next level on the line, “Now we went walking in the rain”. The final verse is the imagination of his friend back on the road with another band and the hopes that he hears this song and knows that he is thinking of his friend. The melodies all throughout this track are amazing. My favourite line from this track is, “Now there ain’t nobody, nowhere, no how, gonna ever understand me the way you did”.
Overall Rating — 10/10
9. I’m Goin’ Down
A great acoustic riff plays over the top of some muted rocky sounding guitar riffs. Then, before long, the drums play, and a rocky riff takes over. Verse one gives off the sense that the writer is in the middle of an argument or breakup with his partner and the tension can be cut with a knife. I’m a fan of the line, “I go to put my arm around you, and you give me a look like I’m way out of bounds”. As the verse progresses, I get the impression that the subject of the song is over the writer, as she lets out a, “bored sigh”. Proceeding into the chorus, there is a heavy repetition of the word, “down”. This means that she is always putting him down in his place and being harsh for no reason. In verse two, it suggests that they’re trying to do things like going out to rebuild the bond and fix the relationship, but it just isn’t working as they come home early fighting. After the second chorus, there is a grand saxophone solo, which takes the track in a different direction and adds a great element to the song. By the third verse, it’s almost the elephant in the room with how the subject is feeling, as the writer knows that the kisses don’t feel the same anymore. The song ends with a long outro of, “I’m going down, down, down, down”. My favourite line from this song is, “But when we kiss, I can feel a doubt”.
Overall Rating — 9/10
10. Glory Days
A country rock riff opens the song and again, we have a high energy up-beat track. The opening riff on the guitar then becomes the bassline and it’s very catchy. In the first verse, it’s a true story about Springsteen’s friend from school and they coincidentally walked in and out of the bar at the same time. His friend then returned inside to have a catch up with Springsteen, where they reflected on, “Glory days”. This leads us into the chorus, which leaves the message of making the most of life as you’re living in it, because the good times will be gone before you know it. In verse two, the writer visits the girl from school who had the attention of all the boys. She wants to return to how life use to be, because she is separated from her partner and is a single parent. Verse three is laid back instrumentally, but the tension is rising as it builds up to the final chorus. In this verse, he is drinking to relive the memories of the glory days. My favourite line from this track is, “I think I’m going down the well tonight, and I’m gonna drink till I get my fill”.
Overall Rating — 9/10
11. Dancing in the Dark
An interesting story behind the creation of this story begins with the producer of the album, Jon Landau getting into an altercation with Springsteen, as he thought none of songs were guaranteed hits. This then frustratingly encouraged the Boss to write this track on the same night, so thank God for that conversation! A hooking synth riff launches this tune, with a groovy drumbeat. “I get up in the evening, and I ain’t got nothing to say, I come home in the morning, I go to bed feeling the same way”, is one of the greatest openings to a song ever! It suggests that nothing is changing in the writer’s life and he’s sick of feeling like nothing is going to change. Following on from the conversation he had with his producer, he cleverly came up with the line, “You can’t start a fire, you can’t start a fire without a spark”. It states that he can’t just go away and write a hit, because he needs inspiration for it. Ironically, the inspiration he got was the anger he felt after having that conversation. Verse two shows how he wants to change everything about himself and start a new life. “I check my look in the mirror, wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face” infers this. In the bridge, the song intensifies, as he is sick of watching his life pass him by. In the final chorus, I love the switch up of the lyrics, as this time they say, “You can’t start a fire, sitting around crying over a broken heart” and, “Worrying about your little world falling apart”. I think these lines are brilliant. This leads me onto my favourite line in the track, which is, “I sit around getting older, there’s a joke here somewhere and it’s on me”.
Overall Rating — 10/10
12. My Hometown
This was the final single from the seven that Springsteen released for this album, therefore it’s rather fitting that it’s the last track on the album. It’s a track that opens with synth and drums. Throughout the first verse, it has a downbeat tempo, especially when you compare it to other songs on this album. Lyrically, in the first verse, it explains the memories the narrator has driving with his father, as he would tell him to take in the scenery because it was his hometown. The song uplifts as we reach the second verse, which is contradicting as the lyrics explore serious events in history, such as the civil rights movement, and an incident where a car of white people killed two black people. There is a change in sound in the bridge, as there is an addition on an acoustic guitar. In this section it states how nobody wants to work or live here anymore. I think it’s fitting how the vocalist sounds in pain and distressed to what has happened to his hometown. The final verse completes a cycle from the first verse, as the writer is now telling his own son to look around at his hometown, as they plan to move away. My favourite line from this track is, “Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said, “Son, take a good look around, this is your hometown”.
Overall Rating — 9/10
Favourite Track — Track 4 — Working on the Highway
Favourite Line — “I think I’m going down the well tonight, and I’m gonna drink till I get my fill”.
