Speaker 1: All right, everybody, welcome back to be Surely You Can't
Be Serious podcast. We are continuing with our series on
the summer of nineteen eighty four, and I was just
thinking about something interesting. In addition to all of those
incredible movies that we talked about last episode and all
those incredible songs that we talked about last episode, there
was also a big event going on involving the president
of the United States. It was the election year where
Ronald Reagan was running against Walter Monde.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I remember that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember it well. Yeah, And even though I
was eight or nine years old, it was fascinating to me.
And mister Reagan was one of those guys who completely
misunderstood the lyrics to the first song that we're going
to talk about.
Speaker 3: I know, I can't wait to dive into that story.
Speaker 1: He's famous for talking about this patriotism and George will
has this kind of famous quote that's also a misunderstanding
of it. And then Walter Mondale after Bruce was like
he's missed the point here. He was like, oh, so
Bruce supports me, and Bruce say, whoa tiger? Yeah, I'm
not back in either one of you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you know, for me, just on the summer
of nineteen eighty four, one of the big things the
Olympics in LA in summer of eighty four. We're huge,
Mary lou Reddin.
Speaker 1: We're in the star spangled banner on her tights, right, yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And you had what you had Bart Connor, and
you had Mitch Gaylord who shows up later in the
movie American Anthem. Yeah, you have Carl Lewis, Edwin, Moses,
Mary Decker who tripped and fell. She was like the
favorite in the American race. And she she and Zola
Bud I think is her name, they got their feet
tangled and she fell, and just the heartbreaking images of.
Speaker 1: Her like it, you know.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, So the Olympics in La.
Speaker 1: That that was an amazing year.
Speaker 3: Nineteen eighty four is an amazing year in the eighties.
Speaker 1: And you know what, an amazing album of that year
was born in the USA.
Speaker 3: Let's get into it track by track.
Speaker 1: Before we get going, I just want to point something out.
We have been talking to each other now for a
couple of years, face to face, and one of the
reasons that I can do that is because you don't
have nose hair. Have you been talking to people and like,
you can't even concentrate on what they're saying because of
their nose hair.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, they like tuck to you.
Speaker 1: It dangles, yes, it wiggles, it's it's a total distraction.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: And so let me let me say, if you are
one of those guys, we have a product that is
supporting the podcast that you need to check out. Is
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Speaker 3: It is an amazing product. It trims your nose hair.
It's not embarrassing. You just stick it up there. It
takes care of it.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna look at people and bother them, right,
And I'm one of those guys who's self conscious about
my nose hair. So somebody that you're gonna see me
and I'm gonna be like yanking them out and wincing
in pain, don't do that. There is a special thing
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yes it is.
Speaker 3: So it's very good around sensitive areas, if you know
what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: They have also an entire shavekit called the Ultra Smooth
Package package. You get the idea.
Speaker 3: So who doesn't want their package Ultrasmooth?
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get twenty percent off your order and free shipping.
Speaker 3: Whack it perfect.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 3: So the first song on the album is the title track,
Born in the USA.
Speaker 1: Listen to this drum beat, I'm telling you, Max Weinberg, Baby,
you've got Bruce who's been this, you know, sort of
folks sort of rock guy, and you've got a quick
piano followed by a synthesizer.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: That was another big thing in nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 3: A repeating yeah synthesizer.
Speaker 1: Okay, So this song was everywhere and you sent me
something that're like, hey, is this song hard to play?
And so I sat down, I'm like ding dong ding,
I'm like, okay, two chords, whole song, two chord and
then I played the melody. I'm like three notes. So
two chords, three note melody, and you have one of
the biggest hits of the decade.
Speaker 3: They got a hook and they wrote it all the
way for four minutes. You better like that hook if
you're going to like the song. Yeah, iconic song, yeah,
fist pumper, Yes, patriotic.
Speaker 1: No, No, I mean so, let me tell this story.
So you're born to run and you get born in
the USA. I always know, you know Jason Bourne in
the future. Now, anyway, he's got born to Run, which
is not a flattering song for New Jersey, right, yeah,
I mean this town will rip the skin from your back.
I mean it's not good right right, your back anyway.
And New Jersey completely misunderstanding the song, was like, hey,
we should make that like our state song. Dude, No,
that's this is not a flattering song. They're trying to
get out of this town, right, We've got to get
out of this town.
Speaker 3: So the US says New Jersey, hold my beer.
Speaker 1: Right, So if you think that this song is a
patriotic song, let's just listen to the lyrics real quick, Okay.
Born down in a dead man's town. The first kick
I took was when I hit the ground you end
up like a dog that's been beat down too much
till you spend half your life just covering up. That's
not flattering, yeah yeah, but it's this amazing thing where
he takes these grueling lyrics in the verse and then
puts them against this very patriotic sounding chorus.
Speaker 3: It's a fist bumper.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is a total fist bumper, which is interesting
because as the song goes on, this is a song
about a Vietnam Vet, right, I mean, he grew up poor,
he had to join the army in order to get
out of going to prison. They send him off to
a foreign land to kill the yellow Man. His brother
gets killed, he's all gone, and he's back and everybody's
kind of spitting on him like he's gotten nowhere to run,
nowhere to go. This is like the plot of First Blood. Yes,
out by the gas fires of the refinery, I'm ten
years burning down the road, nowhere to run to, got
nowhere to go. And so the idea of what was
happening with the Vets at this time, that you know,
they had gone and fought in the name of the USA,
and they come back and they're the people who are
waving the flag, and all patriotic are kind of forgetting
about the vets. They're treating them like crap. That's the
same thing that happens in the song. The chorus is
so loud and powerful, you completely lose the message of
the song. My first kick was when I hit the ground. Yeah.
Speaker 3: USA. So here's a part of Ronald Reagan's speech, right,
ron O'reagan his son. I heard him son talking about this.
Ronald Reagan had no idea who Bruce Springstein was right,
So he says in his speech, he said, America's future
rests in the thousand dreams inside your hearts. It rests
in the message of hope in songs. So many young
Americans admire New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen, and helping you
make those dreams come true is what this job of
mine is all about. Somebody asked him, what's your favorite
Bruce Springsteen song? Yes, and an aide stepped forward and
said his favorite song is Born to Run. And Johnny
Carson said, if you believe that I got a couple
of tickets to the mondel Ferraro inaugural ball.
Speaker 1: I might sell it.
Speaker 3: I thought that was funny. Yeah, So Born in the
USA is released October thirtieth of nineteen eighty four, so
the song reaches number nine on the Billboard Hot one
hundred and like we've done before, I wanted to know
what are the eight songs that are better than Born
in the USA at this time in nineteen eighty four
with all this cool stuff happening. Sure, okay, so here
they are. I was less than impressed. Like a virgin
Iconic Ages song number one, Yes All I Need by
Jack Wagner Cheesy crap. Okay, You're the Inspiration by Chicago.
It's on the make Out List of nineteen eighty four.
I Want to Know What Love Is by Foreigner. It's
on the make Out List of nineteen eighty four. Easy
Lover by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins.
Speaker 1: Ok.
Speaker 3: I like it, but Iconic eighties. I mean, you know
it's a catchy you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like, oh I remember those songs. Yeah.
Speaker 3: But What Run to You by Brian Adams, great song
off the Reckless album.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's my favorite song. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: Wild Boys by Duran Duran.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, I mean it's a good.
Speaker 3: Duran Duran song. We Belong by Pat Benattar. There you go,
that's where we are.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 3: I mean they're all good songs, but are they better
than Born in the USA?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 3: I don't know. I want to talk about the creation
of this song.
Speaker 1: Let's go okay to it.
Speaker 3: This is a nugget that blew me away.
Speaker 1: I love it, Okay. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So this song was written in nineteen eighty one as
the title for a film by Paul Schrader, and he
sent him the script for this movie that he wants
to make with Bruce Springsteen, called Born in the USA.
So Bruce Springsteen makes this song, writes this song, and
then the movie kind of flounders. And then by the
time that they're ready to make the movie, the song
has already lived its life and so he can't call
it Born in the USA anymore. And so they changed
the title and they changed the actors. This movie is
called Light of Day and it stars Michael J. Fox
and Joan Jett.
Speaker 1: Right. I think I watched some of that movie just
because it had Michael J. Fox in it back in
the mid eighties. Yeah, and couldn't finish it.
Speaker 3: I watched it like a year ago.
Speaker 1: This is depressing me.
Speaker 3: This is pressing.
Speaker 1: It's not a happy movie. Now, okay, so yes, that
is the creation of the song. And for a long
time this was just an acoustic song. It was just
him with an acoustic guitar singing, but it changes in
this amazing organic way. So they've been in the studio
recording ruling session, all of the members are worn out,
and they all go into the booth and then at
some point one of the band members goes back out.
I think it was Bruce, and he starts just playing
just the riff on the guitar, and then at that
point Max Weinberg is like, I think I got a
different idea here, and he walks out and he hits
that hard snare, hard snare, and like, okay, this is
making it sound a little different. And one by one
each of the members of the band come back into
the recording studio and they play it in a completely
different way. It's more like an anthem than like this
sad guitari folk song. And when they get done, they're like,
I think we just found something.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1: They played it one more time to see if they
still had it. Then they played it one more time
and that's what's on the record.
Speaker 3: That's incredible. Yeah, I love stories like this where the
song is just kind of birthed and it takes on
a life of its own aim becomes this rock eighties anthem. Yeah, wow,
I got a couple little nuggets for you.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 3: Patty LaBelle covered this song in nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's interesting.
Speaker 3: Also, you may remember Cheach Marina still Man. Oh yeah,
you're born in East la Well, let's see your green card.
Speaker 1: Huh green card.
Speaker 3: I'm from Eastill Laurel.
Speaker 1: And who's president.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: A parody of the song called Born in the East La.
Speaker 1: I forgot about that. That's awesome. Made it into a movie. Yeah, Yeah,
that's funny.
Speaker 3: Born. He's feeling one more quick nugget. This video was
directed by a guy named John Sales.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: He's a guy who wrote the Howling. He wrote Alligator
was kind of an eighties movie, and he directed eight
min out. So he's a guy who's done some things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, eight min out. Yeah, Okay, that does it for
Born in the USA. On the song number two cover.
Speaker 5: Me, So the beginning of the song blowing in sounds
like the fabulous Thunderbirds to me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I could go with that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, once again, you've got another song. About the guy
who's just been beaten down. Right, he has been beaten
down so much that all he's looking for is someplace
to hide where the person will cover him up.
Speaker 3: Yep, somebody. I need somebody to love me and cover me.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: This is the second single released July thirty first, nineteen
eighty four. This reached number seven on the Hot one Hunter. Okay,
we're still a little better than Born in the USA.
Speaker 1: That's crazy. That's crazy now, I mean this is a
good song, better than Born in the US.
Speaker 3: I know, I can't believe it. This song was written
for Donna Summer.
Speaker 1: I know, right. Can you imagine a disco version of
the song?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 3: No, Donna Summer is a great singer, but she is
a little bit more pop and definitely more disco, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: But John Landau listened to it and thought this sounds
like a hit. We might want to hang onto this one,
so they gave her the song called Protection instead.
Speaker 1: This was one of the songs that was recorded at
the Hit Factory, Yes, which several of the songs were
recorded at. And it's simple, it's a more emotional song.
Speaker 3: So yeah, this song is a good song.
Speaker 1: I like it.
Speaker 3: It's upbeat, even though the lyrics are kind of like depressing,
but this is a toe tapper. This is a great
concert song.
Speaker 1: Again, listen to those drums, listen to how the music
plays against the meaning of the lyrics, and you've got
this magical combination on almost all of these songs.
Speaker 3: It's crazy.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: No music video for this song. Yeah, that's interesting, which
is kind of weird. And it's still made it to
number seven. Yeah, wow, great song like it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it all right? Song number three Darlington County.
All right, I got a FEVA and the only prescription
is book cow Bell. I know right.
Speaker 3: That Cowboll is very prominent in this song.
Speaker 1: I give it up Max.
Speaker 3: So the first time I heard this, I thought, and
that sounds a lot like Honkey Tnk Woman by the
Rolling Stones.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, very yeah, similar intro.
Speaker 3: Yes, And as I did my research, I found out
that in concerts he would play the first few bars
of Honckey Tonk Woman and blends right into this song
on my and on.
Speaker 1: The back awesome way to go you thank you.
Speaker 3: This could have easily been a single.
Speaker 1: It's one of my favorites on the album Great Solvent
Great Yeah.
Speaker 3: Lyrically This is about a guy driving to Darlington County, Towork.
Speaker 1: People of Lucas. There you go look for work, Yeah,
I would say, looking to get laid. Okay, we're just
going down there to try to pick up some chicks.
Speaker 5: Man.
Speaker 1: Sometimes that's work. It's Southwest work.
Speaker 3: Darlington County is in South Carolina.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're they're going to go down and talk to
the girls about being these big New York City boys
even though they're just a couple of Pelucas, and try
to get them to, you know, come over here and
sit down, like get radio with me in my car.
Speaker 3: Sounds good to be. A guy named Jeff Stevens and
the Bullets took the cover version to number sixty nine
on the Hot Country Songs in nineteen eighty seven.
Speaker 1: It's got a very country feel too, except that the
guys are talking about being from the city.
Speaker 3: Yes, one more quick thing on this song before we
move on. Springsteen originally wrote this song in nineteen seventy
eight for the album Darkness on the Edge of Town. Okay,
it didn't make the cut. He reworked it re recorded
in nineteen eighty two. Yeah, and here we have it.
In nineteen eighty four, awesome, fantastic. Okay, moving on to
a song called.
Speaker 1: Working on the Highway.
Speaker 6: Gonnare week on the bird Okay, this one is screaming
bo deadly at me once again.
Speaker 1: It's a guy who's screwed up his life.
Speaker 3: More depressing lyrics.
Speaker 1: The music is so good, it's catchy. It's got that
nineteen fifties early sixties absolutely pop rock song sound about it.
Speaker 3: But it sounds like summertime blues to me.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so you've got this guy, he's talking about everybody's
getting off of work, talking about getting hurt on the weekend,
and you know these you know, some guys are going
to go drink and some guys are going to go
look for a fight and all this stuff. And then
about what he's going to do. And he's got this
because he's holding his flag working on the highway. He's
got this girl on his mind.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 1: So the people that I've heard talk about this, they
seem to think like he's working on the highway, he
meets up with his underage girl, gets in trouble, ends
up in the penitentiary, and is working on the highway
for the penitentiary. Yeah, I think it's already happened. Like
I think at the beginning of the song, Rus is
throwing you off with the lyrics about what the other
guys are going to do with their weekends. I think
this guy is already a penitentiary inmate because he did this,
and that's why the girl is on his mind, because
he mentions it in the first first But the idea
of the song either way is this guy decided to
fall in love with the girl who was too young.
He talks to her dad does an honorable thing, and
her daddy says, don't you know, she's just a girl,
and then he takes her down to Florida. You're all
the right back there for a second. He took hard left. Yeah, yeah,
and so yeah, brothers show up with cops and it's
off to the penitentiary with him and he's just working.
Speaker 3: On that, working on the highway.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: This song was originally called child Bride.
Speaker 1: Yeah, working on the Highways A better time?
Speaker 3: Yes, how about that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, because nobody it's hard to understand what Bruce says, right,
I know. And this, by the way, I listened to
several of the songs off of some of the other albums,
and his very first album the Greetings from Asbrey Park.
The first single off of that album was blinded by
the Light, and I was like, did he cover? He
do a cover as his very first sing No, Bruce
Springsteen was the guy who wrote blinded by the Light.
No idea. I thought manford Man was the original. Yeah, yeah, No,
I didn't come along until seventy six. I was like, what,
but this is the rare circumstance where I can understand
Bruce better than I can understand what the banford Man did.
I mean, there was all kinds of misunderstood lyrics whenever
it was listening to the Manfred Man Goose was not
deuce right, not wrapped up like a dude? Not yes
that's right, you got it. Okay.
Speaker 3: So anyway, working on the Highway catchy song, another fun song. Yeah,
moving on song number five. This song is called down
Bound Train. Dude. That's the rolling Stones right there.
Speaker 1: Oh so strong. The stones are strong with this one.
And wait for it, here it is. Max Cummins comes
in with that snare I'm telling you, yeah, I'm telling
you except for that. Now this song, this song, the
music matches the sadness of the words and the song
right oh, my gosh downbound train like the guy's like.
Life was pretty good. And then the factory shut down
and my wife left me. And then I had a
dream that she was calling me back, and I walked
into a dark, empty room. Okay, I'm gonna go kill myself.
What Bruce, come on, man, find some happy, find you happy,
plays Brown.
Speaker 3: There's an author called Debbie Bull. She called the saddest
song ever written.
Speaker 1: It is. Yes, he did not bring the happy, Happy,
go lucky music along with his sad song so you
Got Sad music?
Speaker 3: Sad song at the end of the Nebraska Sessions. Yes,
it was recorded with Working on the Highway and they
called it the Electric Nebraska Sessions.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, okay, this one I still like. Uh so
far we've we've gotten. I've liked every single song on
this say, They're all good. I mean, even if it
does make me suicidal, it's still it hits a nerve
that sometimes you got to hit. Sometimes songs are supposed
to make you feel sad. Yeah, that's why they call
it the Blips, and that's why they call it the
No Not that well John, right, John Again, what he
seems to do on this album to me is put
songs on each end of each side that are like
his tent pole songs like these are the best songs
on the album. Let's put them on each end, okay,
which brings us to the song number six, I'm on Fire.
Speaker 3: This starts off. I like it right away. It's a hit.
You can hear it in my ears immediately.
Speaker 1: I'm all the way and this is beautiful, beautiful song.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: This was the fourth single released February sixth, nineteen eighty five.
It reached number six. Wow, another top ten hit.
Speaker 1: Yeah four single. Yeah, so this song number one? When
we get that, Hey, little girl, is your daddy home?
I really hope when he says daddy he means boyfriend,
because if he actually means daddy, this is super gross.
So I'm gonna assume boyfriend. But then, as I'm as
I'm listening to these lyrics, this is the song of
a crazy man, Like this is the song of someone
who is disturbed and has a fire that is not
an appropriate fire, right, Hey, little girl, is your daddy home?
Did he go and leave you all alone? I got
a bad desire? Oh, I'm on fire. He's struggling with
some demons here, right, and he brings that home with
the last part of the song, which I mean the
lyrics on this song I think may be the most poetic.
And we're talking about huge poetry on every single song here.
But sometimes it's like someone took a knife, Baby Edgy
and Doll and cut a six inch valley through the
middle of my skull. At night, I wake up with
the sheets soaking wet and a freight train running through
the middle of my head. Only you can cool my desire.
Oh oh, I'm on fire. Wow. It's so powerful and
so creepy and so beautiful and haunting and amazing and
two minutes and thirty seconds long.
Speaker 3: All right. This video was filmed in March of nineteen
eighty five, okay, which is the same month that Huey
listened the news filmed Bad Is Bad?
Speaker 1: Oh okay, we're the film in the same place.
Speaker 3: Both in New York, one in La one in San Francisco.
Speaker 1: It's a long ways apart. By the way, twos Oklahoma
boys are like oh right next door. Both the gelp
like a seven hour.
Speaker 3: Directed again by John Sales.
Speaker 1: Uh huh.
Speaker 3: This video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best
Male Video. Yeah, okay, so the video is Bruce is
a mechanic and this fantasy woman comes in. We never
see her face.
Speaker 1: Turned nails as he gave at them, stroking the side
of the car he's working on.
Speaker 3: I don't know if it's implying if the she is
she a real person or is he just like fantasizing
about her or what? Is she just unattainable? But it's
kind of like the dark version of Billy Joel's Uptown
Girl video Hang on hand, I Got something for you
on this?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 3: You ready for this?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 3: The B side to the single I'm on Fire Yes,
is a song called Johnny Bye Bye written by It's
like fused from Chuck Berry. A Chuck Berry song. Okay, Okay,
so he had written parts of it and Springsteen took
those parts and kind of made a song out of it.
Speaker 1: But this was.
Speaker 3: Written just before Chuck Berry went to jail for three
years for violating the Man Act of nineteen sixty two.
Speaker 1: That's ironic, how about that? Given my interpretation?
Speaker 3: Seriously? Yeah, and for those who don't know what the
Man Act of nineteen sixty two is, that is transporting
women across side state lines for immoral purposes.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: Whoa, he's on fire.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's see what Johnny Byebox sounds like.
Speaker 4: With the Red song.
Speaker 3: It's the party and nine down on them This time
I'll be going down Ariunit D come man on the radius.
All right, So just one little tidbit on this song. Yes, okay,
Bruce Springsteen and his pianist Roy Baton and his drummer
Max Weinberg are sitting around the first version of this
song was just the three of them because everybody else
was taking a leak or on break or whatever.
Speaker 1: Right, smoke him if you got that's right, that's it.
Speaker 3: That's it.
Speaker 1: Okay. So Roy Baton has come up before. Do you
remember his nickname is the Professor. Yeah, he was one
of the handful of guys that bon Jovi got to
help him record run Away. So go check out our
bon Jovi. Yes, there you go.
Speaker 3: It's the part one of the slipperwin wet New Jersey
Battle of bon Jovi. All right, time to hit stop
on you tape player, kick it out and flip it
over side too. First song, No Surrender, kicking it.
Speaker 1: Off, strong piano, sounding like the old fifties song you
Got the Harmonies Coming in here, I'm already loving it.
I'm telling you about temp pole on each side. This
is a great song.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, this is a feel good song.
Speaker 1: Yeah wait, what a positive I know, a positive sounding
and positive lyrics song. What is it doing on this alum?
Speaker 3: I know, I know. This is a great song. This
reminds me kind of a bon Jovie. I mean, it's
a feel good working man camaraderie.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're in this together and we're not giving up.
Speaker 3: See it through being on a prayer.
Speaker 1: Okay. I really feel like this is something that probably
he had with his bandmates where he was like that
they had to say to themselves because I mean, just
keep keep in mind, his first album came out in
seventy three. This is eleven years later. Born to Run.
Had so much hope and he's built up all of
this fan base, but he's not really had a commercial
success and so he has to rally the troops. Right. Yeah, yeah, guys,
we were in this together. No Retreat, No Surrender.
Speaker 3: This song almost didn't make the album.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 3: This was the last song in Wow. It was only
at the insistence of Stephen van Zane. He had left
the band, but it was still friends with everybody. Yeah,
he was pursuing his solo career yep. And when he listened,
he's like, guys, we got it. I mean, this is
a great song. You got to include this one. This
song was originally titled Brothers under the Bridges.
Speaker 1: Uh huh?
Speaker 3: And quickly have you ever seen the Jung Claude van
Dam movie called No Retreat, No Surrender?
Speaker 1: I have never No, I have not seen that.
Speaker 3: Okay, not a great movie. He's the bad guy, but
the movie title comes from this song.
Speaker 1: Okay, is it about a band who's blood Brothers Underneath
the Stormy Night?
Speaker 3: No, it's Karate Oh.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, song number I don't know, number two on
side two, Number.
Speaker 3: Two on side two. This song is called Bobby Jean.
Speaker 1: So this song is about the loss. I can't tell
if it's a friend or a lover or a friend
that he wanted to be a lover right like they
were obviously close growing up. And she leaves without notice. Yeah,
and he's just hoping that maybe someone out there she'll
hear this song on the radio and know it's better.
I'm not sure it's a sheet it could be he Yeah,
that's true, I mean true.
Speaker 3: Bobby Jean could be a male or female, true, and
it's never really specified in the song. Some people think
it's it's like, you know, Steven van z Aunt leaving
the band and oh man, good luck to you, will
miss you, that.
Speaker 1: Type of thing. It's Billy Jean's sister.
Speaker 3: I don't think it's Billy Jeen's sister. This song was
not released as a single, but it did make it
to number thirty six on the mainstream rock charts.
Speaker 1: Wow, all right, good song.
Speaker 3: It doesn't get me real fired up?
Speaker 1: No, this is I would say, probably my least favorite
song on the album. I won't call it a skipper.
I would just say, if you get to lose one
on the album, this one's probably it. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Have you seen the live performance when Eddie Vedder from
Pearl Jam comes on stage and they sing this together?
Speaker 1: No but I must there you go. Wow, that will
be fantastic.
Speaker 3: Done with Bobby Jean. We're now moving on to the
sixth single, released August twenty seventh, nineteen eighty five. This
song is called and Going Down.
Speaker 1: I want that nasty guitar, all right, bring it in,
max Y.
Speaker 3: Call side why I can't feel it?
Speaker 1: Dot comment?
Speaker 4: I going up look.
Speaker 1: Give me your little back.
Speaker 4: I'm way up. I'm you let out, wanna your mood
side where little where? I'm looking to you, guys, I'm going.
Speaker 1: I love this song. This is a guy who's had
enough of her crap. Amen bro, tired of your crown,
used to love on me, and now you just beat
me down like a dog.
Speaker 3: This song reached number nine on the US Hot one hundred.
Another top ten hit.
Speaker 1: So how many is that?
Speaker 3: That's the fifth one that we've talked about. That's five
top ten hits and we haven't even gotten a few songs.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, Okay, little repetitive this song. I love it,
but a little bit repetitive for me.
Speaker 3: It's catchy, it's I Yeah, it's it's it's andy.
Speaker 1: It is a good it's a good song.
Speaker 3: I'm done with this one.
Speaker 1: Moving on to song number ten on the album, assibly
my favorite song on the album.
Speaker 3: This song is called Glory Days.
Speaker 4: Where and.
Speaker 1: Song the punch. I love the guitar. I want to go.
I want to go get a board and a baseball glove,
and I want to go pitch a little bit on
the mound. And I was never a pitcher in high school.
Speaker 3: Let's go get a bucket of balls and some pine
tire and let's get out there.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, this one is. It's iconic. It is amazing.
Speaker 4: I'm all want to go down to.
Speaker 3: Me.
Speaker 1: If you say Bruce Springsteen, this is where my head
goes immediately.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I'm totally with you.
Speaker 1: Understand every word he says in the song belly Yes,
and it's it's a it is a feeling that I
can understand as well, you know, like I mean this
when we're here, right, nostalgia Like these people unfortunately, it's
kind of that idea that the best days that they
ever had were their high school days, right, and they're
stuck there, right, They're just stuck in trying to relive
those days. But you know what, that's okay, that's kind
of what we're doing here.
Speaker 3: Hey, well that's we are having a blast talking about I.
Speaker 1: Love talking about the glory a little of the glory.
So that's right.
Speaker 3: So this song was the fifth single released May nineteen
eighty five. So this reached number five, Yeah, and the
just hot one hundred. Yeah, I'm spiking the football. This
is my favorite Bruce Springsteen.
Speaker 1: Song of all times.
Speaker 3: Come Gone Down, Yes, love it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I have no I won't fault you.
This is probably up until we did this podcast, this
was my number one.
Speaker 3: So this was actually based on a true story. Bruce
Springstey and this guy named Joe Depew were classmates and teammates,
like little league teammates, right, And this guy, Joe Apeugh
was a really good player. And one day he's walking
into a bar. Joe Depeugh is walking out and he says, hey, Joe,
how's it going, man? And they turn back around, they
go back in, they sit down and have a big,
long conversation about the glorious right, which I thought was
really cool. And this is his quote on this right.
He said, the first verse actually happened, the second verse
mostly happened, and the third verse, of course, is happening. Right, beautiful, right, nice, fantastic.
Here's the cool thing about this. I ran the sound
system for the baseball team this year. Okay, at my
son's high school baseball games. Played it. It's still killed.
People are loving it.
Speaker 1: I mean so good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was so good. Here's the interesting thing the video.
Stephen van Zandt had left the band two years prior
to Yeah, but he's he's all over the video. He's
having a ball.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there's another qud up on the stage with
him as well.
Speaker 3: Let's talk about her.
Speaker 1: Okay, go ahead, there is a qute.
Speaker 3: Up on stage with him, all right. But here's the thing.
Julianne Phillips was Bruce Springstein's wife at the time. Okay,
if you say to yourself, Juliane Phillips, who is that? Yeah,
if you've ever seen the movie Skin Deep, of which
I'm a big fan, never seen it, Okay, Fletch Lips,
seeing that Fletch Lives. She is the love interest in
Fletch Lips.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, Okay.
Speaker 3: She was married to Bruce Springstein from nineteen eighty five
to nineteen eighty nine.
Speaker 1: Okay, so when did this video come out?
Speaker 3: Nineten eighty five. She's actually in the video.
Speaker 1: Okay, So they were married at the time came.
Speaker 3: And she's actually yeah, she's in the video. Okay, But
apparently down the road the other girl in the band,
her name is Patty. I think her name is Patti
Siaffa if I'm saying that right, Okay. She and Bruce
were kind of calm out together, and so Julianne Phillips said,
I'm out of here. And now Bruce and Patty are
now married and have been married for a long time
and have kids.
Speaker 1: And all that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so's here's something funny I think about this song. Okay,
so we've already established that Bruce has never had a
real job, even though he sings about the working man
all the time, right, and now he's talking about his
glory days, he said, like on concers. He's like, let
me be clear, I hated high school, right, so it
doesn't have the fondest memories of high school.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Still not a standout student, not cool enough even to
be the class clown. That's right. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Still great song. Hell yeah, best song on the album
for me, spiking the football all right. Moving on to
a song called Death and in the Dark.
Speaker 1: Okay, The beginning sounds in this song are very similar
to the Born in the USA beginnings, Like you've got
that same synthesizer that's going all but the beat is
a little faster, a little more fun. And it's because
it's a dance beat, because dancing is in the name
of the song.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: But as we talked about in our last episode, this
was the song that he wrote out of frustration because
John Lando said, you don't have a hit yet. Boy
was he wrong about that. He was a little no,
he was right, you don't have a hit. You have
six hits, yes, right, I'm.
Speaker 3: A little worried because the other songs only sound like
you know, six top ten hits, right.
Speaker 1: So he they have their fight. Landau storms out. He's frustrated.
And this, I mean, his life up until that point
was he starts working in the evening and they record
through the night, and he falls asleep in the morning.
So the idea that I get up in the evening
and I ain't got nothing to say, that is him.
That is I've been doing this. I've been spending all
night for months on end, and you're asking me for
another song. I've got nothing left to say. I've done
this eighty times, I've used all my words. I'm done,
and then I come home in the morning, go to bed,
feel in the same way. So because to bed in
the morning, gets up in the evening. This is the
life of a musician, friends and followers, This is what
you hoped for to become a rock star. But at
this point, after all of this, he's nothing but tired
and just bored with himself. He could use just a
little help. I mean, the meaning means so much more
now that I know that it's the result of this
big fight that he has after killing himself and getting
told you haven't done enough yet. Isn't that cool? Yeah?
This is why I love what we do. Yeah.
Speaker 3: The deep dive makes me appreciate these guys creations even more. Yeah,
I want to say somewhere stop.
Speaker 1: Stop.
Speaker 3: This song was released May ninth of nineteen eighty four.
That was just a cold days ago, and it reached
number two on the US Hot one hundred.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: All right, you want to know what's better than Dancing
the Dark? Yeah, it turns out there's two songs better.
It was blocked for two weeks by two different songs.
Speaker 1: Oh what okay?
Speaker 3: All right, so it was blocked by Deran Duran's The Reflex.
Speaker 1: Okay, that was a big one.
Speaker 3: That's a big one, right, one, that's a huge one. Yeah,
and then the week after when Doves.
Speaker 1: Cry and another huge one, huge one. Yeah. Wow, Well
that's unfortunate, but this is.
Speaker 3: Still a fantastic It's still a fantastic song.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 1: So I think now now that I know the story.
I gotta say, Glory Days has to move down to
the number two spot for me, and this song is
not my favorite song on the album.
Speaker 3: O heay, fantastic l us.
Speaker 1: Without this song, we might not have had Courtney Cox,
which means we might not have had a girlfriend on
Family Ties, which.
Speaker 3: Means we might not have had Monica on France.
Speaker 1: Wow, how about that. Thank you John Landau for being
a little bit of a d and making Bruce write
just one more song.
Speaker 3: That's right, Thank you so much. You ready to talk
about the music video? Yeah, because we're moving there right.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So you've got a young Courtney Cox as you mentioned. Yep,
if he doesn't pull her out of the crowd pull
her up on stage. That is her with the short
hair in case you got by you there. Okay. This
was filmed in Saint Paul, Minnesota. They played the song
twice so they could get all the footage they needed.
It was directed by Brian de Palma.
Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, I would not have picked that. Okay.
Speaker 3: Now, then here is the funny part about this song,
all right. The dance that Bruce is doing on stage
later became the Carlton from Fresh Prince Villair.
Speaker 1: That's fantastic.
Speaker 3: Okay, one little nugget I thought was hilarious when I
heard about this nugget about dancing the dark.
Speaker 1: You're ready for this? Okay.
Speaker 3: According to Rolling Stone, this is the only Springsteen song
that Bob Dylan ever covered. Okay, Okay, imagine Bob Dylan
singing dancing in the dark.
Speaker 1: Okay, I have no trouble with that.
Speaker 3: Yes, so when he did it, so apparently this is
January twelfth, nineteen ninety Bob Dylan flubbed most of the
words and the performance was so bad people didn't even
realize what he was singing. They had no idea.
Speaker 1: That's that's awkward. They were like, what is this?
Speaker 3: What is it?
Speaker 1: Dancing in the dark?
Speaker 3: What great song? Feel good song, poppy ear candy.
Speaker 1: Yep, and a great story behind it? Everything I need this.
This is the new number one.
Speaker 3: This was voted the single of the year by Rolling
Stone listeners.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, finishing strong with another tenth Pole song,
and we've got three in a row here Glory Days,
We're dancing the dark, and then we have my hometown
sal running with dim Mine.
Speaker 4: Bust up man.
Speaker 1: Okay, this is not a fist bumper, No but after
hearing this song, I don't know how many times in
preparation for this, I still almost teared up because the
imagery is so vivid of this little kid running down
the street, the diamond his hand, getting a paper for
his old man, sit on his lap in that big
old buick and steer as we drove through town, and
he tossled my hair and say, son, take a good
look around. This is your hometown. And that warm fuzzy
memory leading into the racial tension that happens while he's
in high school and the slow spy roll down of
the town. By the time that he's an adult and
he's got his own little boy, he's talking with his
wife about getting the heck out of there, but then
he's riding with his son in his lap with the
steering wheel, saying, son, this is your hometown.
Speaker 4: Ah.
Speaker 1: It is so emotional, so amazing A love love love
the song. Nice.
Speaker 3: So this song was released November twenty one of nineteen
eighty five. It reached number six on the Hot one hundred.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Now, for those of you keeping track at home, that's
seven singles, all of them top ten smashes.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Now, just a little addendum to that this song reached
number one on the Adult Contemporary, which to date is
his only number one hit.
Speaker 1: In any category.
Speaker 3: Yep, wow, how about that.
Speaker 1: That's crazy.
Speaker 3: I know that is crazy because this was released so
close to Thanksgiving. The B side to this is Santa
Claus Is Coming to Town, which I hear a lot
during the Christmas time.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's fun, Bruce having fun for once in
its life.
Speaker 3: Before we wrap up the album, I want to throw in.
I want to talk about one song, just briefly. This
is a song that didn't make the cut.
Speaker 1: Okay, Pink Cadillac.
Speaker 3: Girls Money was supposed to be on Born in the USA.
Speaker 1: Uh huh.
Speaker 3: It didn't make the cut, but they later released it
as kind of a B side, and it reached number
twenty seven. I mean, that's the power of this album
that a song not even good enough to make the
album still was a top thirty hit.
Speaker 1: It's a great song.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm riding in my pink like Prince's little red Corvette.
It's a it's a little metaphor for a female. There
you go, pink Cadillac. Take a ride in your pink Cadillac.
Speaker 1: Awkward, there you go? All right, So fantastic album. Yes,
from beginning to end. Maybe one song out of the
bunch that I would go it is okay. The rest
of them are amazing, amazing lyrics, great music, better in
my opinion, than anything he had done up until that point.
And as we've said before, I'm a radio for friendly,
big hits, Bruce Sky, so that's why I like this
album better than his other albums. But given the success
of the album, this is obviously an opinion that's shared
by many other people. So that's the end of this part.
Join us next week.
Speaker 2: When we go into Huey Lewis and the News, the
history of Huey Lewis, and then we go track by
track through the album Sports, which also was one of
the few number one albums of nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 1: Tune in next week you can hear all about the
albums that reached number one in the year nineteen eighty
four because there aren't very many and born in the
USA in Sports, where two of.
Speaker 3: Them come back for final judgment next week. Hit subscribe,
follow us on Facebook, follow us on Patreon, interact with
us through Twitter. We'd love to hear from you all right,
See you guys next week.