Bruce Springsteen - Letter to You

I started off making this into a regular Quick Hits entry, and then it got verbose, so I've converted it into a post all of it's own.  Here's the title track.

I had to go to a funeral yesterday.  About two weeks ago, my Aunt Pat and Uncle Jack came down with COVID-19.  They ended up in the hospital after a few days, each taking one of those massive cocktails of steroids and antiviral medications.  Despite the fact that both were in their early's 80's, my aunt made it out of the hospital and recovered, but my uncle wasn't able to beat back the virus.  He died last Friday after a final chat with his wife of 62 years.

We weren't especially close, despite sharing a name.  He was a goofy dude - quick with a huge, inclusive laugh - and I never knew him to be hard-edged at all.  He had been a high school principal, but more recently he had crafted beautiful stained glass windows.  He worked in a studio my aunt had set up beside their house, in the same spot where my grandmother used to sell antiques to supplement by grandfather's farming income.  But despite our lack of contact over the past few years, I have happy memories of Jack taking me fishing and on other outings during my summer visits to my grandmother's house.  He was a good man.  Probably not perfect, but like so many people we know only superficially, I was never dragged behind the curtain to see his shortcomings.

So then, I come home today to peruse the new releases on Spotify and see what else I need to queue up into my new music list to check out.  And there is the new Springsteen.  Which, hell yeah, I'm gonna listen to the new Bruce any and every time that comes out.  And then the first song drops like a wrecking ball on my lap - "One Minute You're Here."  Between the spare, simple arrangement and the bleakly sung lyrics about the summer wind singing its last song, or the autumn carnival, and then the bridge saying "I'm so alone" and "I'm coming home."  Come on, Bruce.  I know you're getting older and more of your buddies are dying, but help me out, my man.  It's simple and short, but it definitely sets the theme for the album.

Then, a couple of songs later, you've got "Last Man Standing," with him reminiscing over faded pictures and counting the names of the missing and being the last man standing now.  Damn.  But I'm sure we'll get hopeful now?  Nope - the next song is "Power of Prayer," singing about love that comes and goes, and how he's "Reaching for heaven, we'll make it there."  How about later in the album?  Maybe the song called "Ghosts"?  Nope, everyone is dead but he remembers them.  Or maybe the final song?  Nope, "I'll See You in my Dreams" kicks off with this in the first couplet: "And though you're gone and my heart's been empty it seems, I'll see you in my dreams."  Awesome.  Just all bummer, all the time.

A funny anecdote from the funeral, that has nothing to do with this album, is that the preacher decided that we should be subjected to both Adam flipping Levine and Brad Paisley during the service.  Which seems both cruel and unusual.  First, he kicked off the entire service with YouTube video of a Glee-ass a capella version of Maroon 5's "Memories," which sucks anyway, but is immeasurably worse when you are in a church, eight feet from the casket you will soon have to help carry, and a bunch of little pageant kids with overly cutesy hairdos are brightly looking into a camera to sing their part of that treacly song with a headphone wire dangling from their ear.  I had to see it, so do you.  But then, later in the service, he decided to read out some Brad Paisley lyrics about going to heaven, walking with his granddaddy, petting the mane of a lion, and riding on a drop of rain (?!?!?!).  Those bits did not make the service better.  Playing "I'll See You in My Dreams" would have made it immeasurably better.

"House of Thousand Guitars" is also sad, but only because he's reminiscing about the fact that we used to be able to go to stadiums and small town bars to listen to guitars spark up our life.  Which is depressing as shit.  I would KILL to get out for some good live music right now.  

BUT!  Big BUT!  This album is actually excellent.  I mean it.  It sounds and feels like we are back in the classic E Street days of a more raw, rocking sound and a full band.  I've liked Bruce's recent albums all right, but this one really feels like the whole band is again being given the free range to flex their muscles and kick the music around a little bit.  Each player has a real role here, not just a support to Bruce's voice.

"Letter to You" has a lot of the classic Bruce flourishes, striking piano chords, that guitar squonk that he used on "Glory Days," even his vocal "hooohhh!" right after the end of the first verse.  "See You in My dreams" is actually a really hopeful sounding song - it's not a dirge of sadness, but a guitar-fueled dad rocker with a classic Springsteen sound.  "Janey Needs a Shooter" has a paced bar-room swagger, pounding piano riffs, and a story to tell that also make it sound like something that could have been on The River.  They use a ton of Clarence Clemons's son and his I'm-like-my-Dad-if-you-squint-but-a-squidge-different sax blasts.  It's all highly nostalgic and wonderful.  I know I'm an old ass Gen X dude with too much love for classic rock, but whatever, this album makes me nostalgic and happy and I'm gonna keep enjoying it.

Not surprisingly, none of these songs can crack Bruce's top ten on Spotify - the man's got more classics that most artists will in five lifetimes - but two of them appear to have gotten a headstart.  The title track and one near the end called "Ghosts."

From reading up on the track, it sounds like this one is about the guys who he has lost from the band over the years, including everyone from his original band the Castilles and two guys from the E Street Band.  I can absolutely see yelling out "I'M ALIIIIIIIVE" when this song is played live - I'm getting a little verklempt here at the keyboard just thinking about that moment (that hopefully will happen).  Woo buddy.  I guess I needed a little release just now.  Did somebody just shoot Old Yeller?  Whew.  A crowd of thousands singing that together would be fucking amazing.  Here's to hoping for the future.