#43 - Glory Days

Artist: Bruce Springsteen

Album: Born In The U.S.A.
Video: From YouTube.

This song is special for me because it features one of my all-time favorite performers, singing about baseball, my favorite sport.

In “Glory Days”, Springsteen lionizes characters from his youth, reminiscing about their heroic adventures back in the day.  The mood of the song is upbeat and joyous, even celebratory.  It was the fifth of seven top 10 singles from the classic “Born In The U.S.A.” album, peaking at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In the video, Bruce portrays a baseball player.  He seems to be assuming the persona of the character in the opening verse, the one who “could throw that speedball by you”.  He throws from a bucket of balls at a backstop, and while he talks to his son in the closing scene, it is revealed that he is pitching an imaginary baseball game.  He was pretending to pitch against the San Diego Padres and was beaten by Graig Nettles in the bottom of the ninth.

It is interesting because when I think of Graig Nettles, it is almost exclusively as the Yankees third baseman on the 1977 and 1978 World Series winning teams.  But Nettles was shipped to San Diego by George Steinbrenner after writing a tell-all book bashing the cantankerous owner.  In 1984, his first year with the Padres, he had a productive season and returned to the World Series.  A slugger and an excellent fielder, he played well into his forties.

Springsteen performed “Glory Days” at Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa.  Unfortunately, he bastardized the lyrics, turning the hero into a football player who knew how to throw that "Hail Mary".  But still, a great song by one of 1985's music heroes.

#49 - I'm On Fire

Artist: Bruce Springsteen

Album: Born In The U.S.A.
Video: From YouTube.

This song was featured on the very first album I ever bought (actually a cassette tape).  Bruce Springsteen was, and remains, an all-time favorite of mine.  I've been lucky to see him perform live three times.  Nobody is better in concert than Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band.

New Jersey’s working class hero initially burst into the public consciousness with the 1975 masterpiece “Born To Run”.  Ten years later, his popularity peaked again on a much larger scale with the “Born In The U.S.A.” album.  Baseball, apple pie, Bruce Springsteen and all that.

The album produced a record-tying seven top 10 singles, including “I’m On Fire”, the fourth single released.  A spare, haunting track featuring little more than Bruce’s vocals and a synthesizer, it peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.  The song has been covered by dozens of artists, ranging from Johnny Cash to John Mayer to Tori Amos.

Clearly, “I’m On Fire” is about a man wrestling with his prurient urges.  But the dark and suggestive lyrics leave the song’s deeper meaning up for debate.  Taken literally, it can be inferred that the protagonist is a pedophile.  I disagree.  I happen to believe the song is multi-layered.

The video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video in 1985.  The Boss gets to demonstrate some acting chops, portraying an auto mechanic tormented by his desire for a leggy female customer in a white Ford Thunderbird. 

Returning her car, he drives through the city and arrives at her mansion in the hills.  He walks up the stairs to her door and gazes into her open window.  He begins to ring the doorbell, but instead just smiles and shakes his head, placing the keys in her mailbox and walking away.  It’s an interesting look at Bruce’s shy and uncertain side.