Moe Lane

My friend and colleague Baseball Crank wrote a very good piece on Bruce Springsteen, and why conservatives still love him in spite of his unfortunate political opinions. I agree with the article, but it was kind of redundant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3J-JGO24bo

I mean, really. It’s the Boss. He’s just that good.

Moe Lane

PS: The best part of that video starts at about 1:11. There’s something about a crowd of 100K happily laughing at their inability to sing along with each other.

Fire, Bruce Springsteen

Video live, link album.

Ach, Bruce.  Bruce, Bruce, Bruce.

Born In The U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen

Love the music, but didn’t anybody ever tell you that your life largely refutes your thesis?

Moe Lane

PS: Hey, if the Gipper can steal it then so can I.

I LIKE WHAT I LIKE AND THAT IS THAT.

Seriously, though, it was nice to get Bruce back after that weird time in the middle of the 90s.

No Surrender, Bruce Springsteen

Why the hell he feels the need to sing this SLOW these days is beyond me.

I think that I was at this concert.  It was definitely recorded during the same tour. I think.

“This Land is Your Land,” Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

Wow. I barely remember what being fifteen was like. And I promised myself that I wouldn’t forget, too.

“Thunder Road,” Bruce Springsteen/Melissa Etheridge

Because I damn well felt like it, that’s why.

No Surrender, Bruce Springsteen

I’m not saying that Springsteen’s recent habit of singing all of his old songs at half speed is always a bad idea; it’s probably a bad idea in this case, though.

Atlantic City, Bruce Springsteen

OK, look, just because I don’t like Springsteen’s Nebraska generally doesn’t mean that I don’t like a song or two that happened to be on it.

Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town, Bruce Springsteen

Worth it for the hat alone.

The one with Springsteen in it.

“One Headlight,” The Wallflowers/ Bruce Springsteen

It’s somewhere around 2:30 that you can see Springsteen go, Hey.  Didn’t I used to do… something… what was that called?  …Right, ‘rock.’  How did I do that, again?  Oh, of course… Huh.  I wonder why I stopped doing this.  Weird.

Waitasecond.  You’re not Van Zandt!  Who’s the bald guy?  There’s no SAXOPHONE!

Where’s my band?  Where’s my goddamned band?

It was a relief, really.

(Via Hot Air Headlines) I mean, it’s not like I can’t see Ron Rosenbaum’s basic point – although I don’t think that, for example, Bruce Springsteen’s lost his contempt, merely redirected it. Springsteen always wanted to be the next Woody Guthrie, singing the songs of the people and showing how the system keeps folks like him down. The fact that the system instead decided to give him large amounts of money, fame, and influence instead pretty much wrecked Springsteen as an artist until he could flee into the welcoming embrace of traditional celebrity leftist activism. Seriously. The reception given to Born in the USA must have freaked him out, particularly when Reagan cheerfully stole the iconography and completely subverted it.

Anyway, Billy Joel. I can understand the entire “unearned contempt” argument (not sure if I buy it, but I can see it), and as somebody from New Jersey I can certainly grok the entire Burden Of Being The Place Where Billy Joel Comes From (it’s hard to explain; suffice it to say that both Joel and Springsteen have a complex relationship with the region). That being said, I wonder what triggered this? Did Joel get arrested again?

Moe Lane

PS: I’ve always liked “Pressure.”

Crossposted on RedState.