I am not the sort of person who is star struck, but I might be if I met Bruce Springsteen. He wouldn’t be the first star that I have met nor seen in person. Fact is that I have encountered many, but for me Springsteen is a different sort of animal. I have been a fan of his music for years but within the past five something changed inside me.
A switch was flipped and I realized that one of my dreams is to be like Bruce, not Bruce but like Bruce. The world already has one Springsteen and a million aspiring artists who want to be him. Not me, I want something a little bit different. I want to be able to take my words and turn them into music. I want to take the songs that I hear in my head and convert it into something that I can play. I want it to move from fantasy into reality.
I listen to music all day long. It is a constant companion and a trusted confidante. My favorite music does more than tell a story, it touches you in places you don’t always know exist. Sometimes it brings you joy and sometimes sadness. Music is the touchstone of our hearts and I wish that I could call upon it in the same manner that Springsteen does.
He has bigger fans than I and people who know his songs, stories and music far better. All I have are my observations. He strikes me as a force of nature with exceptional energy and insight. And he seems to be someone who looks inward and thinks about what he feels and why.
These things resonate with me. There are songs and moments that I never get tired of. I can listen to the entire Tunnel of Love album all day long and never get tired of it. I want to meet Springsteen and hang out with him. I don’t just want to shake his hand, but that would be cool.
I want to hang out with him because I want to have time to ask questions and to listen. I want to see what I can learn from him. I want to find out more about how he writes and see if it is consistent with what I think. I suspect that he just hears/sees the words and then lays them down upon paper. That is how I do it. Maybe it is a bit egotistical to think that he writes like I do, but why not. Either way I would be curious to learn more.
For those who are curious here is a smattering of lyrics from his music that I like:
It ought to be easy ought to be simple enough
Man meets woman and they fall in love
But the house is haunted and the ride gets rough
And youve got to learn to live with what you can’t rise above if you want to ride on down in through this tunnel of love
Tunnel of Love
And though this world is filled
With the grace and beauty of God’s hand
Oh I wish I were blind
When I see you with your man
Down here it’s just winners and losers and don’t
Get caught on the wrong side of that line
Well, Im tired of comin out on the losin end
So, honey, last night I met this guy and Im gonna
Do a little favor for him
Can he do to you the things that I do
I can take you higher
I’m on fire
I wanna be with you
I wanna be with you
That’s what I wanna do
Until they will rip out my heart
I wanna be with you, I wanna be with you
Well that’s all I wanna do
 My name is Brandon i am a die hard fan of Bruce Springsteen my dream is to meet him and i have seen him 2 times and the 3rd time will be in Hamilton ON i have all of his cds and i have a Bruce Springsteen tattoo on my arm no lie i loved him since i was 12 years old and his music changed my life for ever so i know how some fans are Bruce Springsteen is My Hero i look up to him soo much hes the reason why i want to start a bandÂ
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 @Brandon Lightheart He is pretty damn cool.
He certainly has a masterful way with words.
Oh yes he does.
When I was pregnant with my son Josh ( he’s 25 ) I listened to Born in The USA album repeatedly – l still love Springsteen 🙂
I think that is the album where I first began to become aware of his work in more than a cursory sense.
My dad was a huge Springsteen fan. My favorite song is Tenth Avenue Freeze Out. Would love to talk about putting your words to music. I was a singer/songwriter for twelve years before the kids came around. . .
We might have to do that. I have thought about it on and off throughout the years. I like Tenth Avenue Freeze Out, not my favorite but in the top 25 or so.
let’s be in touch off line and brainstrom some ideas. I would love to get back into writing some songs (or at least the chord changes to your lyrics). We could garageband it pretty easily. . .
From the Monongahela valley
To the Mesabi iron range
To the coal mines of Appalachia
The story’s always the same
Seven hundred tons of metal a day
Now sir you tell me the world’s changed
Once I made you rich enough
Rich enough to forget my name
Here in Youngstown
This is what I am talking about- a song that tells a story. Bruce does that so very well.
Just wrap your legs round these velvet rims
And strap your hands across my engines
As a teenage girl and now a woman of nearly . . gulp. . . 45, I still get hot over those lyrics!
And I still love my American Government prof for telling us, the freshmen of the class of 1988, of her experience at a Bruce concert when another concert attendee called her a “communist” for not standing and cheering for during “Born in the USA” – she was the second person in my life to remind me to listen to the words (my father being the first). Sometimes we need to be reminded of what the proper emotion is – because, indeed, music is beautifully powerful.
There is enormous power in music. The right song can do so much. That is a good story about your Gov’t professor- lot of truth there.