Why is Springsteen called "The Boss?"

[Archae]

And no, I never have liked his music.
Mumble yum yumble or the sound a water buffalo makes after it's kicked you know where. :eyes:

[Swede]

1. Because he is the Boss.

I was bruised and battered and I couldnt tell
What I felt
I was unrecognizable to myself
I saw my reflection in a window I didnt know
My own face
Oh brother are you gonna leave me
Wastin´away
On the streets of philadelphia

I walked the avenue till my legs felt like stone
I heard the voices of friends vanished and gone
At night I could hear the blood in my veins
Black and whispering as the rain
On the streets of philadelphia

Aint no angel gonna greet me
Its just you and I my friend
My clothes dont fit me no more
I walked a thousand miles
Just to slip the skin

The night has fallen, Im lyin awake
I can feel myself fading away
So receive me brother with your faithless kiss
Or will we leave each other alone like this
On the streets of philadelphia

[Lex]

2. Beautiful.

This one is my favorite:


Woke up this morning my house was cold
Checked out the furnace she wasn't burnin'
Went out and hopped in my old Ford
Hit the engine but she ain't turnin'
We've given each other some hard lessons lately
But we ain't learnin'
We're the same sad story that's a fact
One step up and two steps back

Bird on a wire outside my motel room
But he ain't singin'
Girl in white outside a church in June
But the church bells they ain't ringing
I'm sittin' here in this bar tonight
But all I'm thinkin' is
I'm the same old story same old act
One step up and two steps back

It's the same thing night on night
Who's wrong baby who's right
Another fight and I slam the door on
Another battle in our dirty little war
When I look at myself I don't see
The man I wanted to be
Somewhere along the line I slipped off track
I'm caught movin' one step up and two steps back

There's a girl across the bar
I get the message she's sendin'
Mmm she ain't lookin' to married
And me well honey I'm pretending
Last night I dreamed I held you in my arms
The music was never-ending
We danced as the evening sky faded to black

[latebloomer]

30. Mmm, "Tunnel of Love is a great album!

Fortunately or not, emotional pain often breeds art.

[Brigid]

6. Here's my favorite. Still chokes me up every time.

My Hometown

I was eight years old and running with a dime in my hand
Into the bus stop to pick up a paper for my old man
I'd sit on his lap in that big old Buick and steer as we drove through town
He'd tousle my hair and say son take a good look around this is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown

In '65 tension was running high at my high school
There was a lot of fights between the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a Saturday night in the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed in a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come to my hometown
My hometown
My hometown
My hometown

Now Main Street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back to your hometown
Your hometown
Your hometown
Your hometown

Last night me and Kate we laid in bed
talking about getting out
Packing up our bags maybe heading south
I'm thirty-five we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said son take a good look around
This is your hometown

[raccoon]

49. I keep saying it should be our national anthem. nt

[Bassic]

17. My own favorite - Thunder Road

The screen door slams
Mary's dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside
darling you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me

You can hide `neath your covers
And study your pain
Make crosses from your lovers
Throw roses in the rain
Waste your summer praying in vain
For a savior to rise from these streets
Well now I'm no hero
That's understood
All the redemption I can offer, girl
Is beneath this dirty hood
With a chance to make it good somehow
Hey what else can we do now
Except roll down the window
And let the wind blow back your hair
Well the night's busting open
These two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back
Heaven's waiting on down the tracks
Oh oh come take my hand
Riding out tonight to case the promised land
Oh oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road
oh Thunder Road
Lying out there like a killer in the sun
Hey I know it's late we can make it if we run
Oh Thunder Road, sit tight take hold
Thunder Road

Well I got this guitar
And I learned how to make it talk
And my car's out back
If you're ready to take that long walk
>From your front porch to my front seat
The door's open but the ride it ain't free
And I know you're lonely
For words that I ain't spoken
But tonight we'll be free
All the promises'll be broken
There were ghosts in the eyes
Of all the boys you sent away
They haunt this dusty beach road
In the skeleton frames of burned out Chevrolets

They scream your name at night in the street
Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet
And in the lonely cool before dawn
You hear their engines roaring on
But when you get to the porch they're gone
On the wind, so Mary climb in
It's a town full of losers
And I'm pulling out of here to win.

[MissMillie]

22. mine too!

I love that song!

[Bassic]

23. Knocked me on my ass,

the first time I heard it. Must have been ten years ago (I know, a bit late, but I was like 17 or something).

[MissMillie]

28. I had heard it before, but never really got the lyrics

until last year, and I thought the words were brilliant.

[1gobluedem]

47. Me too!

My all time favorite song. I get chills just reading the lyrics. What a wordsmith.

[latebloomer]

31. I think it's my favorite too

Never fails to move me.

[Patiod]

42. That's my #1 all-time favorite song

The Boss is a genius

[Floogeldy]

3. Nothing better to do than bash Bruce Springsteen?

You and Sean Hannity.

[Archae]

7. Now hold on a moment!

I am not "bashing" Springsteen.

I just don't like his music, the same way I don't like a number of singers and groups.
I like a lot of singers and groups, I'm sure a few of them you don't.

That's all.

[Floogeldy]

8. Oh

You wondered why he is called "The Boss" and, as an aside, mentioned that, in addition, you do not like his music.

You attacked a good liberal out of the blue and without provocation.

[Archae]

9. I didn't "attack" him.

Cripes, can't I just say why I don't like a guy's singing?

[Floogeldy]

10. Sure

But you never said why you didn't like his singing.

Why don't you like his singing?

[Archae]

11. I just don't.

Why do some people like country, and others don't?

Movies, music, TV, etc.

I just remembered one tune by Springsteen I do like, "Pink Cadillac."

[Floogeldy]

12. How could you like that song?

He pronounces "pink" like "pank," and you can't understand half of the words because he mumbles so bad. ;)

[Beware the Beast Man]

16. I couldn't give two shits about his political leanings.

Not a fan. Never was.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

26. Yeah, and both Jerry Falwell and I like ham sandwiches.

What's your fucking point?

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

4. Because he is the fucking Boss!

Those who can't recognize this shall be kicked by water buffalos you know where.

[Floogeldy]

5. Wanna go back to 2003?

"The Chicks earned support from another musical quarter recently. On his Web site, Bruce Springsteen defended the group's right to say what they believe.

'The Dixie Chicks have taken a big hit lately for exercising their basic right to express themselves,' wrote Springsteen -- who has been touring overseas. 'For them to be banished wholesale from radio stations, and even entire radio networks, for speaking out is un-American. The pressure coming from the government and big business to enforce conformity of thought concerning the war and politics goes against everything that this country is about -- namely freedom.'"

http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/24/dixie.chicks/

[Starbucks Anarchist]

13. Because he's good, I guess.

I'm a recent convert to his music. I bought "Born to Run" and "Nebraska" a little while ago -- both amazing albums.

[NMMNG]

14. I dunno

But my Great-Aunt told me he's my third cousin twice removed, which means he's essentially nothing to me (particularly since it's by marriage and not blood) :shrug:.

[Burma Jones]

15. Because King was taken.........

Even if you don't like his music, you gotta respect his integrity.

If you want clear, pristine diction - stick with Broadway Musicals........

[NewWaveChick1981]

18. My sister has been a HUGH Bruce fan since 1978!!!111

...and SHE says he's The Boss! :P She knows her Bosses....

(I like most of his music, but she's rabid about it!)

[Missy Vixen]

59. I've been a Bruce fan ever since I could remember

He taught me how to dance ;-).

Julie

[izzybeans]

19. The same reason Mellencamp was called Cougar I guess.

Mellenstein. Bruce Cougar Mellenstein. Now that's the boss.

[DBoon]

58. "Thelonius Monster Mellencamp"

Now what do you call that?

[izzybeans]

60. I'd call it Springstein getting his metaphorical piano bashed in.

[Felinity]

20. Because he wrote one of the two best rock & roll songs of

all time, "Born to Run".

The other being "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

Let's all just admit it and move on.

[Vidar]

21. Because "The King" and "Chairman of the Board" were already taken.

[WCGreen]

24. He was nicknamed the boss by a few DJ's around the country...

Debatable which was first....

In Cleveland, on friday nights starting back in late 1974....

They started a tradition on friday nights at six of playing an advanced copy of Born to Run... Cleveand was one of the first cities to adopt Bruce outside of New Jersey.... This was back before Clear Channel and consolidation... Anyway, the DJ, Kid LEo, would say "the Boss man is letting me go... time to head out and party" and then flip on Born to Run.... Then this lunatic would come on and start ranting about getting down for the week end and how bad the work week had been... and then they would play Earthquake's version of Friday on my Mind....

EVeryone, I mean everyone would tune in to hear the ritual....

After a while, they would just say the boss is getting you ready for the weekend and Bruce and Born to Run would start the whole thing....

They did that for about 10 years...

[Beware the Beast Man]

25. They STILL play Born to Run every Friday at 5PM.

On WNCX.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

27. Cool bit of info.

:thumbsup: :headbang:

[MissMillie]

32. That's a cool story.. thanks for sharing

:hi:

[Brigid]

40. Thanks.

Always wondered where that nickname came from.

[leftofthedial]

44. I heard that it started before then

that he gigged so much and hired so many musicians to fill all the gigs that he was nicknamed The Boss.

[WCGreen]

46. He had a completely different band from The Wild The Innocent..

and Born to Run....

[leftofthedial]

52. I guess in the days before he had a record deal, he had

a bunch of different musicians in his "band" at various times.

I know about 50 guys who worked with him at one time or another.

[many a good man]

63. We gotta gotta gotta gotta GET DOWN!!!

I remember being stopped at a red light in Cleveland during those years and hearing Murray Saul's voice booming across the pavement from all the car radios. The Bastard Slavedrivers! For a blast from the past you can hear his grants here: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/06/murray_saul_on_.html



Yowza!!!

The Boss was famous in Cleveland first!

[WCGreen]

66. I saw him at the Allen theater back in 1975.....

Third Row....

[SteppingRazor]

29. It started with radio DJs in New Jersey and took off from there...

incidentally, I HUGHLY disagree with you on Bruce. His most recent album kinda sucks, but almost everything he comes out with is unbelievable, and Nebraska is one of the greatest albums in the history of music -- ever. Seriously.

[Radical Activist]

35. His newest album is better that his usual fare

I love the Pete Seeger Sessions. I'll take it over synthesized keyboards any day.

[SteppingRazor]

36. You're comparing it to his bad late-80s work...

nothing synthesizer about his stuff from the 70s and early 80s, or his more recent albums like The Rising or Devils and Dust. Hell, Springsteen hasn't used much synthesizer ever since he abandoned it with 1995's Ghost of Tom Joad.

As for the new album, I don't realy like it. The world did not need another version of "Froggy Went A-Courtin' " for God's sake.

[Radical Activist]

38. My one complaint

about the new album is that I was hoping he would do more Seeger originals rather than traditional songs that Seeger only covered. I think its a great listen though.

You're right that its only his 80's stuff I don't like but sadly that is what he's most known for and that's what gets the most airplay. I want to tare off my ears whenever I hear the opening to Born in the USA. That kind of thing is why I wasn't a fan of his for years.

[SteppingRazor]

45. I agree about Born in the USA...

that song is such schlock. I mean the lyrics are still pretty cool -- when are Springsteen lyrics not? -- but the music's not so good. It's a shame that he's known for that song, when there's so many better ones

[latebloomer]

33. Look what you've done!

You've called out all his fans from the woodwork!

BRUUUUUUUUCE!!!!!


:silly:

[taterguy]

34. Because his guitar player is in the mafia

[Radical Activist]

37. I just wish he hadn't come out of the 80's.

He would have been better had his heyday been in the 70's or 90's. I just hate that synthesized, cheesy 80's sound. I like Bruce much better on his new one, The Pete Seeger Sessions, and on his folk albums like The Ghost of Tom Joad.

[WCGreen]

54. HE did come out in the 70's......The Wild the Innocent and

The EStreet Shuffle....

Greetings from Asbury Park....

Born to Run....

The River...

all were concieved and or came out in the 1970's....

[Southsideirish]

39. His new Pete Seeger tribute CD is great.

[Brigid]

41. I love it.

I've long since lost count of how many times I've played it.

[Patiod]

43. BBBRRRUUUCEE! You have to see him live in concert

I've converted MANY people who didn't like him by dragging them kicking and screaming to a concert.

The energy is amazing, and he's a true believer in giving folks what they pay for. The only downside is that recordings sound pallid in comparison for a few days afterward!!!

One thing I've noticed is that he's an Upper Midwest/Northeast taste - most folks I know on the West Coast just don't get what the big deal is.

/Huge fan of The Boss since 1976 - first time I heard "Rosalita" I was in hook, line & sinker. Blessed with opportunity to see the Born to Run Tour when it hit Philadelphia. Bruce rocks! :yourock:

[1gobluedem]

48. Rust belt music

We in the upper midwest and northeast have watched our cities decay and crumble while our industries moved south or overseas. The west coast hasn't really experienced that.

[Brigid]

51. I hear ya.

"Born in the USA" came out while I was job-hunting in Indiana during the '80's. Talk about hitting somebody where they live! And it didn't help that "Roger and Me" came out soon after.

[Pithlet]

62. That makes sense.

I grew up in Flint, Michigan, and I'm a fan of his music.

[Brigid]

65. Then you would get Springsteen, all right.

And I'll bet you love Michael Moore too. Have you ever gottn to meet Moore? I would love to someday.

[Reverend_Smitty]

50. What I wouldn't give to get a time machine...

and see Bruce in his heyday back in the 70's. My dad tells me stories of when he would do 3.5-4 hour shows back in those days. I have a number of bootleg recordings of concerts from the mid 70's and they are the CD's that get the heaviest rotation in my collection.

To me Bruce represents everything NJ...the good and the bad. He just takes me to a happy place when I listen

[edwin]

53. See the boss here:

Guess I should've just posted in this thread to begin with, huh? See this Thread!

[Human Torch]

55. He'll yell out "D Augmented Diminished Seventh" at the drop of a hat...

...even if the band is playing in a completely different key. He didn't care. He was signing the paychecks. Play the damned chord or STFU.

:evilgrin:

His original second guitarist, "Miami Steve" (later known as "Little Steven") left the band to join the cast of The Sopranos, was replaced by gregarious elf and Neil Young protege Nils Lofgren ("Southern Man," "When You Dance I Can Really Love"), returned to the band as the THIRD guitarist (actually FOURTH if you count Springsteen's wife Patty) and NEVER ONCE threatened to "whack" the Boss for his repeated demand for D Augmented Diminished Seventh chords, whether appropriate or NOT.

Pissed off Bob Dylan so much that he wrote a song on the first Traveling Wilburys album ("Tweeter And The Monkey Man") intended as a parody of Springsteen-Ripping-Off-Dylan, which...in the final analysis...came across as Dylan the Cranky Old Man taking a cheap shot at The Boss.

Wrote and performed "Murder Incorporated," which...on the live version found on the import "Secret Garden" EP and the domestic "Blood Brothers" EP...is SO DAMNED ROCKING that I won't even waste TIME describing how effin' ROCKING it is...

GRANTED...

I'm really, really, really sick of a lot of the Jersey "broken heroes on their last chance power drive" CRAP.

BUT...BRUCE IS THE FUCKIN' BOSS.

DEAL with it, my friend. DEAL with it. It's bigger than YOU, it's bigger than ME, it's BIG.

Oh yeah...one other thing...even though John Kerry isn't our President, Bruce's appearance in Madison WI during the campaign almost brought me to tears.

The Kerry campaign was A Raisin In The Sun.

In Madison, Springsteen was THE BOSS.

He IS THE BOSS.

I don't care if it's Pete Seger songs or something as ACHINGLY poignant as "He had a woman in Saigon, I got a picture of him in her arms now" (the box set version KILLS), THIS MAN IS THE BOSS.

:toast:

ON EDIT: Photographic PROOF of WHY Springsteen is THE BOSS:

[undeterred]

56. At the University of Chicago, "the Boss" is Plato

or at least he used to be. :shrug:

[WI_DEM]

57. because Sinatra was "Chairman of the Board"

[JVS]

61. Because he sucks, just like a boss

[BlueJazz]

64. LOL!....I Love It!

I'm always amazed when people talk about "someone's Music" when they
mean His/Her lyrics.

The "Boss's" Music sucks the big one. (simplistic cornball pablum for the masses)
His Lyrics are much, much better.

[amitten]

67. Because he is the boss of me. n/t