I meant to post this LAST Monday. Instead I posted the wrong Music Monday so...
Last(Two Fridays AGO) Friday, June 2nd, was the 39th anniversary of the release of a very important rock album you’ve probably never heard of: Darkness on the Edge of Town by Bruce Springsteen. Many Springsteen fans and critics consider it his best album. It also contains a song many people think is his best: Racing in the streets.
Throughout his career, Springsteen has done an amazing job of capturing normal American life, but in a way that magnifies the drama of that life. Two young people in some poor working town trying to make a life is full of drama and pain and love and hope.
On first glance, Racing in the Streets seems to be about racing cars. Looking a little deeper and people see it talking about a relationship in trouble. In my opinion, Brice gives us one of the best songs reflecting one of his reoccurring themes. The failing man appears in many of my favorite Springsteen songs. A man is supposed to be the hero and have everything worked out. In songs such as Downbound Train or One Step Up, Bruce does a really good job of capturing the doubts a man feels alone at night trying to figure out how to fix what has gone wrong.
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