Lyric of the Week: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

I’ve seen rock’n’roll’s future

And his name is

Bruce Springsteen, yeah

Listen to the chords he’s playing

Try to understand a word he’s saying

I’ve seen rock’n’roll’s future

And his name is

Bruce Springsteen, yeah

I’ve seen the wild and innocent shuffle

I’ve seen the little girls fry on the beach in the sun

I’ve seen those E Street Band boys hustle

And I’ve seen those tramps born to run

Love’s a go-cart crash

Life’s just boardwalk trash

A backstreet gang fight after midnight

I’ve seen rock’n’roll’s future

And his name is

The Boss

The spirits in the night

Do their dance in the dark

And they’re sending out a greeting

From Asbury Park

The boys are headed for a freeze-out

Down in Jungleland

By morning they all believe

In the promised land

They all go down to The River

‘Cause down the shore everything’s all right

Me and my baby

On a Saturday night

I’ve seen rock’n’roll’s future

And his name is

The boss

Everybody’s trying to be Bruce these days

Is this a new thang or just a passing phase

The kids are getting turned on these days

But all they know is Born In The USA

It’s all you hear on the radio stations

More and more imitations

The list goes on and on

But it’s not me that’s imitating

‘Cause I’ll still be doing this thing

Long after they’re gone

All the little girls raise their hands

‘Cause I sing in a rock’n’roll band

Everybody thinks I’m crazy

But they never did understand

I’ve seen rock’n’roll’s future

And his name is

Bruce Springsteen

©1985, 2025 The Hesh Inc./Reality Shock Music Inc.

Break a leg, Boss.

This was one of the songs that Izzy Kieffer and I wrote together and included on our Gal-Kol demo recording in the mid-1980s. It was the era when seemingly all of the songs from Born In The USA were all over the radio and one could either not get enough of them (if a fan) or far enough away from them (if not a fan), so we decided to write a song about it. The recording featured some of Israel's best session players backing up Izzy and myself, with me adding "E Street"-style keyboards and doing a middling impersonation of The Boss's vaunted vocal style.

It wasn't a commentary on anything more than the ubiquity of Bruce and his music at the time. These days, though, Bruce is in the news because of his very public sparring with President Trump, but I'll err on the side of wisdom and refrain from saying too much about it here. You, dear reader, knowing how much of a fan I was for many years before I became disgruntled, are free to draw your own conclusions. I will say, though, that you don't have to be a Springsteen fan to support his right to speak (from wherever he happens to be) against the president without fear of retaliation—and you don't have to be an anti-Trumper to understand and admit that the president's response was petulant, juvenile, and over the top, and its not-so-implicit threat DOES go against what befits the President of the United States and what the holder of that office is empowered to do. It's all part of the First Amendment, which applies correctly here.