SOD: Bruce Springsteen "With Every Wish"

Bruce Springsteen is a God of Rock. If there was a rock-god pantheon, high above the clouds, Springsteen would have a seat carved from the finest rosewood, and the E-Street band would be lined up around him, waiting for their boss's command. Sure, there's a lot of Rock Gods out there, but Bruce is different. He is the God of American Heartland rock. One of the last great American singer/songwriter still on the scene. When you go to his shows, sure you want to hear a couple hits, and you want to be reminded of what made him the living legend he is today. But you also go for him. For the 150 minutes of straight non-stop energy, that pulses from this man stroke by stroke (gotta be a better way to say that). He doesn't stop, he doesn't take breaks. With the intensity of a 10 year old on pixie sticks, he knee jerks and bucks, jumps and windmills, kicks and screams. He loves it. He lives to play, and he doesn't seem to have aged much at all. His stamina is in good standing, and as far as he's concerned, it might as well be 1975 all over again. You know, the glory days before "Glory Days."

Bruce has an unexplainable nostalgia. Sure, you can get down to the nitty gritty, and dissect his music sheet by sheet, note by note, but what would come out on the other side still wouldn't explain how he does it. Because it's really a reflection of him, and his ability to convey a full spectrum of emotion with sound. The softest, subtlest of his songs (like this one), can evoke a grand scope of emotion. Sometimes almost as powerfully as say a "Thunder Road" or "Jungleland". His lyrics are earthy, and though not particularly complex, they are woven together in such a way that they take on a tale-like quality. It's like reading a children's book for adults. Songs like "With Every Wish" are what prove to me the authenticity of Bruce Springsteen. It shows a folk-like storyteller side of him, that's not accompanied by his usual grandiose type instrumentation. It shows that when you strip him down to almost bare parts, he's as good a writer as any. His imagery is solid, his lessons are pertinent, but not pretentious. 

A lot of people hate on The Boss. Within my own circles a few of the people who have conveyed an especially firm resistance to him, are Phisheads. I try not to judge a book by its cover, but we all fall victim to it once in a while. I'm not the biggest fan of Phish, but I've been to a slew of shows at this point, and there are unquestionably aspects of their music that I respect and enjoy. But there are a contingent of these die-hard phish fans who have completely pigeonholed their perspective on things. They can only see through one lens of the spectra; the tie-died one. They compare Bruce to Bon Jovi, which is like comparing Apples to a Lunar Space Elevator, and they try to define Bruce by a couple of his most famous anthems. When you ask them anything in depth about Bruce, or even reference something that wasn't a chart topping success, their limited (if any) knowledge is clear. If you don't know Darkness on the Edge of Town or The River, then you don't know Bruce. And most people I've talked to who do NOT like him (Phishead or not), do not know these albums, or many others.

I mention this as a mere personal casestudy to my point, which is that the people who don't like Bruce Springsteen, don't know Bruce Springsteen. They haven't given him a chance. They haven't gotten into the meat of his work, which is where the real gems live. And that's ok, I know there's not enough time to get wrapped up in each and every artist that someone else tells you is amazing. I mean, if you're a fan of Rock and Roll in general, then you should damn well be adequately versed in Bruce, but hey, if you're not, that's your personal choice and I'll try not to judge you. But I will judge you and vehemently defend Bruce if you say you don't like him, but haven't actually gotten acquainted with him. Then you're just full of shit. 

"With Every Wish" is off the 1992 album Human Touch. He was working on this album for a couple years, and after shelving it and coming back to it, he wound up writing another album altogether called Lucky Town. Since both were finished at the same time essentially, he released them both on the same day. An interesting idea, though I'm not sure if I completely follow the logic, as they were two completely different albums. It would seem that they could distract the success of each other, but hey, what do I know. Allmusic said, 

     "While Human Touch was a disappointing album of second-rate material, Lucky Town is an ambitious collection addressing many of Springsteen's major concerns and moving them forward."

Human Touch is also ranked last (or close to it) when fans vote on top to bottom Bruce albums. Lucky Town is usually a close-to second to last behind it. Clearly the public didn't take too kindly to Bruce's attempt to write some less blue-collar, less gritty, hard-knuckled rock. He took a turn at something a little smoother, happier, and contextually lighter. I don't know if I'm as critical of the album. If this album is the worst of Bruce's work, then I'd be pretty damn amped to be Bruce Springsteen, because his worst isn't really that bad. And though you can feel the absence of the E-Street Band on some of the songs like "All or Nothin' At All," it's not a disaster by any means. "Soul Driver" is a forceful song with great backing vocals by Sam Moore (of Sam and Dave), "Roll of the Dice" has all the pieces of a classic Bruce song with some great Roy Bittan piano, and "I Wish I Were Blind" is a nicely toned down piece of sentimental material. The lyrics to it are definitely worth paying attention to. The album closes with a Bruce remake of a traditional song called "Pony Boy" (not the same "Pony Boy" the Allman Brothers did, which was amazing). Bruce's version is actually quite well done, as it has a more somber feel than its original, and the female harmony part adds the perfect touch. The Human touch, you could say.

"With Every Wish" is my favorite song off the album though. It calls to mind my youth in the outdoors. Wandering through the Northwest Woods and Pine Barrens of Eastern Long Island with Jimmy. Fishing in whatever waterhole we could find, be it a puddle or an ocean. Telling tall-tales to each other of endeavors we'd never seen or done, and though we knew each other was fibbing, we smiled and nodded, knowing it didn't matter. The song calls up feelings of boyhood, from a man's perspective. You can remember the way the world felt as a boy, but as a man you can only do just that. Once you discover women, fall in love, and see more and more of the people and the world you all live in, there's no going back. There's only the nostalgia of all the "rivers crossed" when you look back on it. 

The music, as simple and beautiful as it is, is heightened by some of that patented Mark Isham muted trumpet (I first heard of him when he was scoring films for Weinstein Company, and had no idea he had originally worked outside that realm, in Jazz and electronica. He's also a Scientologist, so feel free to judge). So musically, you don't miss the E-Street Band on this particular track, because it doesn't necessitate that full band sound. And though the song is kind of the odd man out on the album, that only makes it stand out more. It's a hidden gem. A little diamond in the rough.