In this blog, I will detail some of the most memorable and/or influential songs to me. In this first post, I would like to discuss the song that defined my early childhood, “Thunder Road”, by Bruce Springsteen.
This 4:50 song with no chorus, details a story in a distance from Mary’s porch to the singer’s car. Thunder Road is trying to convince Mary to risk her comfort for possible greater potential.
It opens with the line “The screen door slams, Mary’s dress sways.” Well, no one really knew if it was waves or sways, until in an interview with Jimmy Fallon, where the boss finally made the final decision. It’s sways. Also, dresses don’t wave.
This opening line moves like a screenplay. Which is different from the rest of the song which is an epic poem that was based on a simple piano. This song can be played with the entire E street band, a piano, or just with a guitar, which is exactly what my dad did.
Every night when I was a kid from when I was born until I was 8, I think, my dad pulled his office chair in front of me and my brother’s rooms to play us a Bruce song before we went to bed. My brother’s was Girls in Their Summer Clothes from the 2007 album, Magic. While I decided to kick it back to 1975, when my dad was 4, with Thunder Road. Born to Run is actually a great album to pick from for a bedtime song because the entire album takes place in the “Night.”
My dad started to listen to Bruce when he was 13 with the album, Born in the USA, like the movie Blinded by the Light, and he attended his first concert at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum during that tour. He has been hooked ever since, and Bruce became the main artist that we listened to when we were growing up.
This song goes on to say, “You can hide ‘neath your covers and study your pain.” He is giving Mary an option of staying in this dismal town or running and going somewhere new to start over. That is similar to what I did with my decision to come to Penn State where I wanted to leave my hometown and completely start over.
This epic poem comes to a close with Bruce’s ambition to be the best he can be and by changing his environment, he is doing that. “It’s a town full of losers/ And I’m pulling out of here to win.”
This song is so important to me because when I was growing up I always felt the need to leave my hometown to do something with my life.
While I’ve never listened to this song, I completely relate to the feeling of needing to get out of a small hometown to live a different life. Funny enough that’s also the reason I came to Penn State because I was in search of better opportunities than those in my hometown. I really enjoyed how you brought in the aspect about your dad and how he used to play songs for you and your brother every night.
Alex, I loved this post so much. From the connection to your family to the personal decisions you have to make, you showed how influential music can really be. Music has always been a big part of my life too. I admire the relation to a screenplay regarding the opening line, this shows the importance of grabbing the attention of a listener. I’ve never listened to this song, but I will sure give it a listen after this post.
I’ve never heard this song before, however I’m so interested to learn more about how these songs relate back to your childhood. I’m really hoping that my reading your blog, I’ll be introduced to new songs that I can add to my playlists.