Sunday, April 01, 2012

Any deeper blue, you'll be playin' in your grave

It cannot be said enough - Bruce Springsteen's first two albums - Greetings from Asbury Park NJ and The Wild, the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle are perfect works of genius. He's never done anything as great, but then neither has almost anybody else. Every song on both albums are masterpieces, like mind-blowing masterpieces.

And it's so amazing that there are so few decent mid-70s video recordings of Springsteen concerts. Here is a decent version of Lost in the Flood from a British tour:



The music is the apotheosis of American popular music - jazz, blues and rock all rolled into one - with some Latin flavor thrown in for good measure. It was appropriate that the E Street Band of the time had two African American genius musicians on board - Clarence Clemons and Dave Sancious (Sancious might be the greatest rock pianist ever) seeing as how jazz, blues and rock were all appropriated from African American culture.



But it's the lyrics too, the perfect street poetry that makes this stuff just kind of ineffable:

"Hey man, did you see that, his body hit the street with such a beautiful thud..."

Unfortunately there's no embeddable version of the album track of New York City Serenade - there are several mid-70s live audio versions but the quality is pretty crappy. This is probably the best one currently available on Youtube:



Ironically this version is from the Main Line a venue right outside of Philadelphia, not NYC. But Bruce is a North Jersey shore boy which means he grew up equidistant from both Philadelphia and New York.

But the recorded version can't be beat - the live version loses the one-of-a-kind delicate interplay between the piano and the guitar. And again, the lyrics:

Billy, he's down by the railroad tracks
Sitting low in the back seat of his Cadillac
Diamond Jackie, she's so intact
And she falls so softly beneath him
Jackie's heels are stacked
Billy's got cleats on his boots
Together they're gonna boogaloo down Broadway
And come back home with the loot
It's midnight in Manhattan, this is no time to get cute, it's a mad dog's promenade
So walk tall
Or baby, don't walk at all

Fish lady, oh, fish lady, fish lady, she baits them tenement walls
She won't take corner boys, they ain't got no money, and they're so easy
I said, "Hey, babe, ah, baby, won't you take my hand, waltz with me down Broadway"
Whoa, mama, take my arm and move with me down Broadway, yeah
I'm a young man, I'm talkin' real loud, yeah, baby, walk it real proud for you
Ah, so shake it away, so shake away your street life, shake away the city life
And hook up to the train, ah, hook up to the night train
Ah, hook it up, hook up to the, hook up to the train
But I know that she won't take the train, no, she won't take the train
No, she won't take the train, no, she won't take the train
Oh, she won't take the train, no, she won't take the train
Oh, she won't take the train, no, she won't take the train
She's afraid them tracks are gonna slow her down
And when she turns, this boy'll be gone
So long
Sometimes you just gotta walk on
Walk on

Hey, vibes man, hey, jazz man, ah, play me a serenade
Any deeper blue, you'll be playin' in your grave
Save your notes: don't spend 'em on the blues boy
Save your notes: don't spend 'em on the darlin' yearlin' sharp boy
Straight from the church note ringin', vibes man sting a trash can
Listen to your junkman
Ah, listen to your junkman
Listen to your junkman
Oh, listen to your junkman
He's singin' (singin')
He's singin' (singin')
He's singin' (singin')
All dressed up in satin, walkin' down the alley (singin')
Singin', singin', sing, yeah, sing, yeah, singin', singin', singin', yeah, sing, yeah
(Singin', singin', singin') Ooh, ooh, ooh, oh, yeah
(Singin', singin', singin') Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, oh, yeah
(whispered)
Ah, shake it, downtown, watch it, oh, watch out for your junkman
Shake it, watch out, bah, ah, ah, watch out for your junkman
Ah, shake that guitar, shake that damn guitar, ah, watch out for your junkman
Ah, shake, talkin' 'bout it, ah, ah, come on, little girl
Watch out

Ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Oh, ah, yeah
Oh, huh, oh, huh
Shake that damn guitar
Ah, watch out for your junkman
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Watch out for your junkman
Uh, huh, uh, uh
Uh, uh, huh, huh, huh
Watch out for your junkman
Oh, watch out for your junkman