E Street Radio is compiling votes for the 100 best Springsteen songs by asking listeners for their top ten. Here’s mine.
10. Thunder Road - Greatest / most atmospheric opening to an album ever? Debate amongst yourselves, but it’s such a great opening, it might as well open this list.
9. Because The Night - Not every top ten Springsteen song has to be best sung by him. At least I don't think so (didn't really pay too much attention to the rules).
8. No Surrender - There are much better and much more important songs that can’t fit on a top ten list, but uptempo, defiant and wistful is kind of a thing with me.
7. Frankie Fell In Love - Not every song has to be so damn serious. See also, Cadillac Ranch and Open All Night.
6. Brilliant Disguise / The Long Goodbye - Basically, the same song. This is how you do introspection.
5. The Rising - His most beautiful - and necessary - song ever?
4. American Skin - His most chilling - and necessary - song ever?
3. Born To Run - The most essential rock and roll song ever crafted. You can tell the Nobel literature prizes are a scam because this ain’t won one.
2. Badlands / Promised Land - In college, I never knew where my next tuition payment was coming from and sometimes didn’t know where tomorrow’s food was coming from but I did know this - being hungry was ok, and giving up is the greatest sin.
1. Backstreets - I’m sure I’m not the only teenage, wrong side of the tracks ne'er do well to which this song tracks as a veritable autobiography, but this is me from age 13 to 20(ish). Which is where we all remain, truth told.