"Badlands," Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen turns seventy years old on Monday (September 23), and I thought I'd make as my Music Video Of the Week this clip of the Boss performing my favorite Springsteen song.
"Badlands," with a title inspired by the rugged terrain of western South Dakota (Bruce thought of the title before he had an idea of what to write around it) - and a riff based on the Animals' arrangement of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," is about a man down on his luck hoping to make things better for himself and his lady. It has what is one of the best lyrics ever conceived - "Talk about a dream / Try to make it real / You wake up in the night / With a fear so real / You spend your life waiting / For a moment that just don't come."
Jackson Browne loves the urgency of the song, having called it "cool and thrilling," adding, "There's an economy of language that comes in here. He's building a persona, a lexicon of references." Rolling Stone named "Badlands" Springsteen's second-bast song, after "Born To Run," and praised the punk vibe of the song.
Released on 1978's Darkness On the Edge of Town LP, "Badlands" was also released as a single and reached number 42 on the Billboard singles chart. This live version is from the 1978 tour promoting Darkness On the Edge of Town, when the song was fresh and new. Enjoy.
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