The Best Song of 2010
Despite music playing an integral role in my life, it's rare that a song comes along that buries itself in my soul. A song that hits me so hard that I simply can't stop talking about it. A song that has such a profound impact on me that it alters something. Or maybe just fulfills something in me. And as hard as I try, and I'm likely coming up short here, there's really just no way of explaining it. The closest feeling I can summon is that feeling of falling in love. Overcome, I guess.
It's been a number of years since a song has hit me like Bruce Springsteen's "The Promise." A song recorded for the Darkness record, and evidently somewhat inspired by Bruce's troubles with longtime friend and one-time manager Mike Appel, Springsteen left this masterpiece off of Darkness due to the personal nature of the words. Most of Bruce's greatest song are stories about others. There's Johnny 99, Wild Billy and Frankie. However, this was one was about him. But when I listen to the words, which are about as good as anything Springsteen's ever written, the story is much bigger than him. While watching a YouTube video of the song recently, I read a user comment from a man who said that the song was his life in the 1970's. When he heard it again he couldn't control his emotions.
Some nights I go to the drive in.
Or some nights I stay home.
I followed that dream just like those guys do way up on the screen.
And I drive that Challenger down Route 9 through the dead ends and all the bad scenes.
When the promise was broken, I cashed in a few of my dreams.
No, I wasn't there in the 70's, but there's something about the words, the gorgeous music and the way the song builds but never explodes, that goes right to my core. Just like Neil's "Powderfinger" and Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall." It doesn't happen often, but when it does, man.
It's been a number of years since a song has hit me like Bruce Springsteen's "The Promise." A song recorded for the Darkness record, and evidently somewhat inspired by Bruce's troubles with longtime friend and one-time manager Mike Appel, Springsteen left this masterpiece off of Darkness due to the personal nature of the words. Most of Bruce's greatest song are stories about others. There's Johnny 99, Wild Billy and Frankie. However, this was one was about him. But when I listen to the words, which are about as good as anything Springsteen's ever written, the story is much bigger than him. While watching a YouTube video of the song recently, I read a user comment from a man who said that the song was his life in the 1970's. When he heard it again he couldn't control his emotions.
Or some nights I stay home.
I followed that dream just like those guys do way up on the screen.
And I drive that Challenger down Route 9 through the dead ends and all the bad scenes.
When the promise was broken, I cashed in a few of my dreams.
No, I wasn't there in the 70's, but there's something about the words, the gorgeous music and the way the song builds but never explodes, that goes right to my core. Just like Neil's "Powderfinger" and Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall." It doesn't happen often, but when it does, man.
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