15 Springsteen songs to get you through lockdown

Wembley, 80,000 fans, 3.5 hours on stage 

Two weeks into lockdown, and Western Stars remains my go-to soundtrack while working from home, and the perfect excuse to mix things up with a delve into Springsteen's back catalogue.

In truth, 15 songs could have been 25, 35 or even 50, and I still wouldn't have scratched the surface in a lifelong love of his music.

It's 39 years since I first saw him live on the original River tour when he played two nights at the Edinburgh Playhouse. The ticket stub and programme are framed alongside the 2016 tour souvenir of four gigs in four cities in 12 days.

So, my lockdown lowdown on the Boss - 15 songs to put on repeat:


1 Born To Run
From the split second Max Weinberg's drums crash out of the speakers to the very last chord, this song sends your spirits soaring.
It's his defining moment- a song of epic ambition and with the cojones to pull it off; a bona fide rock anthem which never sounds tired whether blasting out of your car radio or soaking up every second in an arena in the company of 80,000 others.
Glorious, life affirming stuff for all tramps like us ...

2. Independence Day
A close call between this and The River - Clemons' sax solo and the poignancy of the lyrics on this edge it. A song that captures the bridge that exists between every generation who eventually tire of fighting/disagreeing.


3 Sleepy Joe's Cafe
The looseness of this glorious track from Western Stars is simply irresistible - and if anything, it came alive on the movie version.
It's a bar you want to go to for a beer and to dance. It's a bar you want to work in. The song Mary's Place almost was ...

4. You're Missing
The Rising is the stronger track from the album, but this one resonates.
Two years to the very day Clemons passed away, Springsteen stood on the stage at a sun-kissed Hampden and began a roll call of who was missing; your friends, your loved ones.
He didn't mention the Big Man once by name. He didn't need to. Everyone knew.
He simply paused and gave his audience an opportunity to remember him and their own loved ones.
A perfect, incredibly moving moment.

5. Dancing In The Dark
Anytime a radio station says it's gonna play some Springsteen, you just know this is the track - it's all they have,  On stage it has become a set piece for some fun audience interaction, and its joy remains undiminished, and milked perfectly by Springsteen the showman.

6 Tenth Avenue Freeze Out
The story of E Street which has been turned into a showstopping moment live on stage.
The story of Bad Scooter and the Big Man joining the band may be part of E Street mythology, but it's a pivotal moment, and one celebrated and commemorated with every live performance as Springsteen taps perfectly into  the  ole' call and response technique.


7 American Land
When Springsteen dusted off the Pete Seeger songbook, he hit the road with a remarkable ensemble,  and turned stadium gigs into  village hall settings where he performed with such zest you wondered if he'd ever stop and let you head to the exits.
Wembley Arena was one of those glorious nights - songs were built layer upon layer with multiple 'false' endings - and American Land was just one of those joyous tracks which had the  arena jigging, doing eightsome reels and lapping up every second of  unique night.

8 Jungleland
A sprawling epic of a story that  that brings to life the magic rat and condemns the poets down here who don't write nothing at all.
And then there's that sax solo from the Big Man - Clarence Clemons' defining moment.

9 Western Stars
Those strings. That is all.
 he sadness is we will never hear him play it live with an orchestra.
And it would have been magnificent and spellbinding.

10 Badlands
A staple of Springsteen's live repertoire  - it's a track that still has power 40 odd years on. A song that unites band and fans.

11 NY City serenade
Standing on the roof of the World Trade Centre just three weeks before they came down, this was the song in my head as I soaked up the staggering panoramic views across the city and down the Hudson.
The sprawling narrative is packed with characters

12. Sherry Darling
Loved it from the very first time I stuck The River on my turntable - took me 30 years to hear him play it live. This is how a band sounds when it has fun in the studio, and it gets to cut loose with a cracking song.

13 Racing In The Street
Roy Bittan's perfect piano soundtrack drives this haunting, beautiful ballad that yearns for freedom from everyday life. Springsteen's definitive ballad that is so much more than just about cars.

14 Thunder Road
It works brilliantly as a ballad with Springsteen on the piano, and as a full band number.
The story it tells and it's definitive vow "it's a town full of losers and I'm pulling out of here to win."
and it's plea to show a little faith there's magic in the night gives it a glorious heart.

15 Drive All Night
A sprawling, sparse epic built largely around Springsteen's voice and Bittan's piano.
Eight minutes of bleakness and a lament to lost love which haunts you from the very opening chords.