Bruce Springsteen-The Wild The Innocent And The East Street Shuffle

In my junior year of high school(1974) my school had a program the last two weeks of school ,after finals, where you could pick different “classes” to take and fill out the day. There were many to choose from I believe there may have even been one for basket weaving. Some of the ones I chose were mythology, the films of W.C. Fields, and one called the poetry of Rock. In this class we dissected the lyrics of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. This is one we listened to and I remember discussing the lyrics of “4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)”, “Wild Billy’s Circus Story”,and “Incident On 57th Street”. Although pretty much unknown nationwide at this time all the songs on the record had been played on WMMR since its release in 1973. To me this is his masterpiece, perhaps only equaled by his next record Born To Run. The aforementioned “4th Of July…” and “Kitty’s Back” on side one are classics but side two is exceptional. The three songs make up a suite about New York City. The final piano notes of “Incident On 57th Street” segue into “Rosilita” a concert favorite. The final song the 9 minute “New York City Serenade” has some truly beautiful moments. I finally got around to buying this record about ten years ago.

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