Bruce Springsteen’s album Nebraska was released September 30th, 1982. I don’t know if I bought it that day, but I owned it shortly afterward. I was not a huge Springsteen fan, but I think I owned Born To Run, and I definitely owned The River. The latter was a gift from my mother, and while I liked some of the tracks—Hungry Heart chief among them—I wasn’t a huge fan of that album. I felt it was too long and repetitious in sound.1 Born To Run I recognized as a great record, however, and I had read reviews of Nebraska extolling its sound and vision. So I bought it and put it on my turntable.
I gave the album a good chance, but soon I decided that it wasn’t for me. The sound was too simple and monochromatic. Some of the songs were good, but most were too much the same. Of course, it sounded nothing like Born To Run with the E Street Band. So I sold it and dismissed it. I even wrote a letter to the university student newspaper arguing with their reviewer about its quality. What can I say, it was college.
There I left it. I did like the arrangements of the three Nebraska numbers on Live 1975-1985, but I felt no need to revisit the original record. But about a month ago, I heard that an expanded boxed set of Nebraska was being released (next month), and I heard the electric 1982 version of Born In The U.S.A. It intrigued me. I felt perhaps I hadn’t given the original record a fair shake. Would my opinion of it as a 60+ listener with forty-three additional years of musical experience change from that of a know-it-all twenty-something? I thought it was worth a shot, particularly since I could now listen without buying the whole album all over again.
Nebraska was recorded on a 4-track tape recorder by Springsteen as intended acoustic demos for the E Street Band to work with. When those sessions failed to produce the feel that he was looking for, he decided to release most of these demos as a standalone album. Despite some overdubbing of additional instruments, the record is basically just Bruce and his acoustic guitar, with a bit of echo on his vocals. The result is a stark, haunting sound. Lyrically, this suits the songs, which are about criminals, working class people, poor families, and people whose lives have gone wrong in various ways. Springsteen was influenced by Flannery O’Connor, noir films and novels, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and many other sources about the downtrodden. He said that he was trying to write in a more specific style about real people, without the metaphors he had used on previous albums.
Nebraska: A song written from the POV of serial killer Charles Starkweather shortly before his execution, about his crime spree with his girlfriend. Nowadays you can look up the gruesome details of his murders online, but back then, this was about all I had to go on, not having been alive at the time. The narrator is unapologetic, saying “At least for a little while, sir/Me and her, we had some fun.” This attitude coupled with the killer’s desire to have his girlfriend on his lap when they pulled the switch for the electric chair probably had a lot to do with my dislike of the number. Now, I find it much more powerful.2
Atlantic City: One of the few songs I genuinely liked in 1982, perhaps because it had a more interesting chord progression than most of the others and was up-tempo. The chorus is particularly powerful: “Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact/But maybe everything that dies someday comes back.” I will take the opportunity to say that I didn’t like, and still don’t like, Springsteen’s early characterization of women as girlfriends whom he calls “baby” and wants them to fix their makeup right or comb their hair in rear-view mirrors. Perhaps that helped me not like this album. However, I think his view broadened concerning them once he married Patti Scialfa. And the more I think about it, the more this particular song sounds like a Born To Run demo, although it’s not.
Mansion On The Hill: Inspired by Hank Williams’s song of the same name, the tone is one of quiet longing rather than envy. The narrator is resigned to his fate working in a factory and simply recalls his childhood, when his father would take him riding past the mansion on the hill, with its bright lights. I appreciate its characterization much more than I did earlier. However, I still feel musically that this song sounds like a Dylan outtake; and even though I didn’t own much acoustic Dylan at that time, I still believe he does it better.
Johnny 99: I love the tune—it’s more uptempo—but lyrically, this is just another song about a convicted murderer; and Dylan did the aspect of too harsh a sentence better with Percy’s Song. Still, it’s a good piece.
Highway Patrolman: One of my favorites, now. It’s a detailed sketch of a police officer, Joe Roberts, and how he used to go drinking with his brother Frankie, until the night when Frankie committed murder. Roberts lets his brother go, because he’s family. A very powerful number.
State Trooper: Pairs perfectly with Highway Patrolman; in fact, it could almost be Frankie who’s singing. He’s terrified of being stopped by a cop as he has no registration or license. The guitar throbbing on this track sounds like the tires on the road, late at night.
Used Cars: Another song which I didn’t really notice first time around but is now one of my favorites. A kid is with his family when his father goes to buy a used car which he really can’t afford. His wife is twisting her wedding ring, and the son feels the shame when they drive it home and the neighbors come looking. “Mister, the day my money comes in/I ain’t never gonna ride in no used car again.” You can hear the pain in Springsteen’s voice of that kid.
Open All Night: Sounds a lot like Chuck Berry, but this is a good thing. A nice contrast with the more depressing tunes on the record. I can imagine a band version of this, easily.
My Father’s House: Again, I appreciate the theme of this much more than I did as a young woman in 1982; but the tune sounds quite close to Mansion on the Hill or Nebraska. Still, it’s a sad and moving song.
Reason To Believe: One I liked in ‘82 and still like. Despite their sad circumstances, the people in this song still find a reason to believe. A good ending note to the record.
Final thoughts: I definitely think this is a better record than I used to; but I’m still having some issues with the monochromatic sound of the songs and the repetition of a lot of themes. I certainly think that Nebraska is one of those albums that works better as a whole than as individual songs, for the most part. I would say it’s a classic work, but enjoyable? Not so much. I am looking forward very much to the boxed set next month.
Final note: Today, September 23rd, is Springsteen’s 76th birthday. Happy Birthday, Bruce. It also would have been my mother’s 100th birthday. She liked Springsteen, too. Happy Birthday, Mom.