bellenossunfire

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I once hooked up with a guy who knew I really liked Bruce Springsteen. In an effort to impress me, he put on a playlist of Bruce songs while we shacked up, which was awesome...except he didn't make this playlist. He just pulled a "Best of Bruce" playlist off Youtube let it shuffle.

This did mean I got head to "Born to Run", which was an amazing experience, but, given fate is a cruel mistress, it also meant "The River" came on while he was inside me. He didn't quite get why I asked him to stop the second those mournful harmonica notes howled over the (frankly unbearably warm) air of his room, and the explanation of "this is too goddamn sad to fuck to" only kind of registered.

But...he was a little bit of a stoner and a lot of bit into music, despite his lack of Bruce knowledge, so instead of changing it, he said "hang on...this kind of sounds fire". I, as someone possibly a little insane about Bruce and finally exposed to someone not just willing but eager to listen to a Bruce song, certainly did not interrupt, let alone for something so petty as earthly pleasure.

We lay there in silence for the next five minutes and just listened to "The River".

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...I'm just saying...

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Bruce Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town was released on this day in 1978.

Photo by Frank Stefanko. Words by Dave Marsh in Rolling Stone upon the record’s release in 1978.

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Happy Pride

As Bruce Springsteen said, "Closets are for hangers; winners use the door", and I think that was very brave of him and I'm not taking this out of context at all. In other news, I need a "Rosalita"-themed Pride shirt...

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I think I'm singlehandedly responsible for 1/20th of the plays of "Flip Ya Flip" by Nils Lofgren on Spotify and I'm not even joking.

I found a new, still-in-wrapping copy of Flip on vinyl in a local record shop for $5 and I swear it was like my own personal version of Harvard finding out they had the original Magna Carta. I'm pretty sure the shop owner thought I was insane. He was trying so hard to pretend like I had a good reason to be this hype for this vinyl from 1985 that I don't think anyone bought even when it was current (see: still in shrinkwrap, $5), but he finally was like "yeah, Nils Lofgren...had some better work". Oh, Nils. I love Flip. I see your vision. I will flip my flip. Buddy, I can do it. I will lift my precious dreams and hold them high.

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I love my guitarists, even if their fashion senses range from "pirate/babushka/fortune teller" to "the definitive male 80s look" to "went in a thrift store in the dark and put on every single article of clothing at once." (A friend of mine once said that for about 15 years, Nils just looked like that scene from Friends where Joey puts on all of Chandler's clothes at once, and I'll never unsee it.)

Bruce and Nils's outfits are based 1:1 on real outfits from the Born In The USA touring era; Stevie's is an amalgamation of several pieces of clothing he's worn, with edits made to the overcoat to make for better legibility in the simplified-down style of this picture.

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bruce springsteen opened a concert last night calling trump corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous. that’s right sweetie he’s not for YOU and neither is “born in the usa” and it never has been x

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A piece I've been working on. Inspired by a combination of "Born to Run" and "Backstreets".

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this is SO funny

nils lofgren trying to convince everyone that he can totally be in two tours at once as long as he's given complete control of the schedules of two aging superstars

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I was going to make a poll about everyone's favorite Bruce moments where he's unable to pronounce the words in the songs he himself wrote, but honestly, there's so many and I don't even know how to transcribe some of these. How can I possibly cull down to just the limited number of options Tumblr gives us? The classic "yooman touch"/"without another yooman being in sight" out of "Human Touch" and "Something in the Night"? "Chasin' Wild Horses", where I think he sings the "h" once in the entire song? Whatever the hell he actually says instead of "it's relentless as the rain" in "Adam Raised A Cain"? My personal favorite of them all, which is the slurred incoherence of what the lyrics promise is "baby, when I walk home in the daybreak" in "Bring On The Night"? The sheer chutzpah of Bruce believing he can get out all of "I'm the big expendable, my life's just cancelled, null and void" in the meter of "Roulette" that does not have enough syllables allotted for it?

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I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think Dr. Feelgood went to real medical school.

I love this song, though. So lucky to find the vinyl on the cheap at a local shop, too. Early Nils is such a treat.

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[bellenossunfire]

Bruce Springsteen in "I'm On Fire" like "At night, I wake up with the sheets soaking wet" and it's like, yeah, buddy, you would. I've seen how you sweat. That checks out.